67: Chiang Dao Cave & Samoeng Loop
After the 3-Day Trekking I was keen to get out again and see more but I didn;’t want to go on a tour again partly because I had specific destinations in my mind which seemed easy enough to reach by motorbike. So I packed my small rucksack, put the rest in storage at my guesthouse, hired a motorbike and drove off for an undertermined number of days (I figured 2-3 days maybe). Talking of motorbike, according to the rental place the bike classifies as a motorbike rather than scooter because I have to change gears manually by foot pedal plus it also has a foot pedal for the rear brake but to me it very much looked like a Scooter.. mind you it drives easier than the Scooter that I had before and feels safer due to the foot brake; 125cc engine (if one can call this an engine;-))
The Tour:
Up to Chiang Dao, then down again and on to the big loop to the left into Mae Sa Valley, down and up again to Chiang Mai…
Day 1: Chiang Dao Cave
The first day I drove up north to Chiang Dao which has a Cave that is popular with the local Tours so I figured I drive up there and see what it’s all about.
In short the cave was pretty disappointing compared to some other caves I have seen (come to think of it I guess the one near Grenoble in France was probably the best). There were two parts to it, one unlit section which required a Guide with Cerosine Lamp (at cost of course;-) and the other was a lit part of the cave which housed some sleeping Buddha statue.
I went into the unlit part first with a guide. No kidding my electric torch would not have managed to lit those caves and I thought the woman at the entrance just wanted my money… (100 Baht; 1.50 GBP) 😉
I turned my torch on briefly when I wanted to see a different corner of the cave than what my Guide was illuminating and frankly I saw NUTHIN! Pitch Black! So I decided to fully rely on my Guides Cerosine Lamp.
It was pleasantly warm outside (as opposed to hot) but the cave was hot, stuffy and very humid (as caves are). In addition I had to crawl through tiny openings to get to other parts of the cave. The openings were so small I had to seriously crouch let alone taking off my daypack and pushing it through first…
The crawling, crouching, sliding around the wet, muddy cave floor was not exacly what I expected but hey, it could have been worth it 😉 OK it wasn’t that bad, there were some nice Stone Formations which I even tried to photograph. Some impressive figures resembling trees, Elephants, Chickens. Some pictures Also here at the bottom. Still I have seen much more impressive and bigger caves than this one and considering the hype that the Chiang Mai Tour Operators make about this cave it’s far from being spectacular. Oh and then there were the hand sized SPIDERS inside the cave which added to the experience 🙂
Anway at the end of the unlit cave tour I was sent off to the other part by myself, well lit paths etc…
The statue of the sleeping Buddhe was equally disappointing ( about half mansized). Just behind the statue was an unlit area which was not closed off and some people ventured a few meters into the dark using torches. I decided to try out my headlamp again and could more or less make out the area. The air was so humid the it was like standing in a thick mist. I could see the water droplets in the air move when I breathed out.. Then three monks came along (not joking) and walked into the dark with a little torch and I followed them a little bit until I decided they knew where they were going and I didn’t and I was far enough inside the dark cave, accompanied only by three monks and a pittyful LED headlamp, the battery status of which I was not sure of ;-D So I turned back and eventually left the cave…
Walk after the Cave…
Feeling slightly disappointed by the Cave experience I decided to walk around the area abit and explore, maybe going up the hill/mountain where that cave was… I first walked around the area around the Cave Entrance which has some interesting Sculptures and also some nice Spirit House that was sitting on a squint podest nearby. I also succeeded in finding a path up the hill and as I walked up I noticed a nearby monk watching me as I walked up and a few others gathering fallen leaves around the area (there must have been a monestry nearby though it was not obvious to me).
A few meters after I walked up the hill I came across a blue sign with thai words written on it. It looked like a tablet rather than a sign and I wondered if I was on one of those trails that the monks take, reciting their buddhist wisdom along the way.. I found more of the blue tablets along the way so I convinced myself that my assumption must have been right.. (no proof of course’;-)
The climb was steep, mossies around bothering me a little but I had good old faithful Mr. DEET to keep me company and the mossies away. I wondered if I would reach the top of the hill and get a good view. It felt like I was walking for quite a while but seemingly not so because my pictures tell me otherwise.
After abour 30 minutes steep climb in humid hot weather I reached an “interesting” dead end.
