A trip up to Wat Phratha Doi Suthep is a pilgrimage for Thais who visit Chiang Mai. Beyond the temple the King's mountain retreat at Phuping and the Hmong village of Ban Doi Pui (Ban Maew) also attract many tourists.

The road that snakes up the mountain has been widened as far as the royal palace to handle the increasingly heavy flow of visitors up the mountain.

The National Park offers some pleasant walking that is easy as long as you stay on the wide tracks. The upper part of the mountain will interest nature lovers. The car parks at the main sites have lots of stalls selling souvenirs, drinks and food.

Doi Suthep - Pui Sacred Mountain and National Park

The people of Chiang Mai believe that Doi Suthep-Pui Khru Ba Srivichai (1685 m.) is the home of the guardian spirits of the city, Pu Sae and Ya Sae. To this day offerings of food are made to the spirits at various places on the mountain. The mountain is a sacred place as well as a conservation area, so projects that threaten the forested slopes are strongly opposed.

Recent efforts to preserve the forest have included dropping water from helicopters to put out forest fires in the dry season. The national park was established in 1981 and is home to a wealth of bio-diversity. The seasonal tropical forest contains 90 different species per hectare.

In addition to more than 2100 species of vascular plants so far identified (by the Herbarium at The Department of Biology at Chiang Mai University), birds (326 species), mammals (61 species including bats), reptiles (50 species), amphibians (28 species) and numerous types of butterfly make their home here

Kru Ba Srivichai Monument and Huai Kaew Falls

Many people in Chiang Mai pay respect with incense, candles and gold leaf to the monument dedicated to Khru Ba Srivichai, who built the road up the mountain. The Huai Kaew crystal stream cascades off the mountain in a series of waterfalls.

Monthatharn Falls

5km W2km

These are the nicest falls to visit on the mountain and can be reached by a dirt road (steep and slightly rutted in one part). From the car park at Monthatharn Waterfall, a path follows the Huai Kaew torrent up. Beginning on the south side, it crosses over to the north side at the upper falls. Climbing very steeply the path passes more cascades and pools that become less visited the higher it goes.

The steep track is part of a walking route to the National Park HQ . When further walking up the right (north) side of the stream seems impractical, the path crosses over to the south side at a fallen tree.

Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep

14km

The car park at the base of the promontory contains restaurants and souvenir shops. These sell such things as baseball caps made from old whiskey cartons. A path from the base of the naga steps leading to the temple goes up to the National Park HQ.

The National Park Headquarters

15km

The Headquarters provides accommodation, maps and information. Work at the small research station (FORRU) below the main office concerns natural forest regeneration. A trail to Monthatharn Falls begins downwards from the bungalows about 150 metres past the park office and then follows the contour north for 700 metres. The path passes a good example of a fully developed 'strangling' fig (Ficus altissima Bl. Moraceae) before joining a dirt road from the park HQ. After a further 500 metres a sign indicates where the path begins the descent to Monthatharn.

From the sign downwards the track at times becomes steep and slippery, and may be obstructed by fallen vegetation. The path is only occasionally maintained, so it is not for those who object to a bit of scrambling (and sweating!) at times.

The entire walk to Srivichai Rd. may be covered in less than two hours.

Tham Russi

(km16) Good trails for walking and birdwatching lead off from the road. From the small parking area, a steep, slippery path leads down to the 'hermits cave' (tham russi), an overhang of rocks over a wide ledge. The path continues down National Park through evergreen forest to the road near the park HQ.

Phuping Palace

19km

Closed December 10 to mid-April/May Check with the TAT if planning a visit near these dates as the palace may be closed. For the rest of the year the flower gardens are open to the public on Friday, Saturday, Sunday only from 0830 - 1100am and from 1 to 4pm. Entry free, but polite dress required. Sarongs and loose fitting trousers to cover lower legs may be rented for 10 Bt.

The Thais hold their Majesties in great reverence and many like to visit the palace, which is used by members of the royal family as a winter retreat.

The palace itself is an elegant, modern Thai-style building of moderate size. Visitors may go as far as the front entrance that overlooks a terraced ornamental garden. Entry to both the terraced garden and the palace is prohibited.

Visitors must stick to a few paved walkways from which they from which they may appreciate the rose beds. The palace is closed to the public during peak flowering when members of the royal family may be in residence. During the rainy season there are almost no flowers at all.

Ban Doi Pui

3.5km from Phuping

From the palace a narrow road continues up the mountain. After one kilometre the road forks. The left (south) turn goes down to Ban Doi Pui, a Hmong village. The large car park leads to a "high street" that consists solely of souvenir shops.

The village also has a pleasant terraced flower garden where opium poppy as well as other flowering plants are grown for display There is also a hill tribe museum. Though the main income of the village is derived from tourism, many of the men also work in fields on the mountains slopes beyond the village.

The Summit of Doi Suthep - Pui

The right turn at the road fork after Phuping Palace leads to the summits of Doi Suthep and Doi Pui (there is a fine view west after 1.4km). After the road drops from the first summit of Doi Suthep, a track to the right leads to San Khu, the site of a chedi. Offerings at the small spirit house emphasise the strength of local animist beliefs. Take the track downhill from the chedi for good walking and bird watching.

The sealed road goes to Doi Pui, but in recent years the summit has, unfortunately, been closed to visitors. A dirt road (4WD) continues down to the Hmong village of Chang Khian (5km).

Forest Types on Doi Suthep

The lower dry ridges (400-950 m.) are deciduous dipterocarp. Here the forest is severely disturbed by fire, with trees further apart and grasses prevalent. The trees drop their leaves to survive periods of low moisture. The dry grasses and fallen organic matter that would otherwise provide nutrients to the soil have regularly been destroyed by fire; seedlings from species not resistant to fires are destroyed, further adding to the cycle of disturbance.

In the gullies between ridges, a higher water table allows evergreen species to survive producing mixed deciduous/evergreen forest. There is much more moisture and a much higher diversity of species here. The thick canopy prevents the grasses from taking hold. During the dry season, the cool, moist gullies become refuges as animals and insects migrate from the dry ridges.

Evergreen forest survives at elevations (above 1000 m.) where rainfall is higher. The rich soil supplies moisture and nutrients to the trees, which in turn feed the biomass below with leaf fall. The permanent canopy lowers temperatures, and the water retention capability of the rich black soil reduces evaporation. Watersheds high up release precious fresh water that form the streams running off the mountains. Destruction of this evergreen forest causes the land below to dry up. On the highest part of the mountain (above 1500 m.) there are pine trees as well stands of magnolia, oak and chestnut.

Forest Conservation

Khun Chae National Park (270 sq.km) is one of several new parks established as part of a broad conservation programme which set a policy target of 40 percent forest cover for the nation.

This was to reverse destruction that saw forest cover fall from 53 percent of the total land area in 1960 to 28 percent in 1989. The 1985 plan called for 25 percent of the total land area that remained under forest to be conserved in protected areas such as national parks, while the rest was to be built up through commercial replanting.

Unofficial estimates, meanwhile, had put forest cover at less than 20 percent, and logging was to continue despite a national ban after January 1989 (For details see : Leungarasmi, P. & Rajesh, Noel. The Future of People and Forests in Thailand after the Logging Ban. Project for Ecological Recovery, Thailand, 1992).

Recent efforts have focused on encouraging the private sector to sponsor replanting with non-commercial native tree species. Lack of scientific understanding of the habitat requirements of these species has been a problem, however (For more information, visit the 'The Forest Restoration Research Unit' at Doi Suthep-Pui National Park HQ).

©ChiangMai Mall 2001
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