Safe to go into mountains????

[georgegeorgia]

A few years ago , about 10 actually, i met a freelancer near a bar who to cut a long story short invited me back to their mountain area as they were Akha people.

 

apparently it was a long way away, smelling a rat  and being late at night i declined ,but telling this story numerous times to expats some say i should of gone there.

 

i have no idea about the situation as I rarely visit CM nowadays , mostly i prefer Udon Thani,but it has always crossed my mind if i should of gone .

 

But getting back to my post, can anyone tell me more about the Akha area and is it safe to visit these villages, how far away drive are they ?

 

Any expats live there in the mountains? 

 

has anyone gone with a person they met in CM up to the mountains where the Akha live?

 

 

i did visit the Karen people on a tour group,they had the bangles around their necks ,but this isnt the area the freelancer wanted to take me is it??

 

also visited Mae Hon Song ,lovely beutiful area

 

Its obviously not safe in all  country areas up there compared to say udon areas.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 19, 2018 by georgegeorgia

[Lungstib]

I live in an area where maybe 50% of the population are hilltribe. I have been travelling into their villages for 30 years, used to do a lot of photography. The Akha were never unfriendly just a bit wary, have mostly integrated into mainstream life and now build concrete houses and own vehicles. Almost all hilltribe villages are now connected by proper roads. Akha do tend to be poorer than some other tribes, not so often do I see them with big new pick-ups but most of their kids do get into Thai schools and have basic education. The village 3kms along from me has quite friendly people from whom I bought ducks a few years back. Unlike the Lahu and Lisu in the same district, they have not been involved with the drug business. They are often used as cheap labour on local farms and plantations and its more often women making up the majority. No need to fear these people, they like foreigners better than they do Thais because of being abused and misused in the past. 

[dcnx]

I’d be more worried about getting killed on the road by a speeding, mindless, local checking Facebook while overtaking on a blind corner.

[BritManToo]

3 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

has anyone gone with a person they met in CM up to the mountains where the Akha live?

The villages around CM are all Hmong.

Akha is a long way away, more like a 50-100Km trip.

Edited November 19, 2018 by BritManToo

[sfokevin]

I live in Chiang Mai and my partner and I go up touring into the local mountains and the same up in Chiang Rai... The only thing that worried me was the large number of churches... 

[eyecatcher]

I did a charity collect and food and warm clothing run to a Hmong or Lisu village a few years ago out of Mae Chaem south of Chiang Mai.

I was one of only two paleskins in our party.

Regardless, at 10km out we had to stop at a local checkpoint and have the goods checked, the personnel checked just so the hilltribers can prepare mentally for our arrival.

 

They dont see local Thais let alone foreihners in their very private mountain villages so rightly they are very nervous cum suspicious.

 

Some things stick with you though, like all the 16yr old girls there dressed with breasts exposed, and a very obvious feeling of incestuous relationships being rife or just polygamy????

 

But it was a great day, especially seeing one of the local kids in one of my old Leeds United shirts

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, eyecatcher said:

Some things stick with you though, like all the 16yr old girls there dressed with breasts exposed,

Sounds great, can I join the next expedition?

Happy to bring a few t-shirts and blankets.

Edited November 19, 2018 by BritManToo

[eyecatcher]

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Sounds great, can I join the next expedition?

Happy to bring a few t-shirts and blankets.

of course, as I say it was the over riding memory

[FrankieDimes]

From my experience of living in Thailand for 10 years. I would be more weary of traveling in the Thai mountains/waterfalls with business partners, especially Thai business partners.  Any Thai people with something to gain from your death such as wives and baby momma's.  Any Thai person you may share any property with (especially land). 

[1337markus]

Safe to go into mountains????????

 

Is it safe to swim in the sea at Pattaya?

[UPDEHSOI]

15 hours ago, sfokevin said:

I live in Chiang Mai and my partner and I go up touring into the local mountains and the same up in Chiang Rai... The only thing that worried me was the large number of churches... 

There's quite a story about those churches ( mostly catholic ) and how they got to be there. It might take a bit of digging, but if you're interested.........

[1FinickyOne]

I have never had a problem travelling into hilltribe villages and have been invited often... Just use common sense and you will be fine... 

 

actually, I got more of a danger vibe in Udon Thani... 

[Catoni]

Life is always taking certain chances, and at some point..this life ends for us. You wonder if you should go into the mountains. I had friends and family wonder if I should go to Thailand and Cambodia. I could die there for some reason. But if I stayed in Canada I would die sooner or later anyways without ever seeing more of the world.

    I met a nice girl in a bar in CM, and we developed a relationship. 

    One day she invited me to go with her to her Lisu village in the mountains north of Chiang Mai to Chiang Dao, and then far into the mountains north west of Chiang Dao. I was nervous about that. Thought about it for a couple of days. I knew about the Opium stories and thought anything could happen. It was an ancestral village thing around the time of Chinese New Year...not sure of the connection.

    I figured that if I don’t go, I will always wonder what I missed.

    I went with her...yellow songthaew to Chiang Dao dropped off at an intersection north of Chiang Dao, picked up by her brother in a beat up old pickup truck, then a very long drive along mountain roads and steep cliffs and fantastic views to her village. 

