Doing A Trek In Chiang Mai

[Cinders]

I'll be in Chiang Mai in early May and would love to do a jungle trek for a few days.... I'm 27, very fit and I'm hoping a few days hard trekking in the jungle will burn of some more fat!.....

Anyway, I've heard many horror stories about these treks's with guide's disapearing etc and was after some general advice on doing one....

Whats the best way of booking one?

What will I need to take with me?

What dangers are there and what should I look out for?

Any advice appreciated!

Cinders.

[KevinN]

You shouldn't have any trouble,,It is nice in MAY,,the monsoon has just got started and everything should be very wet,with some streams running out of their banks,and sometimes there will be high water in the low areas of CM. but that won't bother you any.

The best thing to do is, get a room at THE GOLDEN FERN GUEST HOUSE, it is 20 soi 8 phrapokklao rd. not far from THAPAE GATE, and you can stay there for a few days and enjoy the trekkers that are laying around the gate area,there are plenty of them,so you will have plenty of time to talk trekking,but it is best to stay out of the forests and away from the hill tribes as they are tired of trekkers fuking up the country and their peace and quiet of the villages. You know that trekkers are notorious for being BIG SPENDERS.

[Cinders]

I was hoping to go to one of these places where you just pay for a guide and you all meet up and go off on a trek for a few days....

I'm going around may the 4th - will it be that wet then?...

[KevinN]

I think that from the number of posts on this thread that you can see how a trekker is regarded here in Thailand..

[Opl]

Hi,

There are over 100 trek agencies in Chiang Mai, so every day something like 1500 trekkers in the 3 national parks around (Doi Inthanon, Sapatong, Mae Tang)... if you want to avoid the crowd , you can choose to join an eco- trek, off the beaten tracks, outside the national parks, somewhere 90 kms from Myanmar border , jungle altitude 800-1500 m , visit Akha, Hmong and Lahu villages, like:

eco-trek

[KevinN]

You guys still don't get it do you?

From a post in news articles titled ACTIVEST DETAINED AT SUAN PHLU IDC by George.

"On his list of exploiters are the army, the police, the Forestry department, tourists, photographers, trekkers, researchers, and journalists. This, of course, is just the short list. His particular pet peeve is missionaries.

"The Forestry department steals the land," he said. "Photographers sell Akha images and don't give any money back to the villages. Trekkers pay 5,000 Baht to visit the villages, like some kind of human zoo. And the Akha only get about 20 Baht of that."

go there to the thread and read it,a lot of info there and stay away from the jungles,it belongs to the hill people and they sure don't need the BIG SPENDERS stomping around there. Stay at soi cowboy and such places where you are welcome.

[adjan jb]

Forget Chiang-Mai. As Opl already told you, there are too many agencies in CM. Go directly to Tha-Ton (on the Burmese border).

Or better... rent a bike (100cc Honda), buy a map and head for the jungle.

[adjan jb]

Maybe this thread should be move to Chiang-Mai general topics.

I'm sure that, as usual, Chanchao has some advice to offer.

[NedKelly]

You have to get out of Chiang mai. The further the better. You can trek out of Pai. Just go to a guesthouse there and ask ....... they all have treks usually. My mate....a Karen man runs his own treks out of the Duang G/H in Pai. I beleive that using people like him is ok for trekking because the money is going directly to him and his porters. You will trek to his village and will stay one night there...maybe two other nights along the way inother villages.

This is how it should be....local villagers making the money ....not some agent in Chiang Mai or the UK for that matter. If you want details fromme you can pm me and I wil think about it.

If you must go and trek you must ask questions to your potential trekking guide, such as : will we see other trekkers, how much money do you (THE GUIDE) pay to the villages along the way,what do you pay your porters etc. Also ask about drinking water.....how do they propose to handle this........there are too many plastic bottles littering the pathways and villages. Carry ALL your rubbish out with you and dump it back in Chiang Mai where it can be properly disposed of. Never leave it in Pai or any other up country town/village.

Also ask about how many hours a day you will walk. Many treks are for senior citizens and fat usless prats that should stay home. Make sure you respect local peoples and wear appropriate clothing. DO NOT use drugs in hilltrib villages, including alcohol. If you want to give something along the way you can buy vegetable or fruit tree seeds in small cans or fresh fruit from a local market before you go. You will have to carry it and hand it out along the way. This is usually appreciated by the people in the villages.But it does develop a sort of handout mentality. Also, always ask before taking photos. Never just a walk around popping pics...it is a form of imperialism.

[KevinN]

THANKS NED, I for 1 appreciate what you had to say and advise given..

[Georgie-Porgie]

You have to get out of Chiang mai. The further the better. You can trek out of Pai. Just go to a guesthouse there and ask ....... they all have treks usually. My mate....a Karen man runs his own treks out of the Duang G/H in Pai. I beleive that using people like him is ok for trekking because the money is going directly to him and his porters. You will trek to his village and will stay one night there...maybe two other nights along the way inother villages.

This is how it should be....local villagers making the money ....not some agent in Chiang Mai or the UK for that matter. If you want details fromme you can pm me and I wil think about it.

