“Doi Tu” is a newly discovered mountain that was just recently opened for tourist visit and nature trails. It is about 1,384 meters above the sea level (measured from my watch). It is cold all year round. The top area has a highly diverse forests and very abundant. It has such a vast field where you can enjoy it endlessly.

We gather at Pa Tong house with adequate space to welcome us. It has food, beverages as well as enough bathrooms for those who need to bathe or simply use it. Then, we pack, prepare our lunch box and drinking water for the hike. After that, the village head take us on his truck to the at Moo Ban Lisu Khun Huai Tu, Thung Kraso Sub-district, Ban Tak District, Tak Province. It is about an hour ride. Here, we are meeting with Luk Hab (porter) who would provide us with carrying our luggage up services. And now that everyone is ready, let's go!

It is about 8 km walk on foot. We are going through local people's fields, cutting through dense forest, through banana plantation and streams (water is drinkable). Please try to walk in groups, otherwise, you could get lost easily as the route is not yet clear.

Now, we start to climb up the level and it's quite slippy, making us quite exhausted.

We are walking by ripe wild mango which is quite sweet and fragrant. There's also this wild rambutan (it is so sour but tastier than lime), and wild Burmese grape.

After about 2 hours walk, we reach a mountain ridge of where we would stop for lunch. This places also shows us a local organic coffee plantation view. Indeed, it has such a beautiful view, cool breeze, and mist covering the entire area. It's so refreshing no matter where you look. The trees start to turn green now and that it's surrounded by the mist, making our walk is so nice and relax.

Of course, sticky rice and me go hand in hand, also, do not miss to take Tum Jiw chili paste which is a local must not miss dish too, so delicious.

After lunch, we resume our hike. From now on, it's a walk on ridge with up and down hill route which is not so difficult. But if you see banana jungle, you must be careful as you will also see an army of slugs as well. Please pay extra caution when seeing banana trees as they will definitely be there, so run if you can. Regardless, you will have them on your body. After getting out of this slug army area, it's time to take them off one by one, oh my, they are quite unpleasant.

We will walk pass about 3-4 banana jungles where an army of slugs will be there too.

Actually, there're a lot of photo takings points along the way but too bad that the sky was completely closed. Oh well, let's come back again.

Open or close, I guess I'm already quite satisfied seeing this.

Here, the sky starts to open, but no, that's a deforested area.

Hiking here is not very difficult. Most of the landscape is an open wild grassland. It is similar to Doi Luang Tak, Khao Chang Phueng, Mon Chong where the wind is very strong making traveling here during rainy season is very cool and refreshing as the mist keeps on touching us. It has no sunlight too (it could be quite hot on a sunny day). And I think there's a chance of rain too, so let's hurry and get to our camp before the rain drops.

Everyone agrees that today is not hot and the view is so beautiful and we all are enjoying ourselves walking around very much. We simply just rest and take out slug one by one and take photos with this spectacular view along the way.

We still need to keep on walking as our destination is the peak of Doi Tu

Again, we are back into forest area and must walk across this cow fences where nails are there. So please be very careful here as it's also an uphill route too.

Soon, we are out on an open and vast field again. Now, we are close to our destination. We must find a location for camping and this grassland could be difficult as it's very windy.

It's easy to walk as it's all grassland. The wind is so strong and I feel like it could be a tornado level, no wonder why there's not even a single tree around.

"Culantro" is everywhere. If you wish to cook some dish like Lab, Tom Yum, or Tom Leng, do not bother to buy one from the market. It's everywhere here, especially where you find cow dung. You can be sure it's 100% organic.

Since this is quite an exploratory trip, we must find a location for tenting ourselves. That it rains and very windy, we also cannot all tent at the grassland as only certain tent can handle such a weather. For those who sleep with a hammock, they must go back to find a location in a forest where it's already all wet, indeed, it's quite fun. Most importantly, that area is also a house for slugs.

Actually, water for drinking and cooking rice is here but I guess it might only be available in a rainy season. Please check with local people again if you wish to visit here in a different season.

This place is great for a hammock bed as there're many trees for you.

For me and some friends who brought tents that could kind of protecting us from the rain and the wind, we decided to tent at the grassland (well, the only reason we tent htere is because we are afraid of slugs, haha).

Camping in a middle of.....slugs.

It is quite cold tonight as it's very windy and raining all night.

Also, the mist is circulating all the time.

Well, I think it's quite beautiful like this too.

Oh well, it's truly a charm of rainy season. So do not ask for any sunlight.

Then we cook, eat together, chat, and exchange our experiences from both staff team and us. Then, after some fun, we go back to sleep. Yes, people snore very loudly but I didn't bother as I fell sleep in no time.

The next early morning, it's still raining and the wind is still strong with a mist covering the entire area like usual. All I can see now is white and green. It's quite beautiful in its own way. So refreshing, what a nice weather! I really don't want to go back yet. I will certainly come back again. I'm sure that there're still many more things waiting for us to discover in this newly opened mountain.

That we see the mist covering the entire area, we send out our representative to see how high is the peak. From the watch, it is 1,384 meters above the sea level. Next time, at the end of rainy season and the beginning of winter, we will come back again. I would like to see the beauty of this mountain sea and mist sea. It must be breathtaking. Now, the view on the way back and the way here is indifferent, haha, it's all covered by the mist.

It's time to go back now. It's so fun, wet, and cool!

Once we are out of the forest, the rain stops, the mist is also very beautiful, oh my....

:::Preperation:::

- This place is open for nature trail now, please contact Pa Tong at 0938162949.
- Luk Hab, you can contact Pa Tong in advance of how many would you need.
- Prepare shirt to wear when you sleep and pack your sleeping bag in a plastic or water-proof thing before putting in your bag as you might experience rain along the way. Also, your jacket must be good for both cold and wind because it's very windy up there and quite cold in a rainy season.
- No proper toilet, you must find your own and don't forget to dig it too.
- Slugs, there will be there but don't be afraid of them because I'm also highly scared of them, if I can survive, you all can make it too.
- There're a lot of tenting area but it's very windy too so you must walk back into a forest again which in turn there'll be tons of slugs, I guess the best alternative could be a hammock.
- There's also a natural water where we can drink and use it for cooking, it's about 50 meters into a banana jungle of slugs.
- Phone signal is there but unavailable at certain points but I say it's available most of the time, trust me.
- For trash, you should also bring a trash bag and take back as many trash as possible and dig a hole for the wet trash. Let's go with our conserve hearts and no matter where we go, "We will not leave anything except footprints. We will not keep anything except memories."

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Thank you Namchan of page "lost in forest man" for taking us on this fun and exploratory trip, as well as friendship from all new friends.

Thank you Pa Tong, the village head of Moo Ban Lisu Khun Huai Tu and all the staff for taking care of us and showing us the fresh and beautiful nature.

If you still cannot think of places to visit in rainy season, please try this place out, "Doi Tu" certainly is a new and great choice.

"New experiences, you won't get it if you don't go out" Life is a journey.

These photos were taken on 9-10 June 2018.
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