Never in my life that I have heard of this town, Mae La Noi, until I went to travel exhibition in Bangkok. At first I wanted to book a hotel near the beach in the south of Thailand. Suddenly, my dad saw Hern Tai resort booth and recommended me to check it out. The owner had many photos of his resort and nearby attractions so I was like, yeah I gonna go there.
Mae La Noi is a district in the southern part of Mae Hong Son Province, northern Thailand. It is originally location of Lawa, austro-asiatic people that evacuated from southern part of Thailand. Topography of this district is surrounded with mountains and is separated from Kun Yuab district and Mae Sa Reang district. Most of population is Shan, S'gaw, Lawa and Miao that leads to multicultural lifestyle but without any conflict among them.
Just like any other trips, Sam is a second traveller. We left Bangkok at 6.30pm and arrived at Mae La Noi at 8.00am on the next day. During the bus journey, the route was so hilly with many turns so car sickness was my friend. Thankfully, I was prepared, I brought a few motion sickness pills with me. A few step from the bus stop, we continued walking to the resort. It was very nice, however there were too many mosquitos and they can carry Malaria so beware of that and don't forget to bring moquito repellent.
Since we arrived too early, we didn't have a chance to shower, just brushed our teeth and changed. An hour later the villagers' car was ready to picked us up to look around the district. Many villagers grow soybean for a living. On the raining season they grow rice terrace instead. With that, it attaches many tourist from inside and outside the country to visit the rice terrace. When the rice fully grow, the entire hill will be golden. Unfortunately, Sam and I went there 2 weeks earlier before they planted the rice but I know the scenery will be breath-taking.
The driver made a few stop for us to click some photos which was very awesome. It was the first time that I wasn't afraid to breath in fully because the air was so pure. No car around (just ours), no factories, just plants! Suddenly, I thought I don't want this place to be tourist attraction. I want all of those to stay like that and not ruin by some human who doesn't appreciate nature. I guess my "environmenty" blood was fully kicked it.
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Not so long we reached Baan Huai Hom to have lunch. Before that, we had time to look around and learn what Huai Hom's villagers do for a living. There were two big products that make this village well know. Number 1 is Arabica coffee. On their lands, the villagers grow Arabica coffee and get very tasty coffee beans. That made Starbucks, an American coffee company and coffeehouse chain, buys their coffee beans for selling in every branches of Starbucks in Thailand. Fasinating right?
Number 2 is my favourite one, they feed sheep ᏊᵕꈊᵕᏊ It is actually the very first place in Thailand that feed sheep for making products for example wool woven, placenta cream etc. Many broadcasting stations filmed and released it out to the world, made Huai Hom an unhidden district anymore.
When the lunch was ready, we immidiately rushed to the table lol. Ah! I don't know about Sam but I was starving! The taste of the dishes were good. They reminded me of my mom's food. Nothing is better than having a siesta at this time, we headed back to our accommodation. Fun story haven't ended yet, on the way back, I saw a local brought her livestocks to the road becaue along two sides of the road, lots of grass were grown naturally, like weeds I would say. A few cattle were standing in the middle of the road, some of them act like they were goat mountains: scaling steep, rocky ledges. I found it very amusing.
We went back to Bangkok on the next day. The same route , the same bus company and the same sickness ┐(°_°)ʃ I wish Bangkok have the same fresh air like Mae La Noi. In summary, if you love slow life lifestyle, non touristic destination or live among nature, go to Mae La Noi. You won't regret it one bit.
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