More →]]> Well it’s done, Chiang Mai – Chiang Rai is tracked and ran! The first GR footpath in Thailand does exist, we’re a living proof. We can witness the first long mountain trail is born, we’ve ran it in 7 days and 6 nights. Of course it is not marked yet; of course it doesn’t officially exist. Anyway it’s already in our GPS records and Google maps; it’s already in our bodies and minds.

This adventure has been lived in our hearts; it will stay there forever. It was a great parenthesis like a journey on another planet through an incredible amazing and surprising Thailand. This week was almost unreal as it was wild and far from any civilization. It was almost unreal as the landscapes we crossed were so diverse and the atmosphere was so unique. It was almost unreal as it went ideally well despite the difficulties and the unavoidable surprises. I still cannot believe that it was both so easy and difficult.

Three weeks before starting, everything was not set. Despite a detailed organization and planning and all the energy I spent in the last months, much remained to be done: some parts of the track had to be found; the arrival of athletes had to be organized as the support and assistance during the race. As an innovative and unique project I knew it would not be easy to implement. Thailand has its own pace. Wanting to go fast and requiring quick answers is the best way to be pretty sure to fail. To succeed here it’s better to observe and understand, wait for the right moment and adapt. Acting like this with patience and confidence and at the end everything will go well. It is eventually a great way to proceed; Thailand is a Buddhist country which teaches life is governed by many different forces that one must understand.

The day before starting, everything was perfectly organized and done. This is the way I wanted to leave. It was not an unhealthy desire for perfectionism; when I do things alone I like to let me a room for improvisation. Anyway this time I knew the race would be difficult to achieve. So during the race week I wanted to focus only on the sport side and avoid wasting unnecessary energy in the organization. I knew I would have to cope with unavoidable issues of all kinds. Leaving well organized would give us energy for running and lucidity to face any problem.

On Monday the 9^th December we left Chiang Mai from the university (CMU). Our group of 6 runners left the ‘’Rose of the North’’ in a confident mood, apprehensively but happy with the idea of spending 7 days of trail running in the mountains. We crossed jungles, rice fields, alpine mountains and hills, rivers and hill tribe villages; we experienced small injuries, unexpected bad weather conditions (such as an exceptional flood in dry season ), wasp attacks, difficult rivers and jungles to cross; we arrived late (walking 2 hours in the jungle at night ) an change our route; we discovered beautiful landscapes, share delicious meals and nights with tribes, sleep in the most beautiful villages in the region. After an amazing week we finally arrived at the Night Bazaar in Chiang Rai the eyes full of stars, the head full of memories, and the body full of 330k of happiness.

More →]]> The first stage of our journey will leave from Chiang Mai and finish 49k and 3000m+ further in the Karen village of Ban Mae Kha.

The route will pass through the pilgrim trail that goes up through jungle to the magnificent temple of Wat Palaad and Thai Buddhist sacred site of Wat Doi Suthep. With a good weather the view on the Chiang Mai valley is beautiful. The route then enters the jungle where a more dense and confined atmosphere will contrast with the bustle of the busy Wat Doi Suthep. We will reach the 1st tribe village of our race, the Hmong village of Khun Chiang, before starting a very steep climb to Doi Pui summit, the highest mountain near Chiang Mai (1668m). After crossing the ridge also called “Buddha footprint” due to its shape, the track will go down into the valley of orchids and elephants, Mae Sa.

Leaving Mae Sa Valley, we will take a path that crosses a wild tropical forest then a humid jungle. It will be very dense on some parts and the atmosphere will be amazing while running alongside a small stream. Getting closer to the wonderful Karen village of Mae Khan, our stopover, we will discover a series of small valleys surrounded by rice paddies and mountains. We’ll spend the night there before attacking the second day.

More →]]> The second stage between Mae Kha and Sop Kai has the same distance (49k) but a smaller elevation (2250m instead of+ 3000m) than the 1st stage. It will be important to manage efficiently the series of running days. After a first and tough day it will be interesting to see how the shape is. Hopefully the night will be good and relaxing in the quiet village of Mae Kha. In the morning a beautiful sunrise will escort us on the way up to the mountains that overlook Mae Kha. We will take the opportunity to look at the beautiful village down and the Chiang Mai valley further. We will enjoy this magnificient view and the wild nature that will surrounds us.

