I wrote recently about my experience of discovering northern Thailand by car (Part 1 and Part 2).

Together with a colleague I visited Doi Angkhang, north of Chiang Mai, close to the border with Myanmar: Doi is the local word for mountain and Angkhang stands at about 1300 metres.

On this trip I saw (mostly by design but partly by accident!) areas of Thailand most tourists on mainstream holidays would not get to see.

In my opinion it is important, both for me personally and for local communities, that the positive benefits of tourism are spread to more remote parts of the country. Personally I enjoy seeing a destination behind the tourist façade and I am sure I am not alone: I get a lot more from the experience knowing that what I am seeing and experiencing is genuine, even though that experience might not always be a pleasant one. Local markets often fall into the latter category!

I do not subscribe to the notion that the flip side for my, sometimes unwitting, hosts is that they get to see glimpses of a life beyond their own, current reality. And I don’t mean me personally of course but rather what I represent.

No, for me the flip side is that tourism (when operated responsibly) is both bringing an income to the community and, potentially, the means to increase the well-being of its members.

I want to be absolutely clear here that I am not advocating the type of tourism where a tour bus turns up, disgorges its camera-clicking contents, money is deposited into a pot, bus sucks back contents and departs. No one is enriched by such an experience.

The type of tourism I am referring to is the type that Amari Hotels & Resorts, a major hotel company in Thailand, is engaging in at Doi Angkhang.

More and more hotels around the world are embracing sustainable, responsible or ‘green’ travel principles but here is a hotel group that has been doing so long before it became de rigeur. It was in 1995 that the group started the Baht for a Better Life Foundation: “Small change, contributed by guests to our hotels and donations from our staff, are used to further the education of children in Thailand. There are no administrative costs in running the Baht for a Better Life Foundation. Therefore, every dollar, pound and euro given to the fund is used for educational projects.” To date, among other things, Baht for a Better Life have rebuilt a dilapidated school in Udon Thani, north-east Thailand, and built ten new schools in underprivileged areas throughout the country.

At Doi Angkhang the Amari-managed hotel is the Ankhgang Nature Resort : a 3-star, 72-room property nestling in the mountains and developed as part of the Royal Angkhang Research Station, under the auspices of the Royal Project Foundation.

During my visit I only had time for a one-night stay but, on a whistle-stop tour of the area, I was able to visit the Royal Angkhang Station Project which “provides agricultural support to neighbouring hilltribes and develops non-indigenous crops for them to grow” as an alternative to the opium poppy which used to be their staple cash-crop. I also stopped at a remote point along the Thai/Myanmar border which was little more than a fence set within a beautiful mountain vista. Other activities in the area include trekking, mountain biking, bird watching; and sightseeing, taking in local hilltribe villages.

Image courtesy of Tourism Authority of Thailand News Room

On this occasion the visits that I made to local hilltribe villages were not of the type I am advocating here because, of necessity, they were brief: they were merely intended to equip me with the information to promote the overall Doi Angkhang experience, just as I am doing now.

There are 7 major hilltribes in northern Thailand but there are many smaller groups and sub groups such that I don’t believe anyone has a definitive count: estimates have put the number at around 20 with a total population of about 500,000.

There are many social and political issues surrounding the hilltribes, but the key point to mention in this article is that, by definition, the villages are remote with limited access to education.

There are four villages in the area surrounding Doi Angkhang, which are home to communities from a number of different hilltribes. Through its foundation, Amari Hotels and Resorts supports a primary school in Baan Khob Dong which provides education for the children of the Black and Red Muser tribes.

In a recently held painting competition with the theme ‘My Dream’, 7 winning students of Baan Kob Dong received scholarships presented by Mr. Wim Fagel, General Manager, Amari Rincome Hotel, as part of the 40th anniversary celebrations of the hotel. (See headline picture above).

As well as general educational support, the Anghang Nature Resort has helped introduce the school children to the concept of tourism. Together with the local education authorities, the resort has implemented a “Junior Guide Program”, where children from the Baan Khob Dong school are trained to show visitors around their village. The Junior Guide Program has become part of the school curriculum.

According to Amari: “The guides are encouraged to take pride in their heritage and the surrounding natural environment and communicate this to the visitors. It also gives an opportunity to take a position of responsibility in the community. Guides who complete the program are awarded a certificate and a guide badge.

The Junior Guide Program enables tourists to have interaction with the local community and receive correct information about the hill tribes and the surrounding area. It also ensures any donations which are given to the villages by visitors are put into projects to benefit the community. Visitors are also taken to a co-operative shop, which sells handicrafts produced in the local villages. In addition, a ‘show house’ has been built so that guests can get an impression of the hilltribe way of life.”

For me it is this type of interaction that is enriching for all parties and it represents what I believe tourism should be about i.e sharing.

Doi Angkhang is just 3 hours north of Chiang Mai and a world away from mass tourism. To book your stay at the Ankhgang Nature Resort visit the Amari website . This is not an affiliate link and I receive no financial benefit.

