LONELY PLANET'S OFFICIAL ITINERARY INFORMATION
Itinerary: Misty Mountain Hop
THREE WEEKS/MAE SOT TO MAE WAWI
At Mae Sot, a town perched on the Thai-Myanmar border, and as much Karen-Burmese as it is Thai, you can visit the border market or day-trip to Myawadi, across the Mae Nam Moei in Myanmar.
Take the high and winding 'Death Highway' south to Um Phang, a district famous for its pristine waterfalls (including Thailand's largest, Nam Tok Thilawsu), white-water rapids, working elephants and trekking possibilities, yet little visited by foreigners. If you have the time and stamina, consider hiking south to Letongkhu, centre of a Karen priest cult.
Return to Mae Sot and grab a sawngthaew north to Mae Sariangand continue through the Mae Hong Son Province loop to Tha Ton as described in the Northern Loop itinerary. Instead of taking the boat to Chiang Rai, however, get a ride up to the Yunnanese mountain settlement of Mae Salong. From Mae Salong you can follow a network of roads high along mountain ridges all the way to Doi Tung, one of the major centres for opium poppy growing in decades past.
From Doi Tung loop back around, via Chiang Rai to Wawi, an intriguing area where hill-tribe and Yunnanese populations grow some of the best tea in the country.
Best done by rented car, jeep or motorcycle; or else bus from Tak to Mae Sot, then sawngthaew to Um Phang and Mae Sariang, then bus again to Mae Hong Son and Pai. Bus to Tha Ton, sawngthaew to Mae Salong and Doi Tung, bus to Chiang Rai and sawngthaew to Wawi.
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