Thailand (Lonely Planet, 13th Edition) - China Williams [7]
Follow the backroads to the trekking towns of Mae Sariang (Click here) and Mae Hong Son (Click here) to learn about the ethnic minorities more closely aligned to Myanmar than Thailand that thrive on these forested mountain peaks. Next is Soppong (Click here) and its underground cave sculptures. Do some hippie-style R&R at Pai (Click here), a mountain retreat with lots of daytime strolls and night-time carousing. Descend out of the winding mountain route into urban Chiang Mai (Click here), a base for meditation and massage courses.
More mountains await northwards in Chiang Dao (Click here), Pai’s more sober sister. Then take the backdoor to Chiang Rai by busing to Fang (Click here) and zig-zagging up the mountain ridge to Mae Salong (Click here), a Yunnanese tea settlement. Slide into Chiang Rai (Click here), which has a socially conscious trekking industry run by hill-tribe cooperatives and hill-tribe homestays.
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TAILORED TRIPS
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SOUTHERN COMFORT & CULTURE
You might come to southern Thailand to recharge your vitamin D reserves on the powdery beaches but take some time to savour southern Thai culture, which has been spiced by ancient traders from China, India, Malaysia and Indonesia. From Bangkok, break up the long journey south in Phetchaburi (Click here), where you can explore cave sanctuaries, hilltop palaces or the local cuisine. Traipse through the Gulf islands described in Beach Binging (Click here). Be a little more adventurous by catching a southern tailwind to Nakhon Si Thammarat (Click here), the cultural keeper of the southern tradition of shadow puppets. Then drink up the majesty of the province’s unspoilt coastline at Ao Khanom (Click here), a nearly deserted bay as pretty as Samui but without the package tourists. Then follow the windswept coast to Songkhla (Click here) for seafood and Thai-style beachcombing. Saunter over to Satun (Click here), a low-key Muslim town nearby the port for boats to Ko Tarutao Marine National Park (Click here), a collection of beach celebrities like Ko Lipe (Click here) and nearly unknowns like Ko Adang (Click here).
Stop in at Trang (Click here) for a caffeine buzz at one of its historic Hokkien-style cafes and then wade out to Ko Muk (Click here) and its famously photographed cave lake. Then ricochet between the Andaman queens described in Beach Binging (Click here).
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CULTURE GEEKS
Do you love wandering around old stuff? If so, Thailand has enough crumbling fortresses, half-destroyed temples and limbless Buddha statues to fill a hard drive with pictures. This trip takes in several former royal capitals and one-time outposts of the Angkor empire, which once stretched into Thailand from western Cambodia.
Start at the ancient capital of Ayuthaya (Click here), an easy day trip from Bangkok, then continue to Lopburi (Click here), one of Thailand’s oldest towns and a former Angkor centre. Continue north to Sukhothai (Click here), which is considered the first Thai kingdom and is the best preserved of Thailand’s ancient ruins. Nearby is Si Satchanalai-Chaliang Historical Park (Click here), another collection of ruins set in the countryside.
Take an overnight bus to Nakhon Ratchasima (Khorat; Click here), a good launching point for the Angkor-era ruins at Phimai (Click here). Follow the Angkor trail east to Buriram Province where an extinct volcano is topped by the temple complex of Phanom Rung (Click here), the most important and visually impressive of the Angkorean temples in Thailand. It’s a short jaunt from here to Prasat Meuang Tam (Click here) – known for its remoteness and reflective lily ponds.
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MIGHTY MEKONG RIVER RUN
There aren’t a lot of big-ticket attractions in Thailand’s rural northeast (known as Isan) but cultural chameleons