The path stopped yet there was a rock wall and cave entrance above me with the added benefit of some wooden ladder type path that lead to the cave. I went up (1) and had a quick look inside but decided not to actually go inside.. I kinda thought me walking in a “remote” area of the mountain and into a possibly abandoned cave might not be such a good idea 😉 So enjoyed the view up there and then went back down the hill, saw some nicely lit fungae on tree trunk which I took a picture off but the sun moved quickly or I was too slow to really catch the perfect moment for the picture.. as usual;-) Anyway once I reached the bottom had some nice late lunch of fried chicken with garlic and mint leaves plus steamed rice at one of the local food stalls before I got back on my bike and drove to my main destination, the Mae Sa Valley where the Queen Sirikit (The current Quuen of Thailand) Botanical Garden is located.
Mae Sa Valley
I had to drive a considerable distance back towards Chiang Mai to get tothe junction which leads to Mae Sa Valley and I reached it late afternoon. My first priority was to find some place to stay for the night so I passed some of the sightseeing placed that I was interested in in order to find accomodation first. I was hopig to stay the night near the Botanical Gardens since I wanted to get there early the next day. I checked prices at a few places but they seemed expensive so kept on driving. (BTW it gets dark here around 6pm). Amongst others I also drove up the hill opposite the Botanical Garden to a place called Botanic Resort, a 1st Class Resort it claimed on the sign.. Didn’t expect to stay there but just for the fun and see how much they charge.. (It was only about 2500 Baht, 5 times as much as my place in Chiang Mai) Short after I found a nice place a bit up the road from the Gardens, Mae Sa Valley Resort. They charge 850 Baht (which I thought was still expensive until the next day when I learned of more prices in the area.. it’s expensive in Mae Sa!)
The Resort looked rather nice, huge grounds with nice plants, trees and a little river going through.
The bungalows looked rather neat too with bamboo roof (reed roof type). The bungalow was clean, very comfy bed and good sized room. The only thing, it sort of reminded me of Bavarian or maybe Black Forest places due to the decoration inside the bungalow with Red/Blue/White checked cutrains, bedding and dark wood.. Unusual..
It was getting dark by the time I moved into the bungalow and no point venturing out again. I had a shower t get rid of all the road dirt that I picked up riding my bike and then went for dinner at the resorts restaurant. There was not much else around on the main road so I decided to eat here.
Menu was quite ok and I had some Thai Omlett and a Spicy Curry dish (which of course was not as spicy as I hoped). By 8pm I was back in my room, read a bit in my guide book about the area and soon felt rather sleepy. By 9pm I was fast asleep I think (there was nothing else to do anyway but it did feel rather strange being in bed that early;-)
Day 2:
Next morning I made the fatal mistake of ordering americal breakfast. I should have know better as I did it a few times and it’s always the same: American Breakfast means one (two if you’re lucky) scrambled eggs and a thin slice (2cm wide) of fried streaky bacon plus one slice of toast and coffee or tea. The plate looks really sad and you know you will be starving after you have eeaten this pittyful breakfast! The next day I did the right thing and ordered Thai Breakfast (Rice Soup with Fish), a much better choice if you have a long day of walking in front of you and need some energy..
So pittyful American Breafast went down very quickly and afterwards I drove down to the Botanical Garden which was the main reason for driving to this Area.
Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden
This is the largest Botanical Garden in Thailand and it was created with much help from the British Royal Botanical Garden Association. As a matter of fact I felt like it could have been one of the British Botanical Gardens, especially the Glashouses since the design was ever so familiar to the looks of the british Botanical Gardens 🙂 If you know them you will see what I mean when you check the pictures I took 🙂
I was planning to take my motorbike inside because the guide book said it was necessary to get to the upper part of the Gardens (about 600 square meter I think but on a steep hill). Not so because the Guard (a very angry man; uncharacteristic for Thais to show such emotions) told me to leave, leave, leave and park outside! I was surprised because the sign outside even listed prices for cars to enter the Gardens but I did as told and parks the motorbike outside.
Later I learned that they would not admit motorbikes because of too many accidents inside the park..
After paying the entrance fee of 20 Baht (30p, 45 cents) I got a little map which looked similar to this and noticed that the Garden Walks were layed out mostly along a main circle road that lead up the hill to the Glasshouses and down again. They have a Arboretum Walk with Medicinal Plants and Herbs, Fern Garden, Climbers Walk, Orchid Nursery, Rock Garden, Waterfall and a few other things all layed out in the Jungle Forest surroundings of the park.
It was early (around 8am) and I decided to find the Arboretum Walk first but on the way stopped off at the little waterfall first. I took a few pictures of the waterfall and walked up the hill into the forest (I think it was the Arboretum Walk). It was mostly green forest, some birds were singing but it was impossibel to spot any of them. At some point the light nicely penetrated the forest and illuminated some colorfull leaves which I photographed. I walked to a plant nursery and along another forest walk but eventually felt like heading back and see the glasshouses.
