I rent a car to visit the second National Park on my list. The driving is the easy bit as they drive on the left in Thailand, though there are ten times as many motor bikes on the road so you do end up with your head on a constant swivel.
Doi Inthanon is the country's highest mountain and you can drive right to the top of it, pose under this signpost, then drive home.
I've been recommended the Ang Ka trail, which is usually a cloud forest and I must say I'm half hoping for misty weather, the norm at the top of this peak (when you tell locals where you're bound they do that shivering thing). But on my visit it's as sunny as sunny can be.
Annoyingly you have to do the trail with a guide, at a cost of 200 Baht. I hang about to see if I can tag along with another group but no one's around. Eventually this young guy, called Pong, says he'll guide me for free. Here's Pong...
It's a trail of three parts, he tells me, first through the rainforest, then across an alpine meadow with panoramic views of the range, and back over a series of forested ridges and valleys. Pong calls this the "meaning of life" part of the trail – full of ups and downs.
Pong is Hmong (yes, I know, ha ha), one of the tribes of northern Thailand, and lives in a village inside the Park boundary. He has learned all his English on the hoof, as it were, and walks with a dictionary in his hand, which he refers to when struggling to find the right words. As well as familiar flora, such as azaleas and blueberries (which are dry and turn to dust in the mouth) he mentions all kinds of natural wonders and birds, many only seen on this particular mountain. We see a Partridge, a Yellow Bellied Fantail and a Green Tailed Sunbird. Apparently we're just past Humming Bird season. They come when the rhododendrons are in flower.
As we near the end of the trail Pong deftly but sweetly engineers a sit-down on a bench in a glade to conclude his guided tour (and, I assume, afford me the opportunity to show my appreciation). I already had 100 Baht (about £1) in my hand. It's so little to me, but is it enough? I'll never know.
Doi Inthanon is the country's highest mountain and you can drive right to the top of it, pose under this signpost, then drive home.
Annoyingly you have to do the trail with a guide, at a cost of 200 Baht. I hang about to see if I can tag along with another group but no one's around. Eventually this young guy, called Pong, says he'll guide me for free. Here's Pong...
It's a trail of three parts, he tells me, first through the rainforest, then across an alpine meadow with panoramic views of the range, and back over a series of forested ridges and valleys. Pong calls this the "meaning of life" part of the trail – full of ups and downs.
Pong is Hmong (yes, I know, ha ha), one of the tribes of northern Thailand, and lives in a village inside the Park boundary. He has learned all his English on the hoof, as it were, and walks with a dictionary in his hand, which he refers to when struggling to find the right words. As well as familiar flora, such as azaleas and blueberries (which are dry and turn to dust in the mouth) he mentions all kinds of natural wonders and birds, many only seen on this particular mountain. We see a Partridge, a Yellow Bellied Fantail and a Green Tailed Sunbird. Apparently we're just past Humming Bird season. They come when the rhododendrons are in flower.
Being the highest mountain, Doi Inthanon chucks off some powerful waterfalls and I take in three on the drive back.
I watch the sun setting over Doi Inthanon in my wing mirror as I return to the city...
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