Hill Tribes of North West Thailand
Explore the caving and hill tribe offerings of Pangmapha District
May 1, 2009
Situated seventy kilometres east of Mae Hong Son and forty one kilometres west of Pai is the small but relatively prosperous market town of Soppong known also as Pangmapha as it is the district office for the Pangmapha District. Although both names are used, the name Soppong is met with blank stares outside of Pangmapha District. Soppong offers itself as the ideal base to explore both the local hill tribes and the two hundred plus limestone caverns located within Pangmapha District.
Hill Tribes in Northern Thailand
While Soppong is central to a number of hill tribe villages only a few are within easy walking distance from town with the closest being a Lisu village but even this is a long steep climb on foot. Nearby Black Lahu village and Karen village are best reached by four wheel drive vehicle. Each village varies in traditional dress with a Karen villager dressed in a typical grey and red attire or all white if a woman is not married, while Lisu villagers wear vibrant blue, green and purple velvet garments. Black Lahu villagers typically are not as colourful as Lisu but usually opt for a bright coloured, floral patterned sarong coupled with any type of shirt. Building structures also differ from village to village as some tribes prefer a single room dwelling and other a multi roomed structure. Building materials consist of teak, teak leaves and bamboo. All villages have their own Primary schools and general stores but there is only one high school for the district. Every Tuesday in Soppong is market day when the town is a mass of varying colours as all hill tribes have some representation in town.
Caving in Northern Thailand
Pangmapha District encompasses an area of 900 square kilometres and is famous for its high concentration of cave systems, the most famous of which are Tham Lot and Tham Nan Lang. Than Nan Lang located twenty kilometres north west of Soppong is nine kilometres long and one of the largest in the world in terms of volume. Tham Lot is located eight kilometres north of Soppong and therefore easily accessible, offers impressive stalagmites, a wide stream running through it and coffin caves. Of the two hundred limestone caverns in Pangmapha District eighty three are coffin caves which contain ancient teak coffins carved from solid tree logs and up to nine metres long. The coffins have been carbon dated between 1200 and 2200 years old. It is unknown the who and why of the coffins but as each coffin cave contains ten or less coffins the occupants must have been of considerable importance to be accorded such an elaborate burial. Similar coffin caves appear in karst areas west of Bangkok and in Borneo, China and The Philippines, however the highest concentration of coffin caves from this period is in Pangmapha.
How to get to Pangmapha
Soppong is located on route 1095 between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong son and while it is only 175 kilometres from Chiang Mai the bus trip takes four to five hours on an extremely windy and mountainous paved road. At the Chiang Mai bus station ask for a ticket to Pangmapha as the name Soppong does not register and do not forget to take some travel sickness prevention prior to departure.
 |
 |
 |
 |
