Trekking the mountains and jungle around Chiang Mai
Summary
Chiang Mai is a good spot to spend a day or so checking out the temples and markets, or a bit longer if you take one of the famous cooking courses. But the highlight is heading out into the mountains and jungle on a 3 day trek that will let you stay with some of the the hill-tribe villages, interact with the elephants and go rafting down the rivers
The only problem is that these treks have now turned into a bit of an industry and the market is full of companies that provide the “standard package” that most likely won’t meet your idea of adventure and, worse, may be keeping the elephants in very poor conditions
Bests suggestion is to thoroughly do your research for which company you go with; lean more towards a multi-day trek (there won’t be any “authentic” experiences in a day trip of Chiang Mai); or potentially move move a little further north to near the Chiang Rai / Tha Ton area. It’s worth making the effort though because its a great experience
highlights
#1 Spending evenings with the hill tribes and getting to have a glimpse into how they live here
#2 Heading out of the city landscape of Chiang Mai and into the jungle, so much of which is still well preserved
#3 Interacting with the elephants - either in one of the elephant sanctuaries or on a hike with a reputable company that takes proper care of them
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Other Close Animal Encounters
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone