Chiang Mai, an unspoilt treasure trove
By Lawrence Pintak
CHIANG MAI, Thailand (JP): We were exhausted. Our six-month- old had just spent a week in a Singapore hospital recovering from dengue fever and we were completely drained. All we wanted to do was relax. So we went on an elephant trek in Northern Thailand.
Granted, we did go back to the luxury Regent Resort Chiang Mai afterward, have an herbal massage and sip vodka tonics on the verandah of our suite as a crimson sun set over misty rice paddies and jungle-clad mountains. But where is it written eco- tourism has to involve bedrolls and bug bites?
Actually, "trek" is probably too strong a word to convey our experience. It was more of a slow-motion meander up a well-trod jungle path. We're not talking Hannibal's March here. All in all we probably covered three quarters of a kilometer. Imagine a Mack truck stuck in first gear. Our steed took a particularly leisurely approach to the trip. Even the other elephants kept overtaking us. Not that you would have wanted to move any more quickly, at least not if you were fond of your kidneys.
An elephant trek is one of those things you should try once, but there's no need to repeat the experience. Two hours perched precariously on a couple of boards strapped to the back of a mud- caked pachyderm -- hard up against a mahout who has been bathing with his charge -- is more than sufficient to file the experience in the "been there, done that" category and seek out less fly- blown diversions.
For that, the Chiang Mai area -- heart of northern Thailand's ancient Lanna Kingdom -- is a treasure trove.
Rent a car for at least a few days. To remain a gilded prisoner of your hotel, no matter how tempting it may seem, is to miss out on spectacular scenery sprinkled with countless golden Buddhist wat, hidden mountain resorts, waterfalls and caves.
River rafting, mountain biking, hiking, golf, tennis and shopping are among the many other diversions.
Well maintained roads twist like serpents through the lush green mountains and rice carpeted valleys. For a traveler from the crowded confines of Jakarta, the simple experience of driving for 20 minutes without seeing another human being is enough to make the trip worthwhile.
"Most people don't realize there's so much to do up here," says Savas Raaakunjara, the executive assistant manager of the recently opened Regent Resort Chiang Mai. "They come for a long weekend and end up saying, 'If only we had known, we would have planned to stay longer'."
Although this 700-year-old city is the rapidly expanding commercial heart of northern Thailand, a few miles outside the Chiang Mai you are in rural Asia. Hill tribes like the Karen and Hmong still eke out an existence in isolated jungle villages.
The Thai government has made major inroads against the drug trade, in part by developing a network of royal projects supporting agriculture and crafts industries, but illicit heroin processing operations are regularly uncovered in hill tribe villages.
The infamous Golden Triangle -- source of much of the world's heroin -- is just a day's drive away. Also within striking distance is Mae Hong Son along the Myanmar border, the most sparsely populated and environmentally protected province of Thailand. "A mist shrouded Shangrila" is how the guidebooks describe it.
Several other drives take you deep into the countryside, but put you back at the hotel in time for a dip in the pool and sundowners on the terrace.
Take Route 107 due north toward Chiang Rai and you can have lunch in Switzerland. The road climbs gently through green hills and paddy, past villages and small towns. Side trips include Chang Dao cave, the area's largest hot springs, and a memorial stupa to King Nerasuan The Great (read up on why he was great before leaving since everything is written in Thai).
About an hour away is the Chiang Dao Hill Resort, a collection of alpine chalets -- complete with fireplaces --tucked around a spring-fed lake. The chill air is pleasantly bracing after the heat and humidity down below.
The menu features such universal favorites as "Black Jew's Ear with minced pork & herbs" (not to be discriminatory, they also offer "White Jew's Ear"), "Scum Bean Soup," and "Ten Thousands Fahrenheit Degree Fried Soi".
Less of a culinary adventure, but also worth the drive, is Route 1096, which loops from just north of the city to just south of the airport, by way of three hours of narrow, twisting mountain roads.
This is not a trip for those prone to car sickness. The road rarely stays straight more than 100 meters at a time. Budget plenty of time for this trip, which takes you past several mountain resorts, the Sa Moeng hill tribe village, a butterfly farm, waterfalls, an elephant camp, and the Royal Botanical Gardens (pack a lunch and stop here for a picnic).
A word of warning: Time the trip to finish well before dark. The sharp bends and steep inclines turn a pleasant afternoon drive into a strenuous nighttime endeavor. We came around one bend to find the road blocked by a landslide. In the dark, we may not have seen it in time.
Conveniently, The Regent Resort Chiang Mai is located just before the northern end of the road (the sign is small, so once you're back on the valley floor, watch carefully). If you're not staying there, it's worth stopping in for a drink or a pot of tea in the open-air pool terrace restaurant built out over the rice paddy integrated into the resort. There one can decadently unwind as farmers and water buffaloes toil a few meters away.
Golfers can choose from five courses, led by the venerable Green Valley. Several more are set to open soon. Don't be misled by talk of Chiang Mai being the coolest part of Thailand. It may be, but when we played Green Valley it was as brutally hot as any round in Jakarta ever was.
For the seriously adventurous who want callouses not coddling, treks that live up to the name -- on foot or elephant -- can be arranged that take participants deep into the jungle for anywhere from one night to a week and involve sleeping in hill tribe villages.
But rumor has it there is no pool, terrace, or pre-dinner drinks.