Hiking in North Thailand

Thailand Travel Plan has the following hiking programmes under the leadership of an English-speaking guide:
From Chiang Mai: culture and elephants of the North: 2 days, caves, elephants and rafting and 1 night with the mountain people. Suitable for everyone.
3-day hike: 3 days with a group on foot, by boat and elephant to a variety of mountain tribes, spending 2 nights with the locals. Reasonable condition required.
4 days Lisu, Lahu, Karen en Akha: demanding, 4-day hike with your own guide to mountain tribes, 3 nights with the local population. Good physical fitness is required. This journey is for those who want to go deep into the area and learn more about the mountain people and their traditions.

From Bangkok: Mae Sot Nature Trail: 5 days, widely varied hiking in a remote area on the borders of Burma.

Condition
For short hikes reasonable physical fitness is required, meaning that they are suitable for almost anyone. For hikes longer than three days, an adventurous nature and good physical fitness is expected. You'll be walking through the wilderness with a rucksack (meaning there will be lots of sweating and in the rainy season, or if you are unlucky enough to catch a cloudburst, getting wet). The sanitary facilities - primitive to say the least, on the hike, behind the ‘bushes’or in this case bamboo trees - and the primitive overnight accommodation while visiting the mountain people (on a wooden floor with a sleeping mat) are not everyone's cup of tea.

Day tripping in jungle
Every day you walk a piece of the North Thailand wilderness; up and down hill. You'll come across all kinds of jungle (for example, a bamboo forest). The views are fantastic. Take into account that you’ll have streams to cross…

Evenings in the mountain village

Apart from the daily physical demands of your activities in the North Thailand, an essential part of the hiking trip is being a part of the village atmosphere in the morning and evening. In the evening, relax in your sandals and watching how your guide prepares your evening meal (and help, if you feel inspired), or take a walk around and watch all the evening activities, mainly those of the chickens, dogs, pigs, cows, that roam around freely. Here and there you will see village residents going about their last evening chores and the village children playing volleyball with a ball made of rushes. You can always have a chat with the locals using the guide as an interpreter. Your guide not only knows the region like the back of his hand, he also knows the local languages of the different mountain peoples and can tell you everything about them.

In addition another of his tasks that is not unimportant that he makes all your meals; he prepares simple but tasty food, and this gives you a good insight into as well as a taste for Thai food. He also takes care of tea, coffee and cooked water. You sleep in a wooden hut in the village, sometimes on a flexible bamboo floor (as one of your hut-mates moves, so you move with them), sometimes on a hardwood floor; sanitation is primitive and there's usually only a spring or a water pump to wash with (sometimes a small river).

Personal experience
Some people find going into a village a bit voyeuristic. We've never had a problem with this; we've never felt hostility and above all, our local agent ensures that Thailand Travel Plan avoids villages which have been heavily visited by other groups during the hikes. The agent also ensures that the group remains small, a maximum of 10 people.

Conclusion

We offer no electricity or running water, no à la carte dinner menu, no TV and no Internet during the various hikes. But what we do guarantee is an unforgettable, active cultural and wilderness experience in the seemingly endless green of North Thailand.

It's important to mention that our daily programmes are an indication of what you can expect, but it is possible that the routes of the hikes can change. What we do keep is the character of the hike.

What to take with you on the hike?

A few articles are important to have with you (besides adventurer's blood);
• cotton sleeping bag (blankets are available locally)
• sleeping mat, mosquito net, and sometimes a sleeping bag (all three are available for hire from our local agent)
• rucksack (day sack)
• short- and long-sleeved shirts
• shorts and long trousers
• poncho or waterproof jacket and trousers, backpack cover
• water bottle (can be borrowed on location)
• torch
• insect repellent
• hat or cap
• sun block cream
• enough camera film rolls or spare SD card
• if necessary travel sickness tablets for a somewhat rough ride in a pickup truck
• earplugs (think about the excited pigs when they get their food first thing in the morning, or your snoring travel companions)
• sandals
• toilet paper

If you regard a comfortable bed as necessary then you can take a self-inflating sleeping mat with you. Remember that you whatever you take; you’re going to have to carry on your back. You can leave some of your baggage behind in the hotel that we booked for you in Chiang Mai. You can lock your valuables away in the safe. Good quality, well broken-in shoes, with a good tread, are an absolute must. Toilet paper and other day-to-day essentials are not always available for purchase en route.

What not to take on a hike
• expensive jewellery
• nice but vulnerable clothing (gets a bit dirty on top of an elephant)

For local people, every foreigner that they come across is rich. And in comparison to their disposable income, it's true. If you really want to give something to the local people, you're better off making a donation towards the village school. In this respect, your guide is at your service.

What not to do on a hike;
• take photos without permission
• touch religious articles
• behave in a disrespectful manner, see the chapter on Thai culture.
• take on street hawkers. In our case, it was a group of hawkers, who we came across selling silver jewellery (“nice presents; but a low percentage of silver”), and of course you're going to try to barter with this kind of people. The Akha tribesmen are particularly hard-nosed salesmen.


Balloons for the village kids; better than sweets.

The seasons
The best period to travel here is from November to February. The weather at this time is nice and relativelycool with little or no rain. The next best period is June or July, the beginning of the rainy season, when the unpaved roads are not yet turned into a mud bath. The next best period is between March and May; no rain, dry and hot, because there's less foliage it's not so green. See the chapter on climate. 
Click here to go to the page assemble your own trip.
Or
here, for the overview of modules in North Thailand