The road to the glasshouses was rather steep (all thailand seems to be steep) and some form of transport would have been nice 😉
It was about 1.5km uphill in the bright sun (my photos tell me it was 10:30AM but it felt like mid day temperature wise). There was a hord of school kids going uphill as well all dressed in the same blue orange clothes. Why I did not take a picture of them I don’t know but lets blame it on exhaustion from walking uphill or fried brain die to the roasting sun while I was walking up there..
Eventuall I reached the top and spend some time walking around the Glasshouses. There were Aquatic Plants, Orchids and Ferns (which was a very meager display!) and some other plans houses that looked more like nurseries. The looked very familiar and had mostly known plant on display. I did not really see anything I had not seen before in Britain and when I entered the Arid Climate House with Cactuses on display I definitely felt like being in one of the Royal Botanical Gardens 🙂 The Tropical Plants House has a nice little Waterfall but no significantly interesting plants other than tall jungle type trees.
At lunch time I had finished with the glasshouses and due to lack of other food had some banana crisps and some logan juice for lunch. I thought the banana crisps would be sweet but not so, they were salty! More surprising they didn’t even taste like banana at all. They were just like regualr salty crisps, a bit tougher to the bite but definitely tasty.
I then only had to go downhill again and see the Orchid Nursery and Climbers Walk but didn’t feel like leaving yet so I decided to find another path into the forest which I noticed on a bigger map in the morning at the entrance. I asked the girl at the entrance if that was possible to walk and she said yes, so off I went past the “Staff Only” Barrier and further up the hill.
Mountain Walk at Botanic Gardens
It was hot and the road was steep bit I was in my element so to say and enjoyed walking up into the hills.
Initially I followed a descent road which, if I was on the right track as I had seen on the big map should lead me back to the botanical garden route eventually.
The area up here looked nice and there were a few nice views of the valley below too but difficult to photograph due to plenty of haze. Some simple Grass made a nice object for a photo but soon I discovered a footpath dug into the side of the road leading uphill away from the road and into the forest which I decided to explore. I walked through the forest for about half an hour. The path took me to the other side of the hill where I could see another valley though the forest was thick and gave no clear views of the valley below, just glimpses through the trees.. I found some trees that had wild orchids growing on them and took a few photos (though they were not flowering). It must have been the wrong time of the year for orchids since even the Orchid House did not have many flowering Orchids)
There were also some rather tall trees including one that had a kind of ladder attached to it that went all the way up. I cannot imagine why people would want to climb up those really tall trees but they clearly don’t suffer from vertigo/acrophobia (fear of height) . Eventually I turned back since I didn’t know where the path would end and went back onto the main road but it was a nice little side trip.
Back on the road I walked further up and eventually found another dirt track, this time broad anough for jeeps to drive on. It must have been the dirt track that would lead to Doi Suthep or so I though judging by map I looked at the Garden entrance. It looked like a nice walk up there and it was just after 2pm so I had plenty of time before the park would close at 5pm. I walked up..
The walk was rather pleasant, not too steep (though still uphill) and partly shaded rather than in the bright sun so easier to walk. Very nice vegetation and plenty of brids (to hear, not to see!). At some point I came across a little plateau which was accessible by a path covered in red leaves. I nice natural red carpet which I took a photo of… I continued further up the hill for another half hour. The forest changed now into pine forest and the air smelled fabulous of pine trees. Then I reached the end of the path that I was on but it joined into another dirt track. I could hear cow bells nearby and a man shouting (presumably at the cows he was leading back into his village). I followed the new dirt track for a while to see if I could make out a village nearby which would have been another Hilltribe Village no doubt and quite interesting. Sadly though I was running out of time as it was now after 3pm and I had a good few kilometers to walk back to the Botanical Garden before it closed.
On the way back the sun became less extreme, good for both walking and taking photographs 🙂 .
I shot a few more pictures on the way back, nothing spectacular but some nice enough ones of illuminated leaves, strangling trees and a spider nursery too which I almost walked into since it was hanging on a long head-high grass in the middle of the 🙂
Back on the paved road I had the choice of turning right to head back the way I came or turn left and continue the road in the hope that this road would eventually lead back to the Botanical Garden.
I tunred left and reached the Botanical Garden sooner than expected at around 4pm.
After a brief break on a nicely looked after lawn with a good view of the valley below I decided to try an finish the Garden Tour and see the Climber Sections and Orchid Nursery.
The Nursery was a little disappointing since not many Orchids were blossoming (I know, it’s a nursery!) but I did see a Tiger Orchid with its big Tigertail-like roots (not blossoming either though).
Soon I left the nursery took in the climber section and Rock Garden before leaving the Garden spot on at 5pm closing time.
