Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) Tourist Guide


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AWAY FROM IT ALL IN NEARBY MAE WANG

Text : Ying
Images : Karin

As the heat gets unbearable - outside the range of the air-conditioner of course - we office crowd are yelling the same phrase: "It's insanely hot!"

Think sea, some say. But that's obviously difficult for us in Chiang Mai. Well, what about waterfalls? Hmm. Cool, refreshing. Quite a lot near here too. But where? Which one?

Then someone said, "Mae Wang", which rang a charming bell for us all. That very weekend, we took a 2-day 1-night trip to this not-so-distant district. There wasn't much to get prepared because it's so close. We left at 10 o'clock in the morning on the Chiang Mai - Hod road, the famous 108 highway that passes so many attractions such as Baan Tawai, Kad Farang, etc. Most tours would have stopped, either to shop or drop, but we kept going and till we came to the Highway 1013 intersection in front of Sanpatong Market. I'd suggest you keep your eyes open for a small sign on your right hand side (because you could easily miss it). Take the right turnoff, which will lead you to Mae Win, a small tambon in Mae Wang District, which is almost totally ignored on most of the common tourist maps.

Our destination was a small village called Mae Sapok, which we reached around 11 o'clock. Throughout the 50 kilometer journey from town, the scenery was familiar to me due to a trip from my childhood. I knew my memory was not so vivid, but I could feel that not much has changed; the peaceful country landscape, the green rice fields, market gardens and orchards, as if in some impressionist painting. You couldn't have helped loving it if you'd been along.

However, my memory proved to be pretty bad after all when it came to directions, because we soon realized we were getting lost. So we stopped to ask for directions at Mae Win sub-district office. The jao-nathi - officials - there were very friendly and gave us tons of useful information, besides confirming that we were on the right path.

Then someone noticed the poster of a giant bamboo, whose sheer larger-than-man size was a big subject to talk about, and made everybody long to visit it - that's to say, the giant bamboo, not the poster. But not till we'd found lodgings for the night.

Back on the road, another large green poster suggested stopping at what seemed like a pleasant comfortable place called Kanchana Resort. We decided to follow through and shortly afterwards we arrived at this lovely resort in a really beautiful setting. Then, having checked in (prices starting at 790 baht/night for a bungalow for 2) we set off again to have more fun. Easy as that.

Looked at from the road, Mae Sapok is a rather small place, a village that you may drive past in only a couple of minutes. However, it's actually part of the Ob Khan National Park and covers a large forested area. In the more populated part, there's a Mae Sapok Development Center Royal Project that you may want to visit, since they're bringing in new developments that promise quite considerable changes for people in this little-known part of our province.

You remember that giant bamboo, and how we thirsted to see it? Well, we quickly found out from one of the resort staff where to find it, and with a keen sense of anticipation struck out into the nearby forest. Now, you know that joke about the newly-wed couple who spent their first night together at the Niagara Falls? How the bride said the following morning, "That's not as big as I expected, either?" Well, ditto for the `giant' bamboos. Don't expect too much, is what I advise. Maybe it's the baby bamboo of the giant mother bamboo on the poster.

Somewhat dispirited, we retreated into a more civilized part of the village. The Royal Project Development Center there raises seedlings and distributes them to local farmers all year round. Anyway, what impressed me most was the picture of hill tribe children at various ages, helping their parents in the orchards.

With local map in hands, we decided to get away from the heat by going to the Mae Sa Pok waterfall, which is quite near, although my clumsy navigation took us round in circles, and we had to ask the way from the villagers there and were given a couple of dogs to act as our tour guide as well. And quite an impressive waterfall (if not exactly a 'giant' of its kind) which we enjoyed just looking at - a velvety curtain of water falling over ancient rocks, sparkling in the sunlight. We enjoyed bathing in it too, very much as if we were in our private and luxurious bathroom, because no tourists ever come there - at least, not while we were there. Soothed and soaked by this first waterfall, we decided to get wetter and even more soothed by another, higher up - Mae Wang waterfall.

A word of warning - getting there is tougher going and needs an off-road vehicle, but it's certainly worth it for those seeking an adventurous ride. And since so many farangs do like adventurous trips, it was no surprise to find quite a few of them already resting by the rocks. That was goodbye to getting more soaked and wet, since some of us were not accustomed to fully enjoying the cool water before staring strangers. So, we went on to spend late afternoon at Wat Tam Ton, a calm and peaceful temple set in a large cave, a famous place for people seeking meditation retreats.

That was it for our first day at Mae Wang, but next morning we got up early to treat ourselves to some nice fresh air. Around the resort were orchards and rice fields, giving a truly countryside atmosphere. I took a hurried bath and, wandering around the resort, I was pretty surprised to discover how many fun activities are on offer here, including a hill tribe version of go-carting and other so-called hill tribe sports - traditional, I wonder?

Later, we packed up, checked out and got into the tourism business again. This time we headed for a Karen village, up a road so challengingly steep we were surprised so see how the Karen themselves drove up it - practice makes perfect, obviously. At first we thought we could drive up the hill to the most beautiful waterfall of all in Mae Wang, the Paa Mon waterfall, but we were wrong. The road was so steep and narrow - well, it made you think of accident insurance and other dire things. So my advice is that if that's going to be your destination, come on a trail bike. They're not expensive to hire, and there are some really good ones around. Try the Honda AX 1, for example.

Well, life goes on and since we couldn't go up, we switched to plan B and came down to the flatland by the river, Nam Mae Wang, that's about 5 km away. There we turned to some of the traditional tourist activities and did some elephant riding and bamboo rafting.

That was about it. It was midday, and work in the city was calling. We'd enjoyed ourselves, and done only a few of the things that a visit to Mae Wang offers so we were content and could look forward to another equally enjoyable couple of days later in the year. So watch this space!

And maybe our second time round - they are fast growing plants after all - those GIANT bamboos will live up to their publicity billing.