After leaving Mae Kha we will cross some rice paddies before attacking a walk up in the jungle to Doi Pha Dam (1370m). The track is straight and steep in the forest. It looks like a long ordeal or rather a tough pilgrimage, because after reaching the summit we will go down to the sacred temple of Wat Prabat Si Loi. The temple is popular with Thais for its beautiful and lonely surrounding and for its famous Buddha footprint. I tried to understand the origin of this footprint by discussing with a local person. Unfortunately I need still to take few more Thai lessons to understand exactly the full story!

Leaving Wat Prabat Si Loi we will run down a beautiful and wild dirt road to the valley of Pha Daeng. We will enjoy a splendid scenery of the surrounding mountains before entering this little and quiet valley. The original vegetation is perfectly mixed with crops (mainly rice) and the Karen tribe villages. It creates a beautiful atmosphere.

Anyway, it’s not complicated, leaving Wat Prabat Si Loi, it will be an explosion of beauty. We won’t limit ourselves to few beautiful pieces. Like for a gourmet menu, we will taste every meals: rice terraces, rivers and gorges, preserved villages, jungle and bamboo forests, mountain sceneries. On the next 20k we won’t miss anything.

Approaching the jungle out of the valley of Pha Daeng, progress in the jungle will not be easy although the trail there will have been cleaned few days before the race. It will be quite an adventure to cross it. After this jungle we will tackle the way up to the Hmong tribe village, Mong Ngoa. The difficulty of the ascent will succed to the difficulty of the track; the mountains sceneries will succeed to the dense and confined atmosphere of the jungle.

Arriving in the Hmong village of Kai Noi, we will have few last kilometers gown to do until reaching Sop Kai. We will spend the night in this small Thai village alongside the beautiful Mae Taeng river.

More →]]> This third stage with 58k will be the second longest one of the race. It will be also one of the toughest. It will come after two tough running days: when starting this stage we will have already 100k and 5000m elevation “in the legs”. It will be a “mountain stage” with a majority of the track over 1000m high, a total of 3000m elevation, and a masterpiece Doi Chiang Dao.

After passing many small villages of different tribes (Akha , Lisu , Karen) and running through rice fields, bamboo forests and pine trees, we will arrive at Pakhia. This is a Hmong village at the foothill of Doi Chiang Dao. This mountain has a summit at 2225m and is the only alpine mountain range in Thailand. Because of its characteristic shape and its range of steep mountains, it is called the “tooth of Himalaya”. The track from south to north will go through the tooth and will be one of the nicest part of the week. It willl look like a mix between a French Alps mountain and a tropical forest.

We will cross the North by reaching a moutain pass at 1600m high and go down to Na Lao Mai, a Lisu village. After a magnificent run through the jungle and a series of rocks which would delight lovers of boulder climbing, we will engage in a beautiful mountain valley. Surrounded everywhere by mountain summits (Doi Nang, 1818m, also known as ” The Sleeping Lady mountain “; Doi Mae Khong, 1420m; Doi Khom San Phra (1410m), the village of Ban Nong Khatae seems lost and its people living appart from any civilization.

The last part of our journey will see us going alongside a ridge in beautiful pine forests before going down into the jungle and reach Ban Mae Cha, another Lisu village where we will spend the night.

More →]]> The 4th stage of our journey is probably the wildest one. Less hilly but very wild. It will see us going through jungles and tropical forests for many kilometers without crossing any village. The atmosphere will be magical and sometimes oppressive; progress in some areas might be difficult. I even got lost when I was looking for the track. Hopefully now I have the complete GPS track to help!

Appart from a small way up at the beginning of the day, we will only run down on the first part of this stage. This won’t be a luxury after the mountain stage of yesterday. We will ease our pain and relax our legs bruised by over 150k and 8500m+ of running in 3 days. This will also allow us to take time to enjoy the journey. We will run most of the time alongside rivers. We could enjoy a magical atmosphere among butterflies, banana trees and ubiquitous flora.

We will quickly go through the Karen village of Mae Kon and the Thai village of Pong Ung to immediately plunge into a wild atmosphere. After walking alongside the Mae Ping River (which flows to the south through Chiang Mai), we will turn to the East alongside a small stream to reach back to Ling Luang. The atmosphere will be magical but could be treacherous thanks to the technical parts and the humid jungle. The progress will be very slow and the track sometimes dfficult to find.

The last part of our journey will be very steep and difficult after more than 40k done in a day. We will then begin to enter the beautiful and evergreen mountains of Northern Thailand at the border with Mynamar. After 4k to “climb” a track at almost 15%, we will reach the stop for the night: Pha Daeng, a village created by Chinese Chiang Kai Chek fighters refugees here after being defeated by the Communists.

