Under the light of a single lamp, P’Yuth lays out three bags of beans on the slab of unfinished wood that serves as his dinner table. Fifty years ago, much of their land may have been covered in the opium plantations of the Golden Triangle. The night is dense. We’ve finished the home-cooked dinner of his fried fish, omelette, shrimp sauce and curry, and the plates are stacked to the side. “Wet. Dry. And honey process,” he says, pointing to each sack of coffee. Wet, dry and honey process are methods for removing the fruit and sugar mucilage of the coffee cherry, a crucial step to prepare the coffee for roasting. Now, the farmers work with P’Yuth to pick only the ripest of the coffee “cherries.” He then processes them himself in the town of Chiang Dao. His coffee beans vary in color and size, but all come from the surrounding mountains of northern Thailand, grown on small farms run by families who own their own land. It’s almost sweater weather.

• Phen Phop Mai Waterfall
• Maenam Beach, Koh Samui
• Koh Tao
• Sunset Beach, Koh Lipe
• Koh Samui
• Chiang Mai
• Doi Inthanon National Park

P’Yuth isn’t from Chiang Dao. Though it’s clearly a tourist destination, the only place here with crowds is the parking lot of the Chiang Dao Cave, often swarmed by silver minibuses. Like many, he took to this small town an hour north of Chiang Mai for the mountains, the place’s slower energy, and the people’s creativity. We’re here for the same reasons as P’Yuth. Chiang Dao is a calm delight – waterfalls, hot springs, bungalows plunked on the eaves of the mountains, a breadth of food options, artists workshops, and a manageably-sized cave. And it’s almost comically easy to get to from Chiang Mai. At night, the main road in town is only street lights, shuttered shops and a couple 7-11s. The road with the tourist bungalows is slightly more lit up, and a couple low-key bars are scattered around the area. He’s from the south of Thailand; he worked a corporate job and had a popular cafe in Bangkok before dropping it all and moving to Chiang Dao to learn coffee.

Chiang Dao isn’t the “most” or “best” of anything. Like in any small community, this collaborative, supportive spirit is what makes Chiang Dao work. I’ve never tried. It’s a testament to the draw of everything else in Chiang Dao. The next day, P’Yuth shows us a worn clay pot, no bigger than a gallon, on the end of a metal rod that’s attached to a Tuk Tuk-size engine. He switches the machine on and two short pipes spread rows of flame across the bottom of the pot as it begins to rotate. The steep mass of jungle that cradles the town is the third tallest mountain in Thailand, Doi Luang Chiang Dao, with its thick green slopes and serene rock faces. But after four trips to the area, I’ve never climbed it. “This is the traditional method for coffee roasting. Each person’s project depends on the energy that others are putting into the community.

National Park At Phan

We’re only visitors, and we don’t have anything to offer except some rice wine from a friend’s village in Prae. It’s not much, but P’Yuth is appreciative. He shares his knowledge with students who come to study coffee, but prefers to keep his business small – if you’d like to find him and learn about coffee, just ask around in town. Some of the better-known things to do (and the better places to stay) in Chiang Dao are located on the Ban Tham road, a ten-minute drive northwest of town, rather than on the main road (Highway 107). It’s easy enough to get a songthaew (100 THB each way) or hitchhike from the bus station, or anywhere in town, out to Ban Tham. Northern Thailand and caves are now synonymous with the story of the Wild Boars – the 12 boys and their soccer coach who were trapped in a cave in Chiang Rai for two weeks before being miraculously rescued (if you don’t know the story, start here). There are also motorbikes for rent in town for 300 THB per day (guesthouses can also arrange a rental for you, similar rate).

But don’t let this turn you off of northern Thailand’s many perfectly safe caves. The dark portion is an adventurous exercise in trusting your guide and feels just a bit Indiana Jones, but it’s a regular stop on the tourist trail in Chiang Dao so it seems relatively low-risk. If you want to hire a guide and explore the dark portion inside, it’s 100 more. Some of the guides speak English, but not all. Entrance to the cave costs 100 THB. There are two portions to the cave: the main, lighted portion, which takes about 30 minutes to an hour to see, and the deeper, pitch black portion that you need a guide to see. Chiang Dao Cave might be the area’s best-known attraction, and it’s worth a stop to see the caverns and Buddhist shrines within. Two kilometers up the road past Chiang Dao Cave is Wat Tham Pha Plong Chiang Dao, the “walking temple” of Chiang Dao.

Sight Seeings At Bang Lamung

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