Thailand Guide
The north
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Trekking around Mae Hong Son
There's no getting away from the fact that trekking up and down Mae Hong Son's steep inclines is tough, though the scenery is magnificent. Most of the hill-tribe villages here are Karen, interspersed with indigenous Thai Yai (Shan) settlements in the valleys. Heading east, where many villages are very unspoilt, having little contact with the outside world, is preferable to the more populous, less traditional west; to the southeast, you'll be able to visit Hmong and Karen, to the northeast, Lisu also. In the latter direction, if you're very hardy, you might want to consider the five- to six-day routes to Soppong or Pai, which by all accounts have the best scenery of the lot.
About a dozen guest houses, independent guides and travel agencies in Mae Hong Son run multi-day treks.