More →]]> This stage of “transition” will be much welcome for our group. It will allow us to relax a litlle bit after 4 days of intense running. After a pretty night in a great guesthouse with a magnificent scenery on the mountains at the border with Myanmar, I hope the batteries will be fully reloaded. With a great and quick trail run (another beautiful day with another nice atmopshere in this place also called “Little Switzerland”) this will be a perfect recovery day.

Here we are in the “extreme” Northern Thailand in a wild hilly less-touristic sometime-dangerous area due to its proximity with Myanmar. Here as often the mountains have defined the borders between two countries. Anyway sometimes the border is not clearly defined. There are still areas of friction and many military camps to avoid one country annexing a part of the land of its neighbour. Here the green mountains succeed to each other. Thais enjoy going there in winter to taste the freshness and beauty of the place. In this part of Thailand temperatures can drop down to 5 ° C at night in November and December.

We will begin our day by running in a deep valley alongside the foothill of a high and steep mountain range. In this great atmosphere looked down by green mountains, we will follow the Myanmar border to the north. After 15k we will go up to reach the Chinese village of Ban Luang. The further we will move on our journey, the closer we will go to the border with Myanmar. We will finally end up crossing it on a few hundred meters before reaching Nor Lae. Previously we will have ran in a jungle atmosphere on a nice trail at the foot of Doi Ang Khang, the highest summit in this area (2000m). We will looked down the valley in a series of small ascents and descents in wild landscapes.

We will hope to reach Nor Lae in the early afternoon to enjoy this peacefully village and save much energy before tackling the next crazy stage.

More →]]> This sixth stage is the zenith of the project at least on a sport side. Running 74k a day after having done 220k in 5 days is already a small feat. If you add almost 4000m elevation and the highest part of the week (2000m high), it really starts to get complicated. Then when you will know the jungle will be the densest of the week (which means a very slow progress), you understand why I am in a cold sweat. Finally when you realize there are only 12 hours of daylight at this time in Thailand and we will need therefore to run at least 3 hours at night, you can imagine I have some restless nights!

This sixth stage will be complicated till the end. In this enclave in Northern Thailand, we are always a few kilometers close to Burma. It happens that some places are temporarily dangerous. It is therefore possible that we will be required to avoid going to some parts. We will know what’s possible once we are around Doi Ang Khang the day before.

After running down to Nong Dtao we will cross a large valley for a long time and pass few villages without much interest. This is probably the least interesting part of our trip. Leaving it the track becomes wilder and nicer.  We will go up to start climbing Doi Phaompok the 2nd highest summit of Thailand (2295m). At the beginning the route in a dense and desert jungle will be difficult to cross. Then we will run on a better dirt road and  pass near the top of the mountain at 2000m high before running down to the Lahu village of Ban Pu Muen.

From Ban Pu Muen it will be a beautiful crossing of mountains and valleys; we will pass many Lahu villages settled on peaks over 1000m. Ban Mae Ai , Jana Doi , Doi Laem, once arrived in each village, we could see the next one on the mountain ridge further. The last part will be a series of climbs and descents in a less dense atmosphere than in previous days, but with wonderful sceneries on mountain ranges.

From Doi Laem we will tackle the descent to Tha Ton. We will run a few kilometers down on roads due to a lack of trails. When we will see the Chinese-inspired temple Wat Jedi and the Nam Kok River we will know we are close to the finish line and this is the end of our exhausting day soon; Tha Ton won’t be far. I do not know if we would have the strength to look at the scenery. It would be a shame not to enjoy the beautiful view over the valley of Tha Ton and have a look at several Buddha statutes on the way down to the city.

More →]]> This last stage will see us sliding quietly to Chiang Rai. From Tha Ton at the door of our bungalow we will take a pirogue on the river Nam Kok. The stage of the previous day would have probably been difficult for bodies and souls. After a restful night and a wake-up call later than usual (8am instead of 5am), we could extend our night once in the boat and let ourselves be gently rocked by the river. It would be definitely useful and enjoyable to go back into a soft and deep sleep.

After 1 hour and 30 minutes by boat, we will stop  to start running near the Akha village of Ban Chadoe. This last effort of 30k will lead us through jungles and mountains first then alongside a beautiful road to our final destination, the ultimate objective of this project, Chiang Rai. We will cross many small tribal villages. The mountains around Chiang Rai is known to house a large number of ethnic minorities. Unlike around Chiang Mai the tribes here are poor and face many health or drug problems. Creating Balance Foundation which help us in this project (assistance and photographs) acts in this area to help children. It was a pleasure and a real chance to meet them; thank to this project for giving me this opportunity.

Having met and talked with Lisu and Akha tribes, we will enjoy the last few kilometers. After more than 300k in the mountains we will continue to enjoy the beauty of the place. Here the atmosphere is more hilly than mountainous and it offers magnificent sceneries. It is also wilder and jungle parts are beautiful. We will run around 12k in such an atmosphere before joining the asphalt for the last kilos. This last part will get us through beautiful Thai villages. We will cross the west of Chiang Rai before reaching the arch of the Night Bazaar, symbol of the finish line and the success of our project. I imagine the intense moment it will be, a mix of relief and accomplishment. Anyway this is another story I will tell you in a few days.

More →]]> My first time in Thailand was in 2009. Like millions of tourists, the adventure began at Bangkok airport. The unpronounceable Suvarnabhumi airport sees millions of tourists invading the city every year. Arrived in the morning on a day of August, my first contact with Thailand was more like a slap than a big smile.

One wonders how Bangkok has become the most popular tourist city in the world. If the Thai capital has some uncontestable charms and a typical atmosphere (to say it quickly, it’s a happy mess), the only wish that comes to your mind after a few minutes there is to quit. Just imagine yourself as a Lilliputian in a dryer where your son has put his entire collection of small cars; you have 30 minutes to escape and reach your hotel… good luck! However after a certain period of adaptation Bangkok reveils an attaching side precisely due to its anarchy and perpetual movement. I don’t know New York but I can tell you Bangkok does never sleep!

In the delirious atmosphere of this suffocating metropolis, I could observe Thai people taking time to live. They were living together by exchanging smiles, meals or futile discussions; they were living inside by taking time for meditation. I could see them having fun and laughing while working; in Thailand any activity has to include necessarily its part of “Sanouk” (Fun). I was discovering the charm of this country, a subtle blend of Asian Buddhist serenity and optimism, tropical languor and joyful dynamism.

Without noticing it, my project was being born here on a sidewalk of Bangkok at the intersection of  Sukhumvit and soi 8. I was tasting something I didn’t know; I couldn’t precisely identify the flavors; I had to take some more. Ironically this typical busy atmosphere was leading me to the quiet northern mountains to explore the trails and the souls of this wonderful country.

More →]]> Despite full of advantages the Northern Thailand is rather unexplored by hikers and runners. Many “treks” are organized but are simple ballads of few miles on the same trails and areas. Walkers meet each other in a few different places on short-distance trails. The rest of the mountains is not visited at all. Not any trek goes deep inside the jungle and the forest; none of them will ask you to go all over the mountains for many hours; none of them will require any specifical effort. If you are looking for adventure, loneliness and surpassing yourself, just pass your way!

The main reason for this situation is there’s no GR or marked footpath in the mountains. I’ve quickly noticed it when i arrived in Thailand last year. I had decided to leave France with a project to connect through the mountains the two main cities of the north of Thailand, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. I had no idea if was possible and if there was any trails. I didn’t know any trekking agencies or specialized guides able to help me in my project.

After many weeks of researches to find documents and people, I had to come to this final conclusion: there is no detailed maps, no marked trails, no agencies or guides which can help me to reach Chiang Rai from Chiang Mai. I had to admit if I wanted to achieve this project, I had to build everything by myself from the begining. The mission sounded crazy but the adventure promised to be beautiful.

Without any guide or agency to help, it was necessary to look for information by starting from scratch. This meant to go asking local people about trails in their own areas. With a translator (Ya) I went to many tribal villages on the way to Chiang Rai. Ethnic tribes from Laos, China and Myanmar have lived for several decades in these mountains. If some people knew about trails, there would be there!

After several months of investigation with many back and forth, exchanging and explanations, misunderstandings and bargainings, we finally managed to find several local “guides” to help in my researches. I walked many times and several weeks in the mountains escorted by my special guides. Day after day I was been able to identify and record different parts of the track and at the end the entire route from Chiang Mai to Chiang rai. It was long and difficult but finally rewarding, exciting and beautiful.

This is how the 1st GR footpath in Thailand has been born; this is how my project in Thailand started.