Waiting for us in the lobby after breakfast today is a silver-haired dude called Big, who runs The Tuk Tuk Club. He’s our guide, companion and chauffeur for the day ahead and as we drive some 35kms southwest of Chiang Mai into the Mae Wang mountain area he runs through the various experiences he has lined up for us. It’s going to be quite the day!
Once we reach base camp, we transfer into a specially modified orange tuk-tuk, and he presents us with personalised water bottles as a memento for the day ahead. Off we go, chugging our way through fields of onions, rice and pumpkins, past flower farms and water buffalos, rural schools with kids playing football and even a spirulina farm.
Our first stop is Wat Doi Sapanyu, a monastery and temple complex in the mountains. Some of it is closed as the King’s secretary is paying an official visit, but the recently built circular five-storey pagoda is deserted and we climb up to the top for magnificent views of the Mae Wang area, including four towering Buddhas on a hilltop.
Big drives us over to them and points out a huge honeycomb hanging from one of the hands. Fortunately it’s old and the bees have now deserted it but while they were here it was far too dangerous to ascend to the platform on which they stand. We walk around it, noting the four cardinal points that they face and see an enormous staircase descending the hill to a garden below.
Big tells us it was built as the Royal Staircase, because this monastery was partly funded by money from the ‘Royal Project’, and it is truly impressive, with huge dragons snaking down the sides and monumental statues at the base. After collecting our packed lunches we continue on to Mae Sapok to visit a hidden waterfall and learn more about the Royal Project.
Twenty years or so ago, King Rama IX decided he needed to do something to help his subjects in the north turn away from the opium trade which was rife in this area. Tea had always been grown here by Chinese immigrants but the king realised that there were also ideal conditions for growing coffee so he started a project to educate his people and invest in transforming opium agriculture into arabica coffee cultivation. It’s been a huge success.
We park the tuk tuk and walk to the waterfall, past rubber plants and beautiful countryside, at the end of the trail coming to a cliff face covered in vegetation with water gushing over it at different points. It’s possible to continue up the trail and clamber behind the water but Big advises against it today as the rocks are very slippery so we take photos and head back to the tuk tuk to travel on to our next stop.
As we drive we start to see elephants, both on the road and in various sanctuaries. There are hundreds of these establishments throughout Thailand caring for elephants which have been rescued from the illegal logging trade, circuses and abusive situations and it’s now big business for tourists to get up close and personal with these majestic creatures. However many of the sanctuaries are far from ethical, allowing tourists to get far too close to the animals, even offering rides. In fact a young Spanish tourist was gored to death just two days ago at one while bathing with elephants in the south of the country.
We are heading to the Mae Wang Elephant Camp, which was set up 35 years ago and has six rescued elephants, plus one who was born here, and are looked after by members of the Parakayo Karin tribe, who come from generations of mahouts. The British owner of The Tuk Tuk Club, and his family, sponsor this camp and work closely with the elephants to ensure they are extremely well cared for, and that all human interactions, with both the mahouts and any tourists they bring, are done in a responsible and respectful way.
Big tells us the history of each elephant and it is clear they know and trust him well. We have lunch at the camp and are introduced to three of the elephants; two adult females (Mama Noi and Maka Jokun), plus a five year old, mischievous male called Dokoon. We are given sugar cane to feed them which they take from us with their trunks and then Big and the mahouts lead them on their twice daily 3km walk to the river.
We walk with them, ever mindful of the enormous power of these majestic animals and slowly progress through winding, well-trodden paths to the river. Mama Noi, the biggest of the three, stops frequently to graze on vegetation but eventually we make it to the water and walk with them for quite some way until they stop in deeper water and start to wash themselves. Big and the mahouts get in the water with them and using buckets help throw water over them to cool them down, and we also take turns to throw water for them from a safe distance too.
Once the elephants decide they’re finished, they ponderously walk up the river bank and head over to a fig tree where the mahouts use catapults to shoot the fruit from the high branches for the elephants to eat. Big says his goodbyes to the elephants, with them nuzzling against him before they return to the camp, and then the three of us get back in the tuk tuk for our final excitement of the day.
After a ten minute drive we come to a spot by the river where bamboo rafts are waiting for us. They’re essentially just long platforms tied together with rope and skilfully manoeuvred through the water with poles by members of a different Karin tribe. Popping our phones in waterproof cases around our necks, Big gives us camouflage life jackets, which he tells us are Thai army issued, and takes all our belongings from us, telling us he’ll meet us downstream in an hour’s time.
Our silent navigator stands at the front of the raft with myself in the middle and Coman at the back and we set off, gliding gently along the river. It’s tranquil and pretty but the water is far from pristine with plastic and litter making frequent appearances, and sewage pipes draining openly into the river. We’ve been assured there are no rapids, and while we’re not exactly adrenaline-fuelled white water rafting there are definitely some challenging moments where we’re clinging as best we can to the bamboo as we’re thrust through swirling waters.
The only word our gondolier utters is at one point when he turns his head and shouts “waterfall” much to our alarm. Thankfully the bouncing, soaking passage we encounter doesn’t cast us off the raft but we’re definitely ready for the shore when we arrive at our destination. Yet, the “toilets” Big directs us to, so that we can change into dry clothes, are about as shocking as they come. We climb back into the tuk tuk and return to Chiang Mai, gratefully standing in the shower and washing the river from us.
It’s our final night in Chiang Mai, and having explored far and wide we decide to keep it simple and have dinner by the beautiful hotel pool. We’ve got to pack for yet another travel day tomorrow, but it is one that brings truly unexpected sights and leaves us speechless with wonder. We’re off to Chiang Rai, the ancient capital of the Lanna kingdom, but what awaits us is brand new, modern and quite surreal!