On the way to Angkhang Nature Resort

In my last post, Discovering Northern Thailand By Car Part 1 of 2, you left me and my driving companion in our hire car somewhere in Northern Thailand.

I should point out here that there was no signal for my mobile phone so we really were on our own. The good news is that every village in Thailand has at least one telephone (look out for a blue booth); so if we could find a village we could at least speak to someone at the Angkhang Nature Resort and ask for directions if necessary. The not-so-good news was the last village had been many miles back.

What had been a carefree drive through beautiful green valleys and along narrow ridges was now turning out to be an anxious rush in search of civilisation.

Finally we came to a small village and I spotted a group of young teenagers kicking a ball around. Now was the time to get past my innate reluctance to ask for directions and to seek assistance hoping that my few words of Thai (like “where’s the toilet” and “a beer please”) would be sufficient to set us on the right path. I was surprised to discover, in this tiny hamlet, that the youngsters spoke good English and they were able to point out where I had gone wrong. I had managed to miss the turn up toward Doi Angkhang. See map showing Chiang Mai/Doi Angkhang area

With considerable relief (certainly on my part and no doubt on the part of my by now long-suffering travelling companion), we were soon on the right road and once again enjoying the stunning scenery.

Entrance to Angkhang Nature Resort

After a steep climb, we arrived at the Angkhang Nature Resort in the late afternoon just as the temperature was coming down and the smell of burning wood, from the village further down the valley, filled the air.

The day had not gone as I had planned but we had seen parts of Thailand (and possibly Myanmar!) that I had not expected to see so, all in all, it had been a good one.

Angkhang Nature Resort is in a marvellous spot and there is plenty to do in the area from bird watching to mountain biking. I will write more about my stay at the resort on another occasion. Suffice to say I am glad I made the journey, which, if you recall, should normally take around 3 hours from Chiang Mai.

The return to Chiang Mai was much more straightforward. To complete our circle-trip I took the 1249 back to the main Chiang Mai/Fang Road, the 107. The only point to mention is that the descent from the resort is extremely steep and the road very windy: I am sure I wore away half of my break pads on this part of the journey.

So there you have it. I thoroughly enjoyed my drive into the hills of Northern Thailand far away from the tourist areas and, since my travelling companion is still talking to me, I guess it couldn’t have been all bad for him either!

The moral of the story is of course if you are driving in the rural heart of northern Thailand take a very good map and ideally a GPS – oh, and don’t let me drive.

This wasn’t the only time I have driven in northern Thailand and it is to be recommended. If you don’t have much time even a day is worthwhile. You can visit the ‘handicraft’ villages or the elephant camps under your own steam or just enjoy the scenery. I found the route up around Mae Rim and down to the west of Chiang Mai offered some great views.

Road en route to Angkhang Nature Resort

We were driving north out of Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second city, and I have to say I was feeling pretty confident. The formalities for the car rental had been completed swiftly and smoothly at our hotel: driving licence* checked and forms completed. Maps and guidebooks now strewn across the back seat of our hire car: I was ready!

My colleague and I were testing a new fly-drive programme for Magic of the Orient and I got to drive!

The morning traffic was a minor inconvenience and once we had cleared the outer ring road the 107 was a relatively smooth road. In my experience the standard of the roads in Thailand is pretty good. Pot holes are fairly common but then we get them here in the UK too. In fact driving in Thailand is probably neither better nor worse than many other countries: as usual you just have to get used to the local idiosyncrasies. I did have one advantage: they drive on the left, just like at home.

Our destination that day was Doi Angkhang and the Angkhang Nature Resort. The Resort has been developed as part of the Royal Angkhang Research Station, under the Royal Project Foundation: an initiative by His Majesty the King of Thailand to help the hilltribes establish suitable cash crop alternatives to the opium poppy. Four decades on and the project continues to have a positive impact on the villagers.

Angkhang Nature Resort Location Map

I had studied a map (unfortunately not this one on the left) and decided I would take the scenic route along the 1178, then on to the 1340 across to the resort. That was the plan: I estimated 3 – 4 hours for the whole journey.

After around 4 hours we were quite literally in the middle of nowhere. We saw the occasional hut perched on the side of a hill but no people, no traffic and no sign posts (not that one would have done us much good since, away from the main routes, signs are in Thai script!).

The scenery was stunning and amongst the most dramatic I have seen in Thailand. We were surrounded by mountains and green valleys and much of the time the road snaked along the top of a ridge with a steep drop either side. We joked, more than a little nervously, that at some point we must have crossed the border into Myanmar.

Being true to type (stubborn male driver) I was very reluctant to admit to myself, or to my amazingly chipper travelling companion, that maybe, just maybe, I had gone wrong somewhere.

Finally after driving for around an hour along an unmade road I had to admit that something was not quite right. There was little sign of life and I really didn’t want to be stuck in Myanmar, or wherever we were, when nightfall arrived. It was time to turn around and retrace our route.

*A drivers licence from your country of residence (with English translation) or an International driving Licence is required. You must carry it and your passport at all times when driving. For more information visit the Budget Car Rental Thailand site.

Continued: Discovering Northern Thailand By Car Part 2 of 2