Jungle Trekking in Chiang Rai

Since we’re cheap backpackers we didn’t want to pay the 1200THB for the guided trek and instead set off on our own to trek up to a hot spring and waterfall near the hut we were staying in at Akha Hill House. After a lazy breakfast and making use of the free wifi in the communal hut we set off on our mini trek into the jungle.

Apparently the hot spring is a 1 hour trek and the waterfall is a 10 minute one so we set off for the hot spring first. It rained a bit the night before so the track was a bit muddy but totally manageable. We crossed over several bamboo bridges and eventually came upon a clearing with two traditional home. At this junction there were 3 different paths we could take but none of them were signposted. We took the most obvious route first but eventually it ended at a river with no crossing point in sight so we turned around and headed back to the clearing. The next route we took also ended abruptly so again we turned back. Finally we took the least obvious path and it soon turned into a proper trail. Unfortunately we soon came across another small river with no bridge but there was a clear path on the other side which meant it was crossable. After a short debate which ended with a “sure, why not?” Dasha volunteered me to go first since in case it was in fact really deep. I found a bamboo stick nearby and used it for the crossing.

After Dasha crossed we came upon another bamboo bridge, but this one looked really familiar. Like really really familiar. It turns out we went in a massive circle and ended up at the very first bamboo bridge crossing! Epic fail! At this point we headed to the waterfall to cool off in the bathing pool. We found it easy enough and took a quick dip in the cold natural bathing pool before heading back for a late lunch. While we never found the hot spring we did have a good mini-trek and it was good fun crossing the river!