Songkran Fever, Hill Tribes and a Good Dog: A Traveller's Chiang Mai Diary

A short flight from Bangkok brought me to Thailand's northern Capital of Chiang Mai on a holiday whim to make a several day ‘Hill Tribe Trek'. At the airport I quickly found and hopped onto the “songthaew” (local style covered truck/taxi) of an English speaking driver and asked him to bring me to the hotel I'd chosen. When I arrived I found that luckily there were a few rooms left. Well, it wasn't the hotel I chose, but close enough; the room was clean, water from the tap was hot, and the door lock seemed to work, so I wasn't too worried, although this was my first travel to Thailand.

Although it's only home to about half a million people, Chiang Mai is the 2nd or 3rd most populous city in Thailand (Bangkok has 10 million). Historically, some of the more remote Thai provinces have been less than complete in their acquiescence to the central government in Bangkok, which maybe helps to explain why Chiang Mai is known as Thailand's "Northern Capital;" to many people in the north, Bangkok is so distant (both physically and conceptually) that the regional administration in Chiang Mai is the only relevant government. Touted by tour operators as the "gateway to the north”, Chiang Mai is situated at the southern end of the infamous Golden Triangle where Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos meet at the Mekong River. This part of Thailand was once internationally renowned for its huge opium industry, but the central Thai administration has tightened its grip on the area recently, and much of the production has moved across the border into Burma. That – and a few hotel odds and ends gleaned form the Lonely Planet – is about all I knew of Chiang Mai before hitting the streets.

Festival Time in Chiang Mai

Immediately I felt Chiang Mai a wonderful place; all the amenities you could need, modern, and not nearly as noisy or as polluted as Bangkok. When feeling meditative it was easy to find peace & quiet, and when craving entertainment, a busy street packed with buzzing clubs and bars. And because the main part of the city is defined within the city walls, it is also relatively compact and easy to navigate. The ancient city walls and a moat running all the way round once defined the whole town, but now Chiang Mai spills out over the old boundaries, and only the 4 main gates, each facing one of the main compass points, remain (plus a few bits of original wall).

Besides for trekking and adventuring, Chiang Mai is also a good base for taking part in other activities for which northern Thailand is famous. Thai cooking and Thai massage courses can both be done from here, as can naturalist pursuits like bird and nature watching. Trekking is the most famous activity here, with companies offering 2 to 7 day trips out into the wild. By internet search and recommendation I had arranged what I hoped would be in interesting “Nature and Hill Tribe Exploration” Trek with North by North East Tours in several days time. Wanting to be a somewhat responsible tourist, I was concerned about how my presence might impact the local people's traditional culture and way of life. More on this later.

My trip was in April, and my first day in Chiang Mai happened to fall on Thai New Year, or ‘Songkran'. Thai New Year is perhaps the most important, and apparently the most popular Thai holiday. Officially, the festival is 3 days long starting on or around the 13th April, where everyone celebrates the start of a new lunar year. Festivities & rituals such as parades, music and food festivals pack the days so visitors in this time can have a ball.

Songkran – Wet, Wet, Wet

This festival seems to be built around "water throwing". The duration of the holiday – strictly speaking, only 3 days, but in common practice celebrations go on actually for about 5 days – is filled with huge water fights in the streets. Everyone - young and old - lines the streets, armed with water pistols, hoses, buckets, water bombs and many more things soaking everyone else. The main targets are the vehicles on the roads, but the pedestrians and other people all get drenched as well. Of course, many open top trucks & cars crawl slowly along the road with a small crew armed with water weapons riding on the back! It is great fun, and you've got no choice but to take part! Wearing light, quick drying clothes is the best option, and don't carry anything like cameras that are not double wrapped in plastic bags, cause you will get wet wet wet no matter what.

Some local people I met at my hotel saw I was alone, and decided to educate me in a few of the local traditions. They told me in perfect English that were not from Chiang Mai, but visiting relatives here for the holiday. They told me of the ancient tradition of water purification signified by the festivities of this day. Later they pointed out some government folk in uniform kneeling before their bosses (?) washing their hands gently in a purification blessing, which was all very calm and proper-looking compared to what I experienced in the street. This lead me to believe there was much happening in this place below the surface, although I had to wonder if those big shots could be having any kind of fun rivaling mine.