If you must go and trek you must ask questions to your potential trekking guide, such as : will we see other trekkers, how much money do you (THE GUIDE) pay to the villages along the way,what do you pay your porters etc. Also ask about drinking water.....how do they propose to handle this........there are too many plastic bottles littering the pathways and villages. Carry ALL your rubbish out with you and dump it back in Chiang Mai where it can be properly disposed of. Never leave it in Pai or any other up country town/village.

Also ask about how many hours a day you will walk. Many treks are for senior citizens and fat usless prats that should stay home. Make sure you respect local peoples and wear appropriate clothing. DO NOT use drugs in hilltrib villages, including alcohol. If you want to give something along the way you can buy vegetable or fruit tree seeds in small cans or fresh fruit from a local market before you go. You will have to carry it and hand it out along the way. This is usually appreciated by the people in the villages.But it does develop a sort of handout mentality. Also, always ask before taking photos. Never just a walk around popping pics...it is a form of imperialism.

God, a politically correct trek sounds awfully boring! You people take Joe Cumming's advice in the Lonely Planet way too seriously. What kind of constipated plodder would go on one of these?

At least the cheap-skate back-packers try some O and have a little fun. (I bet Joe tried it a time or two before forbidding everyone else from indulging!)

[Guest IT Manager]

Listen to the folks. Stay away from the hill tribes with a thai guide. Go to Pai and do one with a proper guide who actually has a clue, which the thai guides don't.

KevinN had the best advice over all.

thai guides know nothing about hill tribes people nor do they care about them or much else come to think of it.

[chanchao]

I have a confession to make: I never actually went on an organized trek. I always regarded it as just another form of an organized tour, which it is of course, and preferred to find my own way, which definitely is possible.

However fairly recently I had to acknowledge that treks *do* make a lot of sense when you have limited time and just want to see a lot of the beatiful Northern landscape and visit some hilltribe villages. Often some river rafting and elephant jungle rides are thrown into the mix. Sounds still a bit tacky to me, but I have to face it: almost everyone really enjoys these things.

Yes I do like visiting basic villages. Not per se to ogle at a human zoo, though I do take pictures liberally, but to experience a more basic life. I work with computers every day, and it really is wonderful to be somewhere where your only concern for the day is how you're going to prepare that food you brought on a wooden fire, then have some drinks (that you also brought) and go to bed early and wake up earlier than ever in your life to the sound of pigs, dogs and chickens. As for cameras.. bring a little photo printer and people will remember you pretty much forever. ;-) Got to be a paradox in there somewhere.

I'm not idealizing this more basic life, I'm in the position to switch it off instantly come Sunday afternoon when I drive just a couple of hours back to Chiang Mai and have a hamburger and watch the Premier League or catch a crap Hollywood movie at Major Cineplex.

Note that 'real basic' villages become rarer and rarer as more and more villages get proper roads, electricity and phone lines, which is of course a very good thing, except for people like me who have to look a bit harder to find basic places to unwind.

Enough ranting.. Would travelling to other places than Chiang Mai be better to do a trek? I'm actually not at all sure. Seen Pai lately? It must have the highest concentration of croissant bakeries, muesli mills, yoghurt weavers, massage shops and internet cafes per square mile in the country.. So many businesses mushrooming there, would just any guide/agency there be sure to be more reliable than a Chiang Mai agency that have been in the business for years? Most Chiang Mai agencies start with driving you all the way into Mae Hong Son anyways. If you're not going to Chiang Mai for trekking then I would especially avoid Chiang Rai.. it's mostly rural flatland anyway but seems to get a lot of backpackers who think Chiang Mai was "10 years ago" and opt for another city that start with "Chiang" and is in the North and further away from Bangkok. That's unbelievably silly. I can totally relate to being in a city that doesn't have Starbucks or Major Cineplexes, but Jesus F.C., pick Nan or Phrae or Tak or Loei in that case.

So if you're not going to just find something suitable in Chiang Mai then perhaps find a trekking guide/agency that operates out of Nan or perhaps the Mae Sod (Tak) area. Not all people want the same things from a trek, just like some people want a 100 baht bamboo shack on the beach and others go to the Grand Phuket Plaza Resort & Spa. ;-) As treks vary so much in terms of time spent walking, the area, hilltribe time and other add-ons like elephants and rafts, I think the biggest choice is in Chiang Mai to cherry-pick your trek. If you already know you want something as remote as possible, then go to Nan or Mae Sod. Or Laos of course. :-P

Cheers,

Chanchao

[chanchao]

Oh yes, about bringing your trash: If the village is basic enough then it's not trash at all: People will actually re-use those plastic bottles and even plastic bags for something! We think of trash as trash, but actually it's not, tht water bottle is a container for lamp oil, your plastic bag is material for a rain-coat, bottle caps are wheels for a toy car, and so on. If that doesn't give you insight into consumerism then I don't know what does.

(And if the village is not basic then they will litter such a God-awful amount themselves that your water bottle is not going to make much difference anyway. ;-)

Cheers,

Chanchao

[Webby]

I'm 27, very fit and I'm hoping a few days hard trekking in the jungle will burn of some more fat!.....

I think you will be disappointed with the effort you have to put into a trek, even in the wet season I describe Thailand's trekking as "A Sunday stroll" Your reward may well come from visiting the villages.

Webby