Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) Tourist Guide


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An Early Summer Trip to the Thi Lo Su Falls

Text & Images: Bird Little

How many times in a lifetime can one find love at first sight? Well, I have no idea, but I know I've found it in a recent trip to the magnificent waterfalls called Thi Lo Su in Tak province.

The three-hour ride from Chiang Mai would have been more pleasant in the winter season. However, our host, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, had kindly provided us journalists with air-conditioned transport to cool down our curiosity inflamed by our guide's mentioning the fossilized plants we would be seeing. Wow! Fossils! Think of that! And so fossils were the focus of our first stop.

That was in the Khao Prabat Forest Park in Amphur Ban Tak. What makes this place special is the wood-turned-stone fossils that are estimated to date back some eight hundred thousand years, the world's most complete fossils of their kind (the biggest of them 72.22 meters long, and 2.55 meter in diameter). Currently, seven similar sites nearby are being excavated.

Thi Lo Su falls

Next stop included a refreshing coffee at the Taksin Maharat National Park. The name of this park has nothing to do with one of the wealthiest Prime Ministers Thailand has ever seen. Taksin the Great (1734 - 1782) was the warrior king who led the coalition of nationalists in a fight against the invading Burmese for the independence of Thailand. Tak is said to be the place where he gathered his people and so legends and shrines there abound. We also stopped by at the Phra Wor Shrine, which was built in memory of a Karen warrior who fought by the King's side. Trusted to guard the strategic Burmese border, he eventually died in a heroic battle at Mae Lamao.

At the end of the first day, we stayed in the Central Mae Sot Hills Hotel. So sad I can't tell you about everything on the road from Tak town to Mae Sot because this is an amazing road with so many attractions all the way through. I'm sure you've heard of the miraculous hill where a parked car runs uphill, drawn by a mysterious force. It's this very road. Our driver gave us a demo and we were suitably amazed. But could there possibly have been an optical illusion involved there, to you think? It was far too early in the day for us to have been hitting the bottle.

On the second day, we had hundreds of kilometers to go to Umphang district, along highway 1090 which after winds, bends, loops and hair-raising ups and downs etc (according to our handouts there are no less than 1,219 bends, though I didn't count myself). Always glad to check the authenticity of tourism data, I had to pass up on this item because we were thrown around so much that by the time we arrived in Umphang I knew how a cocktail feels. Shaken, stirred, every way up. Oh, it's a tough life being a travelling journalist!

We finally checked in safe and sound at the Tukasu Cottage resort where we were told to change and get ready for rafting down the Mae Klong river, which was billed as the highlight of our trip.

It was a very romantic three-hour, 20-kilometer long journey in rubber canoes which glided so smoothly over the Mae Klong's billows. The air was cool, and the landscape nothing short of magnificent and natural. At various points we went past big caverns with dazzling arrays of stalactites and stalagmites, as well as several smaller and bigger waterfalls. Just as with Highway 1090, there are so many attractions en route the problem is choosing which ones to stop for. Now it's possible to do this river trip yourself, which gives you freedom of choice, but it's not recommended during the rainy season. Best compromise is to go in a small group, so that you can get your guide to stop off wherever you want.

Our group, three boats altogether, and everybody keen to arrive Thi Lo Su, decided to stop only at a place known as tarn nam ron, which means a hot brook. No, it's not that the river turns hot at this particular spot, but there's a naturally hot stream flowing into the river from a hot spring somewhere nearby. And just as if the vendors knew we were coming, and would be peckish, they were waiting with their food items, ranging from honey to mix grills. Not the most delicious stuff in the world, but I can tell you that if, like us, you set off before breakfast, you dig in to what's on offer without being too fussy.

To the energetic and lucky on this trip, the highlight is the natural phenomenon to be seen at the Thi Lo Jo waterfalls, where nature conjures up a strip of rainbow every morning around nine o'clock. Well, what do you know? In spite of that early start, we arrived too late and the rainbow had made its bow and left the stage.

Rather piqued by this and overcome by natural fatigue after the early (but not early enough) start, I fell asleep on the soft cushion of the rubber canoe. But before long, the words, "lunch ready" spoken by my colleagues, who to a man and woman know what the right order of priorities is, penetrated my dreams, waking me to the reality of an emptiness that needed filling. We duly attacked the viands provided, and at least temporarily satisfied were then ready for the next of our duties - jumping into a pick-up that had been laid on for us and going off to see what the Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary offered. The country road was so rough and bumpy that it took 40 minutes to cover the 26 kilometers, turning us into even better mixed and shaken cocktails than ever.

It was four o'clock when we arrived. Colorful tents are to be found in situ, ready for whoever wants to stay overnight - and lots of them there are too. However, our duties calling us imperatively, we weren't able to stay another night, and because the gate at the entrance to the Sanctuary is closed from 6.30pm till 6 o'clock in the morning, we had to stir our stumps pretty briskly.

That meant a quick march over the three kilometers from the Sanctuary office headquarters to that point where the majestic Thi Lo Su escarpment reveals itself. Jutting into the sky were great rock cliffs over 300 meters high, and stretching across a front of more than 500 meters, dense forest crowning what must be among the top ten of the world's most beautiful waterfalls. Even in early summer, there was still plenty of water falling, providing for and witnessing to the fertility of the forest.

I was told by the guide that the condition of Thi Lo Su, which in the Karen language means 'The Black Waterfalls', is still very good, perhaps because its remoteness and difficulty of access have protected it from the ravages of massed tourism that we can see elsewhere. However, no doubt with the best of intentions, some concerned agencies are now planning to build a concrete walkway to facilitate a great tourist influx. Maybe a good idea, or maybe not. Anyway, my advice is that you get yourself here soon, admire the unspoiled beauty of the place, so that you can judge for yourself on that point. (And while you're about it, why not write your opinion about the unspoiled beauty, and the intended development of places like these in the comments book back at the Sanctuary headquarters? Your opinions are valuable, and who knows, might actually have an effect on the decision-makers).

There was barely half an hour left before the front gate closed, so we had to hurry back for the journey over that rough and bumpy road leading to civilisation. It had been an all-too-short trip, but packed as it was with so many splendid places, as the muted sounds of the waterfalls receded behind us, I thought I heard them whispering to me that I should return there one day. Soon.