Fortunately (I found out later just how much so), when about to hit the streets in a string vest, my new found pals shyly warned me about this point of Thai culture. Thai people dress modestly dressed at all times and they expect us to as well; you can't walk around in just shorts/swimming suit; it is offensive to the Thai culture. Some visitors do, and even though the Thai people are usually too polite to comment directly to you on your rudeness, this behavior makes you no friends. There were plenty of westerners who did not heed this, and once the liquor had been flowing a few hours that day, some scantily clad Farangs prompted a fair bit of not-so-secret Thai sniggering.

Most of my time in Chiang Mai, it was hot (27 degrees) and sunny. Today I was completely soaked and having so much fun I could not complain! Never – even as a raucous kid – had I ever enjoyed a 3 day watergun battle! It's quite a sight seeing so many people line the roads, especially by the river & canal, where there is and unlimited supply of water! Also, on the main street, the municipality had connected faucets to the main water pipes, where you could tap turns on and refill your bucket! Thais say Chiang Mai is the best place to celebrate Songkran, and I ended up here completely by chance! After several soaked hours I had to retreat to my hotel for a rest from the wet fun.

On one day, I also hired a motorbike so I could do a bit of exploration around Chiang Mai. For only 200B (about 5 USD) for a 24 hour hire, I hired myself a 75 CC ‘hog' and prepared to feel the wind in my hair. Note that when in Thailand, although most local people don't wear helmets, it is actually illegal not to. The police don't enforce it strongly, but they do make random stops, where you can get fined. Feeling sensible, I donned a helmet, at least till I could get out of the main city. Road safety here seems to be a rather haphazard undertaking; kids as young as 10 years old cruise the streets, 3 to a bike, and none wearing helmets! So I thought it interesting that it cost nothing extra to hire the helmet as well here. During this water festival time it made sense!

I have absolutely no experience driving vehicles other than cars. So I was surprised that the rental shop guy did not check or even seem to care whether I had a license or not. So I ask him how to use the foot pedals and levers, and showing no surprise at my ignorance, patiently explained starting and stopping etc; I guess I am not the first foreigner he taught to ride. I got off to a jerky start testing my newfound knowledge, but bouncing along like on a bronco at first. After a few trial runs up and down the lane, I felt ready to join the local grand prix.

Exploring the town and the areas around by bike was great. I had come for a trek to visit hill tribe villages, so one of the first places I visited was the Hill Tribe museum. Today many animist tribes still live scattered around the hills of Thailand & Laos . These tribes are centuries apart from life in the western world and belief that inanimate and natural phenomena have souls. They live simply in the mountain jungles and have limited or no electricity, no TV, no computers, little technology and some still sacrifice animals. While this is changing fast (directly proportional to how accessible their village is to the city and vise versa), they cling to a life that many westerners would see as prehistoric. Nonetheless, they exist and most of them seem happy with their lifestyle, although clearly the consumer society is starting to impinge upon them. I had read previously that some of the hill tribe villages are on main trekking routes from Chiang Mai, and unfortunately that many are advertently or inadvertently being taken advantage of by the tourist trade. The tribal people apparently usually get little or none of the money generated by trekking activity, and yet are largely the reason western visitors want to trek. After reading the practical info from the museum about these fascinating tribes, I jumped back on my motorbike, and took the long journey up to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, the most famous temple near Chiang Mai, situated on a huge hill. The road up there is fairly steep & windy, but it was good fun tearing up there on my little motorbike.

Wat Doi Suthep

The temple has become a major tourist attraction, and when I arrived there, I found long rows of countless souvenir shops, clothes shops, food stalls and dozens of other vendors. All packed with tourists and locals. The temple itself is at the top of a long set of stairs, but when you reach the top, it is one of the most spectacular temples in Thailand. Of course, this means it is always packed with tourists, but still it's a stunning temple with good views of the surrounding area.

