Remote villages in the mountains

[thaibeachlovers]

Go to Phayao and take the mountain roads towards the Mekong. Loads of villages on mountainsides.

I presume you speak excellent Thai to want to go to those sort of villages.

 

The most remote village I've ever come across was when taking the short cut across the Mae Hong Son loop via the Doi Inthanon road and took a wrong turn, ending up many, many miles from another village. Road was so bad my wife cried when she found out we'd have to go back the same way as it was a dead end.

 

I've also driven the dirt road from near Phrae to come out near the Queen Sirikit dam. Not even villages up there, just the occasional house. Even the locals warned us against going that way as it was so isolated and the road so bad.

 

BTW, how would you feel if you were minding your own business trying to make a living by grubbing dirt on a mountainside, and some Thai came by and wanted to stay with you? That sort of village doesn't have hotels or guest houses.

[jackdd]

35 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

BTW, how would you feel if you were minding your own business trying to make a living by grubbing dirt on a mountainside, and some Thai came by and wanted to stay with you? That sort of village doesn't have hotels or guest houses.

I only stayed in such a village once, for three days, at the home of my now ex girlfriend. When i'm travelling to such villages now, i don't intend to sleep there. I just drive arround, maybe take a break and have a chat with the locals. I definitely prefer a real bed, a warm shower and aircon for the night ????

Judging by the way you write (grubbing dirt) it seems like you think their life is miserable. I actually think many of the people in these villages live a happier life than people in the cities. I'm quite sure, that if for some reason i would have to stay overnight in such a village, i would be offered a place to sleep and a meal by the people there, most of them are actually quite friendly and welcoming once you talk with them a bit.

[colinneil]

jackdd i bit further than what you want but go to Mae Hong Son, travel south on the 108 5 ks turn left.

Keep going 22 ks Hua hee village, no electric, no internet.

Leave there travel another 12 ks Nong Kao klang village, again no electric internet, tourists.

I lived in the village for 15 months, people are Galiang, speak there own Galiang language.

Travel 15 ks further, hua poo ling village again the same.

[Denim]

4 minutes ago, colinneil said:

hua poo ling

 

Hua Poo or Hua Hee.

 

Tough choice.

 

Nope .....I'll go for the Hee on a longshot.

[colinneil]

33 minutes ago, Denim said:

 

Hua Poo or Hua Hee.

 

Tough choice.

 

Nope .....I'll go for the Hee on a longshot.

Two villages Hua Hee, Hua Poo Ling.

Edited May 10, 2019 by colinneil

[jackdd]

On 5/10/2019 at 2:37 PM, colinneil said:

jackdd i bit further than what you want but go to Mae Hong Son, travel south on the 108 5 ks turn left.

Keep going 22 ks Hua hee village, no electric, no internet. 

Leave there travel another 12 ks Nong Kao klang village, again no electric internet, tourists. 

I lived in the village for 15 months, people are Galiang, speak there own Galiang language. 

Travel 15 ks further, hua poo ling village again the same. 

This was the best post in this topic so far.

I recently went there, was a nice trip.

 

5km south and then left means you pass the viewpoint at 19.234161, 98.008715, nice view over the mountains, until then you also have road.

When going down the road for the next kms you there is still road, but then it starts to alternate, a bit road, a bit dirt, usually the steep parts with road, the flat parts dirt.

Baan Hua Hee is the first village where you arrive, at 19.210611, 98.076040.

 

When you continue the tour you arrive at "Ban Huai Mai dam", this is at least the name which Google maps shows for 19.230104, 98.112040. At this village they have a a "solar power grid", and they also have a hospital. In this village i decided to ask the locals if it's possible to continue and arrive at "Ban What Chan" (my plan was to go from there back to Chiang Mai), which they confirmed, they told me it's about 50km dirt road, but it's possible.

If it's possible i should do it, right? My girlfriend was just like: <deleted>, 50km dirt road, are you crazy. But she also didn't want to go 30km back to Mae Hong Son to then go arround, through Doi Inthanon. So off we went.

 

Next stop at a "coffee shop" at 19.197008,98.146771 i don't know what the name of this village is. They even had coffee, and beer, and some water, and this was about everything they had. We asked them again if it's possible to exit at "Ban Wat Chan", which they confirmed, but they expressed more doubt in our journey with "the road is really not good", and we got the tip to turn left at the next Y-intersection (which is at 19.176042, 98.148584). Which was a good tip, because due to a lack of internet connection i might have went wrong if nobody told me.

 

They were right, the 20km road between this village and the next one at 19.144356,98.208757 (it's possible to turn left at 19.196154,98.166011 and after a few more villages leave the mountains in the direction of Pai, but we didn't go there, just saw it later on Google Maps) was definitely in a quite bad condition, about 20km long. After this village the road got a bit better again, mostly compressed mud, some gravel, concrete at steep parts. Drove through another village at 19.101422,98.227384 and maybe 20km later finally arrived back at a paved road near "Ban Wat Chan", in this moment a downpour started and within 2 minutes after noticing the first rain drops we were soaking wet.

