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Home » Reader question » Reader's question: See long necks and hill tribes, do or don't?
Dear readers,
We plan to travel from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son to see the Long Necks and hill peoples there. Now everyone advises us against this because you have to travel 10 hours through a terribly winding road. It would be very touristy and not worth it.
Who has ever made this trip and what are the experiences?
Yours faithfully,
Hans
Yes it is a long journey of 6 hours from Chiang Mai on the old winding road (864 bends).
There is also a less winding road of 4.5 hours, but the view is also less beautiful.
I think the old road is the most beautiful, you should also see the journey there as a holiday.
Safe journey.
Dear Hans,
It has been several years since we visited this region. You can indeed travel from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son by public transport, but we did this with a domestic flight from Chiang Mai. A 25 minute flight and you're there for next to nothing. The region is beautiful in terms of nature. We then traveled to Pai from Mae Hong Son by public transport after a few days. All nature, very beautiful. Also stayed in Pai for a few days. Then traveled on to Chiang Mai and via Bangkok to Koh Samui. Well equipped there.
We hope that this information will help you further in your planning. We do not know when you will visit the north, but take into account the rainy season.
Sawasdee khap,
Sounds like a tiring trip to me!
A few years ago I went from CM to Pai for a few nights and from there made a day trip with a pick-up to a Karen tribe beyond Mae Hong Son. I then made that trip with four other young people from China (3 girls and a man from Hong Kong).
That trip was in the morning and it was a three-hour drive in the mountains … beautiful views … sometimes a bit misty and colder!
For the visit to the Karen - "tribe" an entrance fee had to be paid, but then you could also photograph them etc ... Of course they would like you to buy something from their stalls (clothing, carving ... etc.) but they are not pushy .
In the afternoon we went to the temple at the top of the city with a beautiful view, but we did not visit the city itself and later did a cave 'climb' on the return…
In total it was a 6 hour drive from Pai to the tribe and back!
So if I may give you a tip: either from CM by plane and stay 2 nights in Mae Hong Son or to Pai by van and make a trip from there.
Sawasdee khap!
If there is something touristy, it is Chiang Mai. Very busy, big city, lots of cars and scooters, so air pollution. The route to Mae Hong Song is beautiful, beautiful views, beautiful nature. And yes, indeed a winding road………….In Mae Hong Song you will find places where it is quiet, friendly people and again………beautiful nature and fresh air to breathe. In short …….the sooner you leave Chiang Mai the better. You can skip the long necks.....
A few years back for me. Beautiful route, especially if you drive yourself. Beautiful surroundings.
But paying entrance to a village where the souvenirs with stickers “Made in China” are sold for a lot of money?
The rings are only worn for tourists. It hasn't been really authentic for years.
Funny experience if you drive that route anyway.
The drive through the winding road via Pai to Mae Hong Son is probably the most beautiful piece of nature that Thailand has to offer. Beautiful views, many beautiful authentic places along the road for coffee. You see real Thai life. In Mae Hong Son I am I took a speedboat to the Long Neck refugee village. Beautiful canal. There were few tourists in the village and I played music with the young people there. It was very moving. Also saw a school and more things that took place there. Take more than 1 day, it is absolutely worth it. I have also heard of a trip from PAI to another long neck village. People found that uninteresting and quite touristy. You can spend the night in Pai and Mae Hong Son. Pai with its beautiful night market is also definitely worth a visit.
Visit Chaing Rai and at the same time the long-necked tribe who live there practically along the highway to Chaing Chen. There is a reference sign.
And as far as the so-called long-necks are concerned, one should know that this is a big mafia who make good money with this.
Of the rather high entee prices, most of it goes to this mafia, and a very small part to the real longnecks.
as a winter resident in wiang haeng i went several times to mae hong son a friendly town.
There is a cheap flight connection from Chiang Maing.
From mae hong son the road is winding and you can get there by minibus in 45 minutes.
The long neck village is a tourist attraction and you will also buy some stuff there.
I thought it was worth it.
how you can spend 10 hours on a winding road is beyond me.
From where? By bike??
Well Richard
I made that trip with you ten years ago by bus and all those hordes of turns was such a dangerous journey the bus braked crookedly and had fifteen mm play on the steering wheel, I will never forget it!!! cost only a hundred bath
and were on the road for a total of 12 hours!!??
No one can judge for you whether you find this very touristy. Indeed, the journey from Chiang Mai takes quite a while.
I find the “Long necks” very touristy. What you see is what you can also see in photos.
You will also find the same stuff that you find everywhere; it is very touristy.
If you want to get acquainted with the authentic Thai, take a walk in Chiang Mai outside the tourist areas. Or ask a taxi driver to take you just outside Chiang Mai to Hmong village, villages where hardly any tourists come. Those trips gave me more satisfaction than the trip de Long necks.
In the end everything is relative; what I don't like, someone else can't get enough of.
Lots of fun.
Everyone has their own opinion when it comes to vacation. I can only recommend making the trip to mae hong son. This from Chiang mai to Pai. Possibly overnight in Pai and then on the way to mae hong son. It is indeed a ride with many turns but worth it. At the end of last year I drove there 2 times with my own car and can only say a beautiful ride.
I say do it and if you don't like it, you are one more experience richer. Regards Hank.