After visiting the temple, I continued up the mountain to the hill tribe village there. The front of the village was very touristy, and there were local hill tribe people selling all kinds of stuff….some tourist crap I had actually seen last year in Kathmandu, Nepal! I got the feeling this hilltribe village was not too ‘authentic'. But a short walk thru the village brought me far from the sounds of people, and I beheld the vista of nothing but mountains and valleys, as far as I could see. On a whim I continued down into the first valley and up the neighboring mountain. Suddenly I realized I had walked for 2 hours without seeing anyone, and I began to get a bit scared, and decided to head back; the sudden change from relatively populated town-in-water-festival & mountain top temple, to this expansive mountain wilderness was dawning on me as the sun dropped in the sky. As I headed back, I was joined from nowhere by a youthful hilltribe girl walking in my direction. I could not communicate with her at all, but her smile made me smile, and I huffed to keep up with her. She stopped, turned and giggled at me whenever I had to stop to catch my breath, and I realized that my time back to village where I left my bike took me only half the time of the walk out! The girl smiled at me and was joined by her family or friends and continued.

Khao Soi

My little solo trek took a lot of energy, and when I finally reached my rented bike, I was starved, and had to get some quick sustenance. Looking around I picked the closest noodle shop and just pointed to what a fellow was eating, asking for the same. There is a heavenly dish – apparently from the Chinese Muslim heritage here – called “Khao Soi”. This dish of curried noodles, chicken and yummy yellow broth brought me back to life and pumped energy into my tired body. It was so good I had to look for this in any place I visited after, but I only found it in a few places in Chiang Mai. Try this delicious noodle dish if you get the chance. My trip down the mountain I probably drove too fast, but the wind in my hair made me feel like Peter Fonda, and I was on top of the world.

Nourished, and back in the city, getting around by motorbike wasn't too hard as the wet roads were packed with slow moving traffic. My small bike could easily dodge the slow moving cars, but I was a target for water attacks from all sides. I was dying to drink a beer, but realized that wet roads, no experience on bikes, and people hurling buckets of water in your face and squirting you with water pistols might actually mean the death of me. So I controlled my thirst until I reached the bike shop where I turned it over to a – by now – drunken and wet proprietor covered in talc powder. His friends nearly nailed me with a bucket of water, but I managed to leave the keys and slide past the flying water.

After changing into some dry duds, I hid out in a café near my hotel, in the back in a seat far enough from the road to avoid getting soaked again, and spent a few hours chatting with some Thai folk, who clearly enjoyed giving me tips they thought I needed on meeting local girls, and feeding me much appreciated icy cold Thai beer.

That night I visited the Songkran food festival, situated on one of the shut off main roads. Here dozens of diverse food stalls were set up selling all manner of inviting smelling and tasty morsels. I tried some various bits & pieces, such as pad thai, a delicious mix of noodles, vegetables, egg & prawns.

After dinner I briefly visited Chiang Mai's famous night market. Besides being an excellent place to find Thai and hill tribe handicrafts at very low prices (not that I am a shopper), the Chiang Mai night market is interesting in that the roots of the market can be traced back several centuries to when Chiang Mai lay on the caravan route by which merchants from southern China brought their goods through to Burmese ports for transport around the world. It was good fun bargaining for items I really hadn't much thought of buying. The locals selling in the shops loved to laugh, and so I had a wonderful time just browsing and meeting shop people who alternated from boredom to excited selling to groups of westerners.

Akha Grannies

The shopping fray around me became too much for my full tummy, and I took off walking the now relatively dry streets to find a pub or a bar. One of the more interesting clubs I found that night was called 'Rasta', although it was a pretty young crowd. A Rastafarian hang out with all the essential trimmings, I never would have believed it existed unless I'd seen & experienced it. I never knew Thailand had so many Natty Dreads and huge Rasta tams.

The next day, I began the trek that was the purpose of my trip.

The company picked me up at my hotel as they agreed to when I booked with them, and I took off with 4 other people and our guide to spend several days walking up to Hill Tribe villages. We also went bamboo-rafting, and riding elephants through the jungle, but I went to visit the hill tribes…I had heard so many conflicting things about such excursions, I wondered what to expect; some British hippies I met in Bangkok slyly mentioned that the hill tribe trek was a ‘cool way to get high on opium.' Another earnest pair of American lesbians-in-goretex-trek-gear extolled the sweaty workout their hill trek had gave them. And an Aussie who seemed to be a longtime denizen of Chiang Mai (whom I met at the Rasta Bar) narrowed his eyes and accused me of cultural imperialism (I thought that funny coming from him, but hey, OK). The point was I really did not know what to expect, but I relished the idea of being & living in simple elements for these days.