     No hotels, no WiFi, no cell phone reception. I was the only westerner in the village. People staring at me, children wanting to touch my hair and skin. 

     Within a few hours, people were smiling at me, offering me beer and food. The girl’s family had one of the nicer homes in the village and offered me to share a room with her brother. 

     Men, women and many of the children dressed in their traditional colorful clothing. 

     There was one, small Christian church there, but apparently closed up and not used in years. The people were much more involved in their ancient animist beliefs and honoring the spirits and ancestors.

    I had a valuable camera in my small backpack and wallet with money. But leaving my backpack in their home, no one took anything. They were wonderful people in the few days I was there. Amazing people. The people got me sharing dancing and partying at night. I saw local animist rituals lead by the village shaman. The men invited me to share their company and drink. I listened to long hours of chanting/singing by the older men at night. The recitation of the history of their people, passed on by song/chant.

     I saw the pigs butchered and bled in front of me. Their hair singed off in fire. Our dinner that would be made by the women. Much of the various dishes of food I had no idea what I was eating.

    They live simply and poorly. But not as poor as many families I have seen in some places in Cambodia. 

    All in all....an amazing few days in another world/culture. So very happy I decided to go. It was like the articles I had read in National Geographic or travel videos to exotic places while growing up as a kid. 

     Finally, I was living it for myself. Could there have been danger? Life is taking risks sometimes, leaping into the unknown. 

    Go......and don’t worry about the language barrier. Be kind and respectful and friendly... smile.... you will be fine. 

    Life is short, grab opportunity and grab experience. None of us get out of this world alive anyways. Make the most of it while you’re here.   Best wishes....

Edited November 20, 2018 by Catoni
Addition.

[StevieAus]

2 hours ago, UPDEHSOI said:

There's quite a story about those churches ( mostly catholic ) and how they got to be there. It might take a bit of digging, but if you're interested.........

There is a book called “ Ascent to the Tribes” written by Isabel Kuhn a missionary who came to Northen Thailand with her husband and others in the early 1950’s after I think being kicked out of China.

It tells the story of how they travelled into the mountains to visit the Hill Tribe people and their attempts to convert them to Christianity.

Its available through Amazon and an interesting read gives a good insight into life  in the North including Chiang Mai area during that time.

[superal]

2 hours ago, Catoni said:

Life is always taking certain chances, and at some point..this life ends for us. You wonder if you should go into the mountains. I had friends and family wonder if I should go to Thailand and Cambodia. I could die there for some reason. But if I stayed in Canada I would die sooner or later anyways without ever seeing more of the world.

    I met a nice girl in a bar in CM, and we developed a relationship. 

    One day she invited me to go with her to her Lisu village in the mountains north of Chiang Mai to Chiang Dao, and then far into the mountains north west of Chiang Dao. I was nervous about that. Thought about it for a couple of days. I knew about the Opium stories and thought anything could happen. It was an ancestral village thing around the time of Chinese New Year...not sure of the connection.

    I figured that if I don’t go, I will always wonder what I missed.

    I went with her...yellow songthaew to Chiang Dao dropped off at an intersection north of Chiang Dao, picked up by her brother in a beat up old pickup truck, then a very long drive along mountain roads and steep cliffs and fantastic views to her village. 

     No hotels, no WiFi, no cell phone reception. I was the only westerner in the village. People staring at me, children wanting to touch my hair and skin. 

     Within a few hours, people were smiling at me, offering me beer and food. The girl’s family had one of the nicer homes in the village and offered me to share a room with her brother. 

     Men, women and many of the children dressed in their traditional colorful clothing. 

     There was one, small Christian church there, but apparently closed up and not used in years. The people were much more involved in their ancient animist beliefs and honoring the spirits and ancestors.

    I had a valuable camera in my small backpack and wallet with money. But leaving my backpack in their home, no one took anything. They were wonderful people in the few days I was there. Amazing people. The people got me sharing dancing and partying at night. I saw local animist rituals lead by the village shaman. The men invited me to share their company and drink. I listened to long hours of chanting/singing by the older men at night. The recitation of the history of their people, passed on by song/chant.

     I saw the pigs butchered and bled in front of me. Their hair singed off in fire. Our dinner that would be made by the women. Much of the various dishes of food I had no idea what I was eating.

    They live simply and poorly. But not as poor as many families I have seen in some places in Cambodia. 

    All in all....an amazing few days in another world/culture. So very happy I decided to go. It was like the articles I had read in National Geographic or travel videos to exotic places while growing up as a kid. 

     Finally, I was living it for myself. Could there have been danger? Life is taking risks sometimes, leaping into the unknown. 

    Go......and don’t worry about the language barrier. Be kind and respectful and friendly... smile.... you will be fine. 

    Life is short, grab opportunity and grab experience. None of us get out of this world alive anyways. Make the most of it while you’re here.   Best wishes....

Good read . Did you develop a relationship with the girl you  met in the bar ?

[Catoni]

3 hours ago, superal said:

Good read . Did you develop a relationship with the girl you  met in the bar ?

For the months I was there, we became close. Very nice girl. Very different than than most. We keep in touch to this day.