TRAVEL WRITING CHALLENGE
Off the Beaten Track in Thailand
The A to Z of my favorite travel destinations
It got suddenly loud. Cicadas were chirping. Like from all sides surrounding us. It was like a chorus just had started. And then the birds settled in as well. It’s the kind of noise I like. Nature’s sounds.
Thailand is a popular destination for many tourists. Backpackers especially love it as an entrance country into solo traveling and adventuring because it is so easy to get around.
But it can get crowded too. Depending on where you are in the country.
Doi Phu Kha National Park is surely not on every traveler's list. It’s far off the beaten tracks. It’s not to be found on the well-trotted tourist paths in the country. You physically have to search for it. On the internet. And most likely you’ll only find a handful of articles written in English about it. Including those, I wrote recently.
But it’s worth it. With the effort in trying to organize a trip to this far northern corner of the country, you’ll get rewarded with untouched nature, peacefulness, and lots of interactions with the locals. Because tourists don’t find their way up here.
It took me a while to find my favorite travel destination starting with the letter “D” but this is the one. With no runner-up.
Doi Phu Kha National Park
This region in the country is far from crowded markets, boat tours and other activities run over by tourists. Doi Phy Kha National Park is only accessible with your own vehicle or on a booked tour. No public transport will bring you up there.
Located in the northeast of Thailand, the closest domestic airport you can fly into is Nan. From there we rented a car which also wasn’t so easy to get. Nobody speaks English in this part of the country.
The challenges of organizing our trip, accommodation, and transport showed me already the remoteness of this place. It was exactly what we were looking for.
The accommodation
Inside the park, you can find one resort that offers you three different kinds of accommodation types. There is a campsite available where you can pitch your tent or rent camping equipment from the reception.
There are basic huts that only include a mattress inside and nothing else. It’s where we stayed the first night. And the second night we stayed in one of their rooms. Also cheap but with a bit more comfort including a bathroom and lovely balconies overlooking the mountains.
We booked all our accommodation on arrival since I failed to organize anything via phone. Communication was the biggest issue. But once you have your rooms, you don’t really need to talk to anyone, you can just enjoy the silence up here.
Sunsets in the park
The sunsets above the mountains were simply spectacular. Every evening we were sitting outside watching the sun disappear in the distance. It was a lively time for the animals in the park.
And it was getting cold. This place is located at 1500m above sea level and the temperatures dropped below 10°C at night. That is cold when you don’t have winter jackets with you.
And who has them, when in Thailand?
However, that bit of shivering was worth those views.
Hiking in the park
During the three days we stayed inside the park we went on different hikes. While the first one was easy to follow and we could even find it on the map, the other two I found on a website with vague descriptions.
It was absolutely amazing hiking through this forest. With the colder temperatures in the mountains, it wasn’t too hot for exercise and you were all on your own. We didn’t meet a single soul on our hikes.
There were no signs (except for this one sign showing the exit) on all of these trails. While they were mostly well maintained, there were a few junctions where we had no idea where to go or which turn-off to take.
The viewpoints
Clearly, the best about this park was all the viewpoints above the mountains. Maybe just because we hadn’t been in the mountains for a while but we were in awe looking across these hills covered in nothing but trees.
One of the best views was to be found from these platforms at the campground. Clouds were moving in that afternoon and made it all look even more spectacular.
Another popular viewpoint inside the park can be reached by car. Located right on the only road crossing the mountains, you can find a small parking lot with some food stalls where you can look above the jungle.
This was at 1715m in altitude.
My favorite viewpoint though was the one we found on one of our hikes. The reason why I liked it so much was that I didn’t know about it. I didn’t know it was there. And I didn’t know what we would see from up there.
We were offered a stunning 360° view from a fairly newly built platform.
A hidden gem found in this untouched jungle.
Final words
Whenever we’re heading to a new country we always look for those hidden places off the beaten track. Sometimes we’re more successful, sometimes less. It’s not just about the location but getting there is often a challenge in itself.
Doi Phu Kha National Park is definitely one of the most remote places we’ve ever traveled to.
I don’t think we will ever go back here, mainly because we’ve done pretty much everything in the park we could. Finding information on other caves or waterfalls you could hike to was so difficult that we gave up on it.
But even without the desire of returning to this place, it will always remain in my memory. We had an amazing time in this remote part of Thailand.
This is a writing prompt response started by Sam Millichap and continued by Adrienne Beaumont. Read their stories with “D”.
“D is for Dublin, Derry, Downhill Demesne and my favourite Irish village, Dingle”
You can find the full series of the “A to Z of my favorite travel destinations” in the reading list here.
More stories about Doi Phu Kha National Park:
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