A day in the mountains

It’s a bit weird reflecting now on Chiang Mai- a place we expected to be somewhere we might be able to stay for an extended period- and writing the two most extensive pieces on places we visited that were a fair way outside its city limits. This details a trip we took when we hired a car and headed south- towards Thailand’s biggest mountain, Doi Inthanon.

Firstly, the drive itself was fairly relaxing- we seemed to get out of Chiang Mai’s infamous traffic fairly quickly- after first taking a wrong turn and ending up driving into a “restricted” area (so restricted that half of Chiang Mai was using it as a shortcut) much to Ilka’s disbelief. We ended up following a ring road alongside the mountains that border the west of Chiang Mai- with picturesque rice fields sitting before them.

We followed the turn-off towards the mountain, which was dotted with various other attractions- which given that we had precious little idea of exactly how attractive they were- we basically had to make a few guesses in terms of which ones to stop at. We ended up choosing a couple of waterfalls, which were mainly deserted, and gave us and the kids a chance to stretch our legs, and Naphamethinidon and Naphaphonphumisiri, a monument dedicated to Thailand’s (recently deceased) king and queen, near the peak of Doi Inthanon.

The king’s monument, let’s call it, was a fairly surreal experience, considering we were in Thailand. The first sights you are greeted with are rows of rhododendrons, that is, the bushes I’m used to seeing in grandmother’s gardens in Germany. The two huge buildings on the hill could also be something based on a turn-of-the-century German Denkmal (memorial), carved in light granite and even accessible by covered escalator. On the other side of the memorials is a small garden which makes you think you are up in the mountains of Switzerland, especially when the mists start rolling in with the threat of rain. The chill of temperatures around 22 degrees also do a pretty good job of convincing you that this can’t possibly be a scene from a mountainside in Thailand- the only visitors that occasionally give it away are the giant flying rhinoceros beetles that are also looking to pollinate the flowers.

Onto the mountain itself- the first thing you might be thinking is- how did you manage to get your kids up the highest mountain in Thailand- all 2565 metres of it?! Well, basically, we drove 2560 metres of it, and walked about 200 metres to the top. That’s how. I’m sure that it must be one of the only “highest mountains” in a country that is so easy to get to- and a weird “summit”- you still feel like you’re standing in a forest- as you can’t see anything beyond the trees. They need to build a lookout tower on top of the highest mountain in Thailand- just so you can kind of prove to yourself that it really is one…
Next to the peak is also a nice walk where you can head into some cloud forest- again a weird feeling- Ilka said it felt like Costa Rica, and my “feeling”- having been to New Zealand and heard my parent’s stories from Tasmania- was it also “felt” a lot like those places in Tasmania. Whatever it was, it was a lot different from what we expected in Thailand.

We drove back to see the sun setting over those same mountains and rice fields, and even managed to fit in dinner at the fish-feeding restaurant we’d passed a few times on the Hang Dong Road.

Rating: Good day.


Mae Klang Waterfall

Small village on the way to the top


The king's monument

200 metres to go! 


 Higher than the highest mountain



 Forest walk near the summit



Mae Ya waterfall

Rice fields on the drive home

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