New Years Eve In the Hills of Chiang Mai

[friscofrankie]

New years Holidays. Folks from all over Thailand flock to Chiang Mai for a few days of fun and frolic. if you live here you might want to escape the flood of fools and just get the hell out of Dodge for a couple days.

I did. So when invited to spend New Years Eve and Day with in great company at a simple wooden home in the hills I jumped on it. No electricity, running water a wooden floor, a roof over our heads and four walls was all that was promised. No one told me it was going to be one of the most beautiful spots I've ever had the pleasure of spending a night. No one told me I would have to become half mountain goat to get there.

This is a private spot, although not far it is remote & secluded. We drove about an hour and half out of Chiangmai made a turn down a side road and drove some more. The forest began to get thick and this crazy man driving decided to turn down some rutted ol' watershed, deeply rutted and over grown, I though he had to take a piss, or something.

A hundred meters in the road improves (not greatly you understand) and we are given a brief glimpse of the kind of holiday in store for us. To the lower left you can see the best part of the whole damn road; it was about as long as you see here. But it was passable and there was a place to park further down a bit.


We bumped alng the road for maybe three quarters of a kilometer or so until we came to a wide-ish spot in the road to turn around and park. Then it gets interesting. We have another 150 meter walk down steep hillside where we got our first view of the place we would be welcoming in the new year.


Looks far doesn't it? You don't know the half of it. another 150 - 200 meters down steep, switchback foot paths with crude foot holds cut into the earth we came to the Next Obstacle.


Out gracious host, knowing of this required fording had prepared himself for a wade across to fetch our bamboo ferry. The raft is about 5 meters long with two raised poles length-wise down the center to stash the items you want to keep dry. The above picture is looking up river. The picture below is looking down from the same spot. The hut about center picture is the lower building; our host's is the upper.


We had enough food for twelve people (there were four of us), clothing for an arctic adventure, whiskey, rum wine, soda pop water, cooking utensils, fireworks, and assorted odds and ends that make up an expedition such as Lewis and Clarke never tried. it took two trips to ferry all our goods across the river. This was the half way point of our foot adventure.

it was only about another two hundred meters (give or take) to the small cabin where we would spend he night the slop was gradual until we took a sharpd right at the lower cabin. If it were stairs they'd be steep ones and there were some foot hold cut into the soil by the time we got there, this two pack a day, sedentary geek was seriously played out . My host being a proper English gentleman was quick in organizing a nice refreshing cup of tea.


Over tea I had an opportunity to look around a bit;
Looking north, up river; from the veranda.


Looking south from the veranda;


Another, less obscured, view down river:


And directly below us;

[Tao]

Nothing like getting away from it all. Your pics are making me quite jealous while i'm sat at work on the ship.

[friscofrankie]

At every turn of my head I was awe-struck by the beauty in all directions I took over 200 pictures some of them absolute crap; others, not so bad. We had a wonderful BBQ over scrap lumber from the forest around us drank wine and rum and collapsed in our Sleeping bags about ten minutes after the year was new.
The Man that built (actually is building as the place is still being finished up) was at the lower cabin with his family and drinks and food were shared. He and his family left as we were having our morning coffee and I guess he asked if we needed anything from town and one of the wives I think mentioned we could use some drinking water with the thught he was takig his family home and returning to relax or work(we had expected to drink the spring water piped down from the side of the hill but It was still had a bit of dirt and debris from setting up the plumbing) .
Couple of hours later his kids arrived with a six pack of one liter water bottles. They grabbed the ferry, see it waaay down there?:


Poled the thing across the river with great difficulty and much to our amusement;


Walked up the hill, delivered our water and rested a few minutes just to turn around and head back home. Nice kids.
We did little or nothing for the rest of the day. The panoramas available are so impressive you really just want to wander around soaking it all up and saving it for those days you need to break out that memory and remember how beautiful to world can be.
Tomorrow is a work day for some of us or I would have stamped my feet and held my breath until they let me stay a week or two. I think after a couple days of recovery My legs might have worked well enough to take a short hike I want to explore a bit.
We had to pack up and get on the road before the sun went behind the hills. We just beat the dusk back to Mae Rim.


