My home is 10kms east of Tha Ton on the 1089 and with a light mist that was going to clear and nothing to do I set off on the short trip to Wawi in the hills.
Just after the market in Tha Ma Khaeng (10kms from Tha Ton) you take a right off the big sweeping left hand bend, pass through Ban Mai Mokjam, follow the Maekok river a few Kms and then cross the river and start the climb. Its about 13kms up to Huai Chompoo which appears to be the name given to several small settlements of Yao people on this site.
I took the left signed to Doi Kat Pee Forest Park and carried on up till I got to a T junction where I found the tea drying factory
and the red bean sorting women.
The left fork was signed to the forest park but after just a few hundred yards it was rarely used dirt road and I didn't really come to see the trees. I retraced and took what would have been the right fork which took me on up to a decent sized village with a couple of schools. The road looked well worn so I carried on to see the big gold painted sitting Buddha I could see in the distance. From there the track was well used so I carried on for maybe 5 kms on alternating dirt and concrete (badly worn but quite passable) till I was looking out right to Wawi village and left to a big factory. The factory was a tea processing plant and I was invited in to try the tea by a woman who worked there.
She told me that some tour groups out of Chiang Rai stop here on the way past Wawi.
A few hundred yards on down the road I came out on the road from Mae Suai to Ban Mokjam. Completing my loop I went right, heading on up the hill to the Lao Lee resort with its terrific tea terrace location and finally back to the T junction with that view out over the surrounding hills.
Only 3 hours from Tha Makhaeng and back, with many photo stops and a long tea tasting and cake eating session.
All non-ethnic Thais, there's Lahu, Akha, Yao and KTM Chinese, with Shan down on the river. From my home a 50kms round trip but it felt like I'd left Thailand and gone to China.
Just after the market in Tha Ma Khaeng (10kms from Tha Ton) you take a right off the big sweeping left hand bend, pass through Ban Mai Mokjam, follow the Maekok river a few Kms and then cross the river and start the climb. Its about 13kms up to Huai Chompoo which appears to be the name given to several small settlements of Yao people on this site.
I took the left signed to Doi Kat Pee Forest Park and carried on up till I got to a T junction where I found the tea drying factory
and the red bean sorting women.
The left fork was signed to the forest park but after just a few hundred yards it was rarely used dirt road and I didn't really come to see the trees. I retraced and took what would have been the right fork which took me on up to a decent sized village with a couple of schools. The road looked well worn so I carried on to see the big gold painted sitting Buddha I could see in the distance. From there the track was well used so I carried on for maybe 5 kms on alternating dirt and concrete (badly worn but quite passable) till I was looking out right to Wawi village and left to a big factory. The factory was a tea processing plant and I was invited in to try the tea by a woman who worked there.
She told me that some tour groups out of Chiang Rai stop here on the way past Wawi.
A few hundred yards on down the road I came out on the road from Mae Suai to Ban Mokjam. Completing my loop I went right, heading on up the hill to the Lao Lee resort with its terrific tea terrace location and finally back to the T junction with that view out over the surrounding hills.
Only 3 hours from Tha Makhaeng and back, with many photo stops and a long tea tasting and cake eating session.
All non-ethnic Thais, there's Lahu, Akha, Yao and KTM Chinese, with Shan down on the river. From my home a 50kms round trip but it felt like I'd left Thailand and gone to China.
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