A long Day of walking but very worth while. The Botanical Garden was a interesting but no comparison to British Botanical Gardens and I don’t mean the likes of Kew but even Edinburgh has almost more to offer (apart from the Jungle Forest of course;-) I think it mostly compares to Benmore Botanical Garden as far as the Forest experience goes…
After leaving the Garden I drove around a bit seeking Restaurants but nothing caught my eye so I just went back to the Resort and had dinner there and again an early but this time definitely well deserved restful night 🙂
Day 3:
Day 3 was regional sightseeing. The stuff I intended to do the first day but could not because I arrived too late. Mae Sa Valley is quite famous for various things such as Orchid and Butterfly Farms, Elephant Camps, Snake Farms, Monkey Training Camps, Waterfalls and general Scenic Drives.
I was not interested in Elephants or Monkeys but I was keen to drive to some of the Waterfalls, see a Orchid and Butterfly Farm and maybe have a look at the Snake Farm where they harvest snake poison for producing antidote.
My first stop in the morning was Tod Mork Waterfall. It meant heading back to near the junction where I came from Chaing Dao and then off on a small road about 10km to reach the Waterfall. Tod Mork Waterfall is part of the Chaing Dao National Park so I had to pay an Entrance Fee of 200 baht which would also allow me to see Mae Sa Waterfall nearby. The Waterfall was a descent size and in a nice surrounding. I was the only person there apart from two workers who cleared the area of fallen leaves (sweeping fallen leaves off the ground around a Jungle Waterfall.. imagine…;-)
I took a bunch of pictures (which in the end were a little disappointing) and then continued up the road that lead me to this Waterfall to drive to a Hmong Village another 15km away. On the way I stopped at another Waterfall (Wung Harng Waterfall), it seems there are many in the area.
The drive to the Village was very Scenic through mountain area, winding roads up and down. I passed a few houses every now and then and eventually reached the Hmong Village or rather a industrialised area for agriculture which I did not find to exciting apart form some local people working on the fields which I passed whilst driving on my bike.
On the way I also passed some big lorry that got stuck in one of the bends up the hill and blocked the whole road (except for sneaky little motorbikes that could squeeze through 🙂 The truck was still there holding up all traffic when I was on the way back to Mae Sa Valley an hour or two later..
Next I stopped at a Snake Farm but continued my drive when I heard that entrance was 200 Baht and there was no “show” on meaning you could not see how they extract the snake poison. But mostly I didn’t feel like paying 200 Baht for this..
I drove to the Orchid Farm instead. A bus full of tourists had just arrived and I decided to not enter with them but wait a while and have lunch at a nearby Streetside Restaurant first.
They had pots showing the different thai curries you could have. I pointed at two (they are usually small bowls so you can easily have two helpings) and in true thai style got one dish which I did not order.. again the short-term memory of Thais… 😉 Never mind it tasted ok though I let the cooked blood cubes alone.. 🙂
Back to the Orchid Farm I was luckier this time as the group had finished exploring the farm and was now sitting in the restaurant nearby and the Orchid Farm had a nice selection of Orchids and spent about an hour there.
After the Orchid I wanted to go to the Butterfly farm but the place where I stopped did not have many Butterflies (much to my disappointment) so I moved on and drive towards Samoeng, the furthest point away from Chiang Mai.
From Samoeng I drove South through a very scenic mountain area with lots of winding roads following the hills and giving nice landscape views but haze made it difficult to take pictures as usual.. It was a shame because if the air had been clean you could have seen for many more miles. Still driving around and seeing the area was great.
I thought about staying another night in a resort along the road south which is known for its scenery. I did try a few resorts and realised just how expensive it can get in this area. Places started around 2000 baht, too much for my liking also because I was not sure what I would do in the area the next day (though there were a few signs for more hilltribe villages). Still by now I was close enough to Chiang Mai (about an hour away) to just decide to head back to Chiang May and stay in my guesthouse for 400 baht..
On the way to Chiang Mai I noticed a farmer working some fields and later stopped at a local Market which took place right next to the Highway. I had some sweet pancake type thingies made from rice flour, coconut milk and sprinkled spring onions on top. Yummy!
A bit more walking around and taking pictures at the market and I was finally off driving back to Chiang Mai. While it was easy to leave Chiang Mai and find my way around the places I drove to, driving back into Chiang Mai and finding the center was a little bit more tricky. It was busy traffic and I must have been driving around the city perimiter for quite a while since eventually I found myself entering the center from the opposite direction where I though I would be.. Never mind I got there evenually and was glad to be back.. my bum was sore after all the motorbike riding 😉
Tags: Chiang Mai, Thailand
saschas
Haha wow.