Last week Mae Hong Song was discussed in detail on this blog and also how to go there. I have traveled there by rental car in the past and enjoyed the beautiful trip. Among other things, I sailed on the river in a longtail boat with fantastic views, but then suffered a mild sunstroke because I had failed to wear headgear. At that time I also visited the very small village of the “Longnecks”. There was no entrance fee at that time, but you did pay a fee for photos and of course I bought some knick-knacks to fill the coffers. Monkey watching, which was what a visit to the “Longnecks” actually amounted to, was an afterthought for me at the time and to now only make the trip for that could have been a disappointment. But, as others also note, the journey can be a beautiful part of your holiday and you can fully enjoy the beautiful nature on the way to and around Mae Hong Song.
At the time I went from Chiang Mai to Mee Hon Son for less than a hundred euros. A flight of 35 minutes. Included in the price: Picked up from the hotel and taken to the airport. Driver was waiting for me in Mee hon Son airport. He drove me to the mountain village, then had an extensive lunch, did another site seeing of Mee Hon Son and brought me back to the airport. At Chiang mai airport, the other driver was waiting for me again and took me back to my hotel. So in total 80 euros.
This was organized by a local travel agency.
I also add that you should not actually make that trip because in the vicinity of Chiang Mai there are now also villages with long necks. Accessible by minibus.
Have fun
Interesting to read the various opinions. Yes, we also made the beautiful trip and visited the Long Necks. What was the entrance if I'm not mistaken, 7,00 euros? What is it like when you can walk around freely, are greeted in a friendly manner, absolutely nothing is forced upon you, take as many photos as you want without paying extra and I don't believe that people wear these rings purely for tourists, I think the culture here still has the upper hand, but who am I, yes Ellis.
Yes, you can also visit “settled” long necks in the Chiang Mai area, but there you will indeed see the commercialism and that it is not original and the entrance is also scandalous. So, off to the Long Necks in Mae Hong Song and enjoy the road with tons of bends and contribute to the lives of these people.
To go or not to go to the longnecks in Mae Hong Son?
I visited the longnecks in Mae Hong Son in 2012, when I arrived there I quickly discovered that this world famous tourist attraction is actually a human drama.
There were no other tourists at the time I was there and so I could talk to some people from the village for a while.
These people fled +/- 25 years ago from Burma, present-day Myanmar, where the military regime tried to exterminate this tribe and killed and raped many of them.
A large group has fled to Thailand and the Thai mafia probably took them from a refugee camp, divided them over three villages and turned them into a tourist attraction.
These people have nowhere to go, they don't have a passport or other documents, they can't go back to Myanmar and are therefore dependent on Thai whims and antics.
Some women told me that they do not want their young children to wear the rings, but that meets with resistance from the Thais there because believe me it is big money.
These people can earn their livelihood by selling some of the things they make, but as a tourist you have to pay an entrance fee just like in a zoo, disgusting.
The big money goes to tour operators, taxi operators, restaurants and hotels.
In Jan 2015 I went with friends who wanted to watch Longnecks to a place not far from Chiang Mai, but did not go into the village myself and never will again.
As so often, the people suffer when no one goes there anymore, but it is time for these people to get their own culture and habitat back, maybe this will soon be possible now that new political reforms are taking place in Myanmar.
realist
A visit to the long necks is not necessary for me. Exploring the area seems fun to me, but I'm not into this kind of tourist entertainment where children get rings to open tourist fairs. This is how everyone makes their choices but maybe it's great etc etc and I miss everything on my trips because of this.
last made the trip with parents and son with girlfriend
My dad wanted to go to the long necks so the trip from chiangmai to mes
Son made with van and private driver
Long journey but enough stops to explore the area
Had 3 fun days so well worth it
Have visited 'longnecks' several times. After intervention by the Thai government, it is no longer like 20 years ago. There are still villages that try to earn money as a tourist attraction. These are often maintained by a kind of internal mafia that oppresses the people. I spoke to a long-necked 25-year-old. She was listening to modern English pop music with headphones. She completed a master's degree at Chiang Mai University. From her conversation (in perfect English) it appeared that she had been forced to wear the spiral that was regularly tightened from childhood, under the pressure of the older conservative folk clan. A few years ago, this artificial mutilation was prohibited by Thai law. They may still wear the spiral, but it may no longer be tightened in such a way that mutilations occur. This is regularly checked with x-rays. Those who have settled in Thailand are all subject to Thai law, including compulsory schooling. They are no longer locked up in their village as they used to be. In October 2014, I even came across some long necks in the Lotus supermarket in Pattaya. They were shopping like other people. Near the vineyards in Pattaya, there is also a village with long necks for tourists, so that you no longer have to go north for this "attraction".
As a tour guide, I have often visited the Karen longnecks in Mae hong Song with groups.
This is just a puppet show for the tourists and it is the boat people who make the big money, (You go there by boat) I would say, stay away from it. Mae Hong Son is worth a visit in terms of nature and the road to it via Pai is beautiful. From CHX (Chiang Mai) it is 200 km or 6 hours drive and you can possibly spend the night in Pai, which is half way and very beautiful in terms of nature. In the Mae Hong Son area there are also beautiful caves and waterfalls to see. Much nicer than that long-necked puppet show
Thank you all very much for your helpful suggestions. In any case, we will skip the langnecks.
Alternatively, there are day trips by minibus from Chiang Mai, where you see / do a lot of things in one day. Among other things: visit a butterfly farm, visit a small longneck hamlet (according to me only where they sell stuff during the day), on a raft on a river, white water rafting, an elephant ride, and a walk to a waterfall (where you can also lie down for a while) this everything is in 1 day and cost in 2008 approx. 1200 baht. It was worth it to me at the time! You sign up at your hotel (eg the Chiang Mai Gate Hotel has many tours in the program) you will be picked up at your hotel in the morning and will pick up the fellow travelers at several hotels.