An Early start
The most romantic breakfast ever
Pitched on a hilltop gazing into Burma, reached by an exciting series of giddy switchbacks, the huge Buddha rises over 20 meters above the surrounding forest.
Extraordinary, remote, far from habitation, seldom visited, sits this mystical, deeply moving and highly improbable religious statement of great faith. Irrational, surreal and amazing. The climb to the Golden Buddha is flanked by an avenue of 40 subsidiary Buddhas, each in different pose. Strike each of the nine great bronze bells whilst making a wish at each peal. Kanlaya’s own Buddha, the second largest, is the sole effigy facing inwards to Thailand across the mountain tops to the South.
Extraordinary, remote and seldom visited
The Golden Buddha
After breakfast, on to the truly surreal Golden Buddha. Pitched on a hilltop gazing into Burma, reached by an exciting series of giddy switchbacks, the huge Buddha rises over 20 meters above the surrounding forest.
Extraordinary, remote, far from habitation, seldom visited, sits this mystical, deeply moving and highly improbable religious statement of great faith. Irrational, surreal and amazing. The climb to the Golden Buddha is flanked by an avenue of 40 subsidiary Buddhas, each in different pose. Strike each of the nine great bronze bells whilst making a wish at each peal. Kanlaya’s own Buddha, the second largest, is the sole effigy facing inwards to Thailand across the mountain tops to the South.
Alight the senses
Organic Lahu Coffee village
Pitched on a hilltop gazing into Burma, reached by an exciting series of giddy switchbacks, the huge Buddha rises over 20 meters above the surrounding forest.
Extraordinary, remote, far from habitation, seldom visited, sits this mystical, deeply moving and highly improbable religious statement of great faith. Irrational, surreal and amazing. The climb to the Golden Buddha is flanked by an avenue of 40 subsidiary Buddhas, each in different pose. Strike each of the nine great bronze bells whilst making a wish at each peal. Kanlaya’s own Buddha, the second largest, is the sole effigy facing inwards to Thailand across the mountain tops to the South.
The Magical Valley of Mae Lanna
Shan Villages
Drop down 350 meters into the magical valley of Mae Lanna, described in Lonely Planet as “Set in an incredibly picturesque mountain valley, this tiny Shan village feels like a lost corner of the world. Some of Mae Hong Son’s most beautiful scenery, and several Red and Black Lahu villages, lie on the half loop between Thum Lod (Kanlaya’s) and Mae Lanna.”
Kanlaya’s apart, this is the most beautiful, though seldom visited valley in Mae Hong Son. Entirely enclosed with high jungle covered mountains, the exceptionally fertile valley floor of maybe 1000 hectares is watered by a river that rises on the Burmese border. At the tail of the valley a sheer barricade of rock hundreds of feet high bars the river’s exit. In response, it dives underground (see diagram at beginning of guide) down through a swirling sink hole to join the longest through cave, in South-East Asia. The valley is terraced in intricate and beautifully constructed rice paddies, where after harvest herds of hump backed cattle and buffalo graze. It’s one of the few places where the calls of the Gibbon can be unerringly heard after dawn each day. Settled over 250 years ago this is a rich and beautiful village. Every house has a verdant garden of flowers, fruit and veg. The Temple, Burmese in style, is extraordinarily beautiful and seats the whole village. From the village shop trek across the paddy fields to a stand of immense flowering trees at the point the river disappears. From November to January see the rice harvest, truly a Bruegelian mediaeval scene.
From Mae Lanna the road improves and climbs out of the west face of the valley with great panoramic views back towards the mountains behind Kanlaya’s. It’s become must see, Instagram essential Ban Jabo Viewpoint, seething with tourists, the only ones, I promise, that you will see today, an obligatory half-way stop en route from Pai to Mae Hong Son. On the way home we pass a row of Native food stalls with exotic, challenging and intriguing things to for culinary adventurers to try for dinner. From here the road drops back into the Lang Valley and branching off the main road we follow the River Lang back to Kanlaya’s through the National Forest Park. The whole expedition takes 8 or nine hours and covers around 70 Kms, mostly back and off road.
