VACATIONS FROM HOME: HIKING IN DOI INTHANON NATIONAL PARK

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

HIKING IN DOI INTHANON NATIONAL PARK

RAPIDS, NOT RIFLES
at Doi Inthanon

We opted to take a day trip to hike at Thailand’s Doi Inthanon National Park rather than explore the city of Chiang Mai, even though it was an added excursion. Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) arranged for us to travel to Thailand’s most popular park with a guide for $210 for the both of us.

Famous for its waterfalls, vistas and birdwatching, the nickname of Doi Inthanon National Park is “the Roof of Thailand”. The park is part of the Himalayan mountains, with peaks ranging from 800 meters to Doi Inthanon itself at 2,535 meters in elevation. In comparison, Mt. Everest rises to 8,848 meters and so our hike, which started at a much lower elevation, was just a walk in the park, and thankfully mostly downhill.

walking sticks
Doi Inthanon

The trail was well-marked and maintained and before we headed off, we had our choice of bamboo staves to use as walking sticks. Our guide spoke with an American accent and the first thing he pointed out was it will be safe. No longer will there be men with machine guns guarding the opium trade that flourished here for decades.

This was a bit unnerving at first but armed with this good news we proceeded.

THE PLANT OF JOY

Opium cultivation has gone on for millennia. The Sumerians called the plant “Hul Gil”, or the plant of joy. Opium had been cultivated in southeast Asia for centuries as well and was used in moderation by local communities, like the Hmong and Karen, as a part of their culture. Opium though was the only available cash crop and the impoverished highlanders and others who migrated into the area began to grow a lot of poppy plants.

poppy

THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE

This mountainous region where Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) and Laos meet was once the world’s largest producer of opium. At its height in the 1960s 145 tons of opium were produced annually. Even though Thailand banned opium in 1958, the illicit trade would simply shift to Laos, or Burma, or eventually back to Thailand depending on the political climate. Back then there were more guns and warlords than tourists in the Golden Triangle, but that has all changed today, at least in Thailand.

FROM POPPY TO COFFEE

Starting in 1969 on the initiative started by King Bhumibol Adulyade the idea of alternative planting was begun. Wishing to solve the problems caused by deforestation, because slash-and-burn agriculture was the prevalent method of opium farming, the illicit trade of opium production and the poverty that the people of the area never rose above, the King pushed the idea of replacing drug-crops with legal sustainable crops. Legal crops like coffee, rice, fruits like pomelo, longan or dragon’s eye fruit, strawberries and even peaches, and vegetables like carrots, cabbage and Japanese pumpkin have proved to be as lucrative as the opium trade, but without the risk of conducting criminal activities.

our guide

Along with this alternative approach to farming the Royal Project addresses illiteracy and public health in the remote mountains.

So, indeed the dark times of the commerce of opium in Thailand were behind us and we were able to enjoy our hike through Doi Inthanon without fear.

STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER

After a short up-hill climb our hike was all downhill. The bamboo staves cut for just this purpose came in handy as some of the terrain was rootbound and uneven. Some of the descent was narrow and steep, but there were wooden railings at some of the more treacherous stretches.

strawberry field
Doi Inthanon

Our local guide pointed out different plants and told us about the animals in the park, including several species of monkeys, although we saw nothing but the local flora and fauna. Evidently Doi Inthanon is a birders paradise, but we were just a noisy group tramping through the forest enjoying the fresh air and several majestic waterfalls.

We passed an open field that was being tended to by members of the Karen tribe, but it was strawberries not opium. We got some samples and purchased some to nibble on as we trekked. One could easily imagine poppy plants flourishing here at one time.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

Nearing the end of our hike the forest gave way to a valley of terraced rice paddies and coffee trees. The trail followed an aqueduct to our guide’s village. Mae Klang Luang. At a crossroads an enterprising tourist stand was set up and a woman was weaving cloth using a backstrap loom while other women presided over rows of the finished product.

Janet bought one to use as a table runner and insisted the weaving woman pose for a picture with the selected artisan cloth.

Included in the cost of the excursion was a hearty lunch. We enjoyed our meal while looking out on the most idyllic scenery. Despite the very rural setting, the restaurant had pristine modern bathrooms for guests. No doubt this was part of the infrastructure support given to the hill tribes as part of the Royal Project.

The last stop before we returned to Chiang Mai was the coffee shop. There were several other groups enjoying free samples of coffee being brewed by the largest chorreador I had ever seen. Water was poured over a large sack filled with coffee grinds and allowed to drip into a pot. We had several cups and then bought a sealed packet of their coffee to take home. We had so much caffeine Janet decided to run alongside the van for a while.

Thanks for reading.