Hiking In Chiang Mai & Meeting The Karen Tribe

This post was meant to go live a while ago but I still wanted to write about hiking in Chiang Mai and meeting The Karen Tribe. We also visited The King and Queen Pagodas and also the highest point in Thailand Doi Inthanon which is 12,200 feet above sea level.

Chiang Mai is a lovely mountainous city in northern Thailand. It is known for it’s jungles and coffee farming. We stayed in a lovely hotel not far from the main part of town that was perfect for going out and eating yummy food. We booked onto an excursion which took us to see a coffee and flower farm and also meet members of the Karen Tribe which is a known tribe in northern Thailand who fled from Burma as refugees.

HIKING IN CHIANG MAI WITH THE KAREN TRIBE

We got picked up quite early from our hotel in Chiang Mai and headed towards our hike through the jungle and to meet the Karen Tribe. We met the rest of our group for the hike and was told our itinerary fully of what we would be doing. We started our walk past waterfalls and rivers through the jungle before coming across a resting point and toilets.

We then headed a bit further into the jungle and met with our Karen Tribe guide who was so sweet. Then we crossed over a bamboo made bridge which was surprisingly sturdy and strong past more waterfalls before coming to the coffee and rice fields.

Our guide and English translator taught us all about the coffee that is grown in Thailand, how long it takes and how much impact it has on the families in the nearby villages. The fields weren’t fully grown but you can totally see how beautiful it will be when it’s all fully grown and ready to harvest. In Northern Thailand, they get wetter weather more so than Southern Thailand so it really helps with growing crops such as rice and coffee. Coffee and rice are two of Thailand’s biggest exports which really helps boost their economy to the rest of the world.

Once we explored the fields of coffee beans, we then walked back to the meeting point and car ready to head to our next stop which was Doi Inthanon.

Doi Inthanon is the highest mountain in Thailand which is 12,200 feet above sea level. It has temples, nature trails, waterfalls and gardens surrounding the area.

View from Doi Inthanon and Leaving the village.

Once we arrived at Doi Inthanon, we walked around a little bit and got to see the sights from the view point and also learn some history about the area and local villages around. We then got back into the minivan to drive to our final spot, the King and Queen Pagoas.