Why there are tents in the homestays at Doi Luang Chiang Dao

When we have driven down the mountain from our house you can turn right to Chiang Dao, or left to the cave. There are also some shops and eateries in the direction of the cave. Water and all kinds of food are available within walking distance; the steep, dusty road is an attack on the calf muscles and requires careful walking. Before you know it you will slide down.

If you drive past the cave, there are a few resorts with simple, nice wooden houses and you can turn to the temple with the six hundred steps. Last year we saw the eclipse from there and counted en fittingly that it is only 584 steps. But we don't look at a step more or less.

Ignore your temple and resorts, then you leave Tham Chiang Dao and you are a few kilometers away in front of the barrier of the national park. The road then winds upwards for miles. Some parts are suddenly quite narrow and road edges have broken off here and there. Just about at the highest point there is some space to stop. There are some cars of groups making the 5 hour climb to the top of Doi Luang Chiang Dao.

A little further on the left of the road is Ban Mork Tawan, a village consisting of very simple wooden houses. And there's something strange going on with that. There are tents everywhere on the verandas, but also in the houses. Throughout the village you can see the brightly colored domes everywhere. The image of an authentic northern Thai mountain village is considerably disturbed by it. What is going on here?

The solution to the riddle lies in the stricter enforcement of the rules for homestays. Many hikers want to spend the night with a family before and/or after climbing the mountain. The government has revived an old law that has long been discontinued and checks whether the homestays are legal on the basis of this. Most are not, but the owners are creative. They may not be allowed to offer homestay, but letting someone camp on their property is allowed. So the former homestay rooms now have tents where guests camp. Every disadvantage has an advantage, because you can also place tents on the veranda. So you can accommodate even more guests than in the old homestay.

It doesn't look like much and the feeling of staying with a Thai family is gone. I wonder if the guests are happy with this creative solution. It will undoubtedly come as a surprise to those who have booked a homestay. The future will show whether home camping will become a popular form of accommodation. I have my doubts.

Submitted by François Tham Chiang Dao