Author: OTRAdmin December 13, 2024

Mark and JJ wanted to head back south, but Pat decided to venture north a little more, so we headed to our sixth campsite at the Lang Sang National Park near Tak. This place was very quiet, and we had the waterfalls to ourselves. Managed to catch a glimpse of a snake catching a fish twice its size right in front of us that afternoon. A couple of campers in converted pickup and minivan motorhomes turned up after dark. A quick dip and shower in the falls before decamping and heading into Tak to resupply and have a welcome night in a hotel after a week in a tent. 

Tak isn’t a large city, so traffic was light, and life was at a much slower pace than the rat race in Hua Hin. We spent a day doing laundry, recharging devices, and catching up on internet stuff before heading out to the night market walking street, which had the usual selection of unhealthy, heart attack-inducing, deep-fried and sugar-laden Thai market food.

Lamphun Province

Pat was heading south so we said our farewells, but we were going further north into our sixth province and the Mae Ping National Park, following a quick stop at the impressive Bhumibol Dam. The engineering for the structure was impressive, to say the least. They could build something like this in the 1960s but can’t build or maintain a decent road in four decades. 

We arrived at the entrance a couple of hours later, and Da wanted to take the trip to the lookout and viewpoint at Pha Daeng Luang the next day, which was only accessible in a 4×4 with the rangers. However, unbeknown to us, you had to book this trip online on the partially functional state website in advance … and it was fully booked until the end of January, so that plan was scuppered. 

We decided to cut the two-night camp in this park, which only had a reasonable 100 baht farang entrance fee, to one and headed to the spectacular Ko Luang Falls with their cerulean pools formed by the river running over limestone formations. 

Our campsite for the evening was at Kaeng Kor at the end of the lake, which looked like a scene from the Swiss mountains and was a clearly popular selfie spot. Again, a bunch of Thai campers turned up late and began to set up in the dark, but we’d already secured the prime spot. Thais camping in national parks tend to be sensible and quiet due to the rafts of rules and regulations and roving rangers preventing any notion of ‘sanuk’. However, the morning tranquility was shattered by a ranger with a very noisy petrol leaf blower, so we made tracks after a lakeside cup of joe. 

Previous: Khlong Lan Waterfall National Park
Next: Khlong Wang Chao National Park