All I see is fog Vs sea of fog

Unseen Thailand

A catchphrase that I see everywhere when researching travel destinations in Thailand is: "Unseen Thailand". I’m still wondering how a published location can be labelled as unseen, but I understand the intent. Rarely seen or recently popularised may be better descriptive choices, but even I can see, they’re not as catchy.

I’ve been to a few remarkable Unseen Thailand locations and one of them is Doi Pui Co in the Sop Moei District of Mae Hong Son Province in the North-West of Thailand. In Thailand there are three common ways to say mountain, they’re Doi, Phu and Khao. For example: Doi Inthanon, the tallest mountain in Thailand, Phu Kradueng, the famous heart shaped plateau and Khao Chang Phueak, with the incredible ridge walk that is only open for a few months every year. However, this story is about Doi Pui Co.

Whenever I ask people in Thailand if they have been to Doi Pui Co, I always get a blank look or a correction that I must mean some other mountain. It doesn’t help that my Thai speaking tones are terrible! Regardless of the quality of my Thai speaking skills, very few Thai people have heard of it or ventured there.

The first time I went there was the second day of a 9-day North-West Thailand road trip in the heart of the COVID pandemic in late 2020. I left the Mae Moei National Park, near the border with Myanmar early in the morning and drove North towards Mae Hong Son. I wanted to get to Doi Pui Co for the sunrise as it’s supposed to be a beautiful sight, so I drove past the turn-off to Doi Pui Co and found a homestay in a town called Mae Sariang to bed down for a few hours and have a nice long shower.

The nerve-wracking journey to the Summit of Doi Pui Co

Fast forward to early the next morning. My research told me I should leave around 2:30am as I needed to drive to the turn-off, drive in around 14km to the parking area and then make the 4km hike up the mountain before sunrise. So, I’m all packed up with everything I need and heading up into the mountains on a very narrow, steep and winding road that turned into a rough track. Now, I’m not sure about you, but when I’m driving somewhere like that, and you can’t see anything outside of the beam of your headlights and you really have no idea of where you are and there is absolutely no sign of human life whatsoever, I have conflicting feelings. On the one hand, it feels peaceful, and the solitude is refreshing, on the other hand my mind conjures up all sorts of risks, like rounding a corner into a herd of elephants. While I’d like to say I was calm and relaxed when I got to the car park, I was actually a little on edge.

In my research the photos usually showed people camping at the top of Doi Pui Co and I had expected to see some cars at the parking area, but it was just me. I pulled up, switched off my car and it was pitch black, I could not see anything. I jumped out of the car and stood still for a second to take in the silence, except it wasn’t silent. I could hear something breathing and it sounded like something big! I was already feeling on edge, and I jumped back into the car. So, here I am sitting in my car in the middle of nowhere in the pitch black with something large outside breathing heavily. I check the time and I’ve gotta move if I’m going to get to the top ahead of the sunrise. I need to make a choice, give in to the fear or strap on my backpack and headtorch and start heading up the mountain. The chance of experiencing a spectacular sunrise is the winning thought, so I’m out of the car, on with the backpack, try to ignore the sonorous breathing in the background and start up the track with my head torch lighting the way.

About 50 metres from the car and the breathing is getting louder and I’m seriously wondering if I’ve done the right thing, can I outrun the heavy breathing monster or will I be crushed or skewered before I reach the car? Then I glance to the left and see 3 heavy breathing buffalo resting in a muddy pool of water beside the track, what a relief! Let’s go get this sunrise view at the top of Doi Pui Co.

At this stage I’m in the fog and it’s a bit eerie walking up the mountain alone with limited visibility and I’m looking forward to getting above the fog towards the top of the mountain with full expectation there’s going to be a beautiful sea of fog like I’ve seen in my research. The trail looked like it hadn’t been used for a while and it was incredibly slippery, my feet were sliding around, and it was difficult going. As I was approaching what I thought was around halfway I was startled by something, actually a number of things that started running to my right. I turned to look but couldn’t see anything because of the fog, my heart was racing, and adrenaline was pumping and I’m thinking about how I am going to run anywhere on this slippery ground. Then I hear a bell and the mooing of a cow, and I start to relax again, except for the fleeting thought that it may not have been me that spooked the cows but something else out there in the fog!

I see fog or a sea of fog

Finally, I reached the wooden platform that’s been built at the top of Doi Pui Co that I’ve seen in beautiful sunrise photos. At this stage it’s still dark and there’s still a thick fog that I’m feeling concerned about, I was expecting to be above it at the summit. So, I found a spot to sit and wait with the gentle sounds of a cowbell in the distance behind me and I’m glad I bought some warm clothes as it’s now getting pretty cold. Almost without noticing, it starts to turn from black to dark grey and then finally to light grey and I realise that while the sun rises every day, we don’t always get to see it. The wind picks up a little and I feel hopeful the cloud that’s sitting on this mountain may be blown away and occasionally there’s enough gap in the clouds for me to catch a glimpse of a magnificent sea of fog in the valley below.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see the sun rise on this foggy morning, I stayed at the top of the mountain for around 3 hours waiting for the fog to clear and it didn’t budge. I resentfully took some photos of the foggy environment and finally gave up and headed back down, back past the cows, navigated the slippery slopes, back past the buffaloes and back to my car. After heading down a few kms from the carpark I dropped below the clouds into a gap between them and the fog in the valleys, I got a couple of moody photos but they were not what I was hoping for at the top.

As a photographer, sometimes things don’t always go according to plan. We will usually plan to be early to an event and stay to the end, making sure we can capture the best light and mood and not miss any opportunity. On this occasion, despite me overcoming my fears and braving the heavy breathing buffalo, I wasn’t rewarded with the beautiful sunrise over the sea of fog that I was expecting. I was rewarded with the opportunity to feel fear and push through anyway, to do what I wanted to do. I was rewarded with a peaceful 3 hours atop a foggy mountain with no distractions and time to reflect. The peaceful solitude was rewarding and I’m grateful for the opportunity to experience moments like that.

Around a year later I decided to go back to Doi Pui Co and try again…..that’s a story for another time.

After leaving Doi Pui Co, I headed back to the homestay, had a shower and hit the road to tackle the famous Mae Hong Son loop, with its 1,864 curves on 650kms of some of the most beautiful roads in Thailand. That’s also a story for another time.