62: Doi Inthanon Day Trip
Have been on on a Day trip to Doi Inthanon National Park in the south-west of Chiang Mai. Doi Inthanon is actually a mountain (Doi) and the highest one in Thailand at that. It reaches 2565m above sea level.
We were a group of 9 (around my age +/- 5 years I reckon), left in a Minibus around 9am and drove about an hour to the Park. Tye first stop was at the Wachiratan Watefall, a nice little waterfall at the foot of the Park.
The we drove up to maybe 1800m to visit an area that contanied two large pagodas (1,2) which were built only about 20 years ago to honour the 60th Birthday of the King and the 55th Birthday of the Queen of Thailand. The pagodas were vaguely interesting but the view was more impressive since one could overlook a very large area of Thailand (2).
Whilst walking around the small surrounding grounds I noticed some builders (both male and female by the way) digging a trench (for drainage I guess) but soon they stopped as it was lunch time. Two women decided to wash their hair with help of the lawn sprinkler system
After the pagodas we went all the way to the top (the highest point in Thailand of so the sign said) and walked around the forest for a short while. Interesting but nothing spectacular really.
One thing to note is that although we were at about 2600m above sea level and it was their cool season it was still warm enough to just wear a T-Shirt. This was unexpected because Tour Guides and Guide Books aloke claimed it was really! cold up there. I guess it’s relative and for a Thai person it might be freezing but for someone who is used to Scotland.. well, it felt like a nice Summers day;-)
The only exception was in the “Jungle” as the Guide liked to call it where temperatures suddenly dropped by a good 5-10 degrees I would say. I wore a vest but still shot sleeved.
Off the mountain we stopped for late lunch at a Hmong Hilltribe Village. Had some pretty good Thai Lunch (Plenty of food: Chicken Soup, Fried Fish, Veggy Stirfy, some Sweet&Sour dish, Spicy Thai Omlette, Rice and Pinapple and Watermelon for desert…
Two more stops after lunch: Visit of a Karen Hilltribe Village and another waterfall before heading back to Chiang Mai.
The Hilltribe Villages were pretty uneventfull, nice to seen “something” but the Hmong Village was not much more than a comercialised little settlement with the restaurant at the back and the Karren Villlage was pretty much empty apart from a handfull of people.
Overall I would say the trip was interesting if a bit dull due to the amount of driving and slight disappointment with the Hilltribe Villages. I would have loved to walk around the park for a few hours to be honest but there were no such trips offered in Chiang Mai. That is Trekking trips to Doi Inthanon National Park… There are other Trekking Trips to the northern part of Chiang Mai which I will sign up for. They include 2 or 3 day treks and should be more action packed than this tour 🙂
You can find all pictures of this trip here.
The map below shows the tour (from the tour organiser)
Tags: Chiang Mai, Thailand
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