All I know; I've got to have this guy over for one humdinger of a meal in hopes just maybe He'll let me go back with him again. best new year party I've been to in a long, long time.

[Propagator]

Thats a lovely place. Could spend a while there myself

[ebeth]

Looks very peaceful... why does it make me thing about SopGai? Would it be in that nick of the jungle?

[kingwilly]

wow - awesome pics - looks great Frankie!

[klongmaster]

That looks wonderful Frankie...

How did he get the lumber in to build the house and how did he get the land there?..

He won't be built out that's for sure...a man could live and die there quite happily...

[DrAndy]

nice thread and pics FF

brings back memories of my time in the hills

[Marmite the Dog]

I spent a couple of nights in the hills around Chiang Rai about 7 years ago. I really must do it again.

[Little Chuchok]

Unreal,I didn't spot even one plastic bag in the pictures.Almost like New Zealand.....

[Texpat]

What, no UBC?
Can't see any 7-11s in the pics.
Bet the mobile phone reception was shit.
Did the boat have life rafts?

Looks like a peaceful way to ring in the new year. Nice pics. Did you bathe in the river? (brrrr)

[friscofrankie]

How did he get the lumber in to build the house

A discussion topic we touched on while there. The cabin makes use of quite a bit of "Mai peek" a term that covers recycled and deafall wood with the exterior of the logs exposed Some where whole logs in varying diameters. The boards were all rough sawn, I don;t see them being hand carried down the slopes we had to trundle down or up. Even if the boards were sawn within a 100 meters the work getting to the construction site would be tough.


This leaves hand sawn boards, the patterns on the boards indicate maybe a chain saw, we all know that just ain't what it is. There is surely a place up river where the boards could have been launched on a raft and drifted down. The slope up to the lower cabin is fairly gentle. But I don't see folks carrying lumber up this foot path (i surely don't see me doing it, anyway)


There really is no easy access up to the upper cabin but the distance is small. It is an area with plenty of large trees and dead fall. Figure the timbers are local.
Front of the lower cabin shows the use of unsawn logs and log trimmings


Can't say for sure. The Finish is crude, the construction simple but stout.
Some details; note the planter box bottom picture

Flat boards are used sparingly, mainly for floor boards. The walls are of the outer log trim of either used or dead-fall logs. Nails, mortise & tenon, rabbited joints and some lashings are used to assemble the cabins.

how did he get the land there?..

Good question. As with any land purchase in Thailand, probably not one with a simple answer. He has it is comfortable with it and I think it's an ideal "get away from it all" place a place to read, write, relax and maybe base a day-trip adventure from.

[friscofrankie]

Bet the mobile phone reception was shit.

Wasn't bad actually

Did you bathe in the river? (brrrr)

Are you kidding me? Can't you make out the slope? Don't worry we had fresh mountain spring water into the water room. Hand bowl splash showers and it was plenty cold. I get invited out again it's going to be a back pack apiece and maybe a hand carried bag apiece of food and drink. The walk in and out damn near kilt me

[DrAndy]

you must be getting old FF, the walk looks easy

I should think the big logs for supports are from the upslopes of the cabin, fallen trees in the forest, rolled gently down. The flat boards may well have come by river, unless the builder was very good with a big chainsaw!

I saw a plastic bag in your photos, although it was being used

If the river is anything like the one I have been in, it is quite Ok for swimming, just cool and fresh...as long as the sun is shining!

[lom]

This leaves hand sawn boards, the patterns on the boards indicate maybe a chain saw, we all know that just ain't what it is.

It most likely is!
Down here they use chain saws with long (~ 2m) swords and them workers are very skilfull at cutting boards with exactly the same thickness.

[DrAndy]

there you are then!! used a chainsaw for the boards

[friscofrankie]

Yeah, I'd take the walk again in a heartbeat, well worth it.
Not to take bath though.

[sabang]

A perfect New Year- leave the crowds behind. Great stuff frankie.

[bustak]

Wow FF, this looks amazing! What a way to ring in the new year!