If this rain had hit as while being on the mountain... we would have most likely been trapped, the "road" there probably turns in a muddy mess when it's raining. From entering the mountains until leaving them it took us about 3 hours (about 70kms).

 

-------

 

In the meantime i've been to quite a lot of remote places can't even remember them all, here a few which were kind of special:

 

https://goo.gl/maps/xtV668ycfeRSAYbz9

A checkpoint shortly before Myanmar, the soldiers inform you to be careful to not accidentally cross into Myanmer, and that there are three Thai villages which you can visit. The way before this checkpoint and also after has nice views and paved roads (one of the villages after the check point only has a dirt road)

 

https://goo.gl/maps/WcmnfCU8ZkxbCrfi7

Here you can enter Myanmar. To enter you have to deposit your ID card (Thais) or your passport with the army on the Thai side, and then you can visit the village on the Myanmar (Shan state) side on foot. No customs, so in theory you could fill your backpack with cheap alcohol and cigerattes and take it back to Thailand. I asked them what happens if i carry a few seriously big bags to Thailand with me, in this case the soldiers would stop me and check what i'm carrying, so you shouldn't don't do it too excessive.

When entering there the Shan state soldiers take a picture of you. I asked them if they use this picture to find me if i don't come back. They were just like: Up to you if you come back or not, they don't care and won't come looking for me if i don't come back. So i asked them if i could just stay in the village as long as i wanted.

They explained that this basically just depends on the village headman, if he says i can stay there i can stay, however long i want, they don't care about a passport or visa.

So if anybody is trying to hide, this place would be an option, neither Thai nor Myanmar authorities will go there ????

 

19.373172, 97.865604

Here is the entry point to a refugee camp. No chance to enter there without special permit (i will research if i can get this as a random foreigner, might of course only be possible if working for the UN or similar)

But right before this gate you can follow the road to the left to arrive at a "Karen long neck village" after a few hundred more meters. In total about 2km of dirt road (i think not possible with a regular car, you need more ground clearance, and i also wouldn't want to do it with a big street bike) to arrive there.

When i arrived there it looked kind of fake, very easy bamboo huts, and they are offering lots of stuff to buy, like it's a setup for tourists. I asked several people, including a child if they really live there all the time, and they all confirmed it, so it seems to be really their home.

[EricTh]

You might want to go to the Akha, Lisu, Lahu villages in northern Chiang Mai. 

 

It's cool and remote alright and you will be the only farang there.

 

click the link below for the locations.

 

http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2019/03/ethnic-origin-of-akha-in-thailand.html

Edited June 10, 2019 by EricTh

[EricTh]

On 5/2/2019 at 10:17 PM, blanes2007 said:

19.368345, 98.713857

Take the road through Chiang Dao National Park Check Point, after 10 kms you will get to the hill tribe villages (Karen and Akka) with bungalows 500 per night

 

This is a tourist spot, not what he wants.

[worgeordie]

Years ago I went up to Khun Sa's village,the roads were terrible,

but the houses were all brick built,not the usual wooden village

houses.

regards worgeordie

[KC 71]

Like i said The Rai wins every time
There are 14 different Hill-tribes here,each with their own different language - if you want diversity- it don’t get much better than that !


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[jackdd]

4 minutes ago, KC 71 said:

Like i said The Rai wins every time
There are 14 different Hill-tribes here,each with their own different language - if you want diversity- it don’t get much better than that !


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I believe you, don't worry ????

Actually i've been to such a village before, my ex GF comes from such a village in Chiang Rai and i did stay there for a few days.

But since it's not possible to do this as a day trip from Chiang Mai and my girlfriend is not as flexible with her working hours as i am, this needs some planning.

When i have to do my next visa run i will do this in Chiang Rai and will then also spend some more time in the area.

[bkk6060]

2 minutes ago, jackdd said:

I believe you, don't worry ????

Actually i've been to such a village before, my ex GF comes from such a village in Chiang Rai and i did stay there for a few days.

But since it's not possible to do this as a day trip from Chiang Mai and my girlfriend is not as flexible with her working hours as i am, this needs some planning.

Go without her.

Plenty of girls in the villages gladly will take care. ????

[KC 71]

I believe you, don't worry [emoji6]
Actually i've been to such a village before, my ex GF comes from such a village in Chiang Rai and i did stay there for a few days.
But since it's not possible to do this as a day trip from Chiang Mai and my girlfriend is not as flexible with her working hours as i am, this needs some planning.
When i have to do my next visa run i will do this in Chiang Rai and will then also spend some more time in the area.

[emoji106]


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