Our guide Vitoon took care of me, and 4 other folks from Canada (three nice looking college girls and one fellow). The walking was not hard, but I noticed my few years on the college kids, and the guide – who could run rings around all of is – made me feel like a complete wimp. I found myself stopping and pretending to admire a view while I caught my breath. My little ‘aclimatization' jaunt on Doi Suthep seemed like it was only hours ago that my chest & lungs had this burning feeling.

Camping in the jungle is OK by me, but I prefer the nights we spent in hill tribe villages, where we met local hill tribe people, ate with them, and learned about their way of life. In one village a festival was going on (maybe a wedding?), and after a few shots of white lightning, their traditional dances & songs seemed familiar and I allowed myself to be coerced into copying their dance steps. Fortunately Vitoon planned to have us stay in that village, otherwise the suddenly now powerful rice whiskey might not have let me continue. But before I could creep off to my beddings prepared by Vitoon, one of the local folks motioned for me to join him and his friends at a tasty smelling dish of pork bones. I hungrily gnawed meat from half a dozen bones before noticing the size of the ribs I ate seemed unlike any pork I'd previously eaten. It wasn't until the next morning that I found out I had been eating dog meat. The hill people got a great laugh from the look of horror the Canadian college kids showed on their faces. My hangover was gone after walking for 10 minutes, and I seemed to have much more energy than yesterday. Vitoon told me that dog meat has that effect; it is a ‘hot' food, and therefore gives energy.

‘Yes,” good dog'” I thought.

Hot dog?

The trek continued with some fairly stunning scenery, standing on top of one mountain and looking down at others (some of which were actually across the border in Burma). Although the mountains aren't particularly large (generally in the 2000m range), the mere fact that they're foothills to the Himalayas makes them impressive.

While trekking in this way, I could hardly avoid considering the relative merits of trekking through hill tribe villages. That the treks impact the hill tribe people is certain; that this impact is predominantly negative I am not so sure. While bunches of boorish farangs periodically tramping through the area clearly interferes with a hill tribe's ability to live a traditional life, such traditional lives are usually far from idyllic. Hunger and disease are apparently common here. While I felt some guilt for interfering with ‘traditional life', I do not regret helping a hill tribe farmer with an infected hand by cleaning his wound and giving him antiseptic cream. Would the tube be enough? I hoped so but do not know.

Giving Back to Local Communities

After reading what some people say, that the Western penchant for trekking near Chiang Mai is destroying the hill tribes' way of life, I was very curious and a bit apprehensive to see what I might find. Would I be directly contributing to the demise of a disappearing & precious culture while drinking local moonshine? Would my mere presence act to catalyze unpleasant and unwanted negative change in this lovely area among these friendly folk? Clearly visitors influence the hill tribes when they arrive, but this is neither unequivocally positive or negative. The hill tribe folk (and any traditional culture for that matter) are being dragged, whether they like it or not, into the modern world. I was pleased that Vitoon spent time in every village we stayed listing their needs according to their headmen. He told me that his company – North by North East – usually helps the villages on their routes with small social projects every year, such as building toilets, or supplying simple medicines. But he said, other companies would soon find his route and follow us. Hence, Vitoon told me how he is always looking for new routes; this route had only been open for less than a year, and he saw much change in the hilltribe groups along the route. In some villages near to a road there is electricity, therefore there are TVs and, of course, the MTV culture is taking hold. I even heard of villages where locals donned their traditional garb only for the time when they knew farangs would be visiting! I had heard of this phenomenon, and thus found the most ‘authentic' trip I could. Vitoon seemingly spoke the languages of the local people. While I could not tell how well, he was very respectful to local people, and I think that had a great impact on how we were received in each village where we stopped.

Padaung Women

Upon returning to Chiang Mai, I fell into my soft bed and slept the sleep of the just, to awake the next morning for my flight back to Bangkok. It had been an eventful week.