The rapid expansion of Chaing Mai has left us with a conundrum. We always kind of enjoyed our access to nature being somewhat close to the city center, which was a rather unique aspect of Chiang Mai as opposed to anywhere else in this country where a run might happen because all of those are constantly dodging traffic and are mostly on pavement. In Chiang Mai we kind of enjoyed how just about 20-30 minutes outside of the busy city centre, we could be in a quiet place where you hear birds and the sounds of the wind.
Unfortunately this is becoming more and more difficult for us to find and land-owners are becoming more protective and don't take too kindly to us wandering onto their land, even though we aren't damaging anything.
The other day we did a run the likes of which we very rarely are forced to do: We had to run in one direction, then reach the end, and turn back and run back over the same path that we took to get there. Normally our trails will be some sort of circle pattern but the amount of open land that we can get away with using is becoming harder and harder to find.
It seems the days of there being a fruit plantation just off a highway that would be perfect for our trail runs are disappearing. This was a unique feature of Chiang Mai because a lot of the old Chiang Mai was still there. The National parks, the farms that were there long before the people were and simply unused land, is all being urbanized now. Industry is booming in Chiang Mai and so are golf courses and if there was ever a place that they are not cool with a bunch of people jogging through, it would be a golf course. We don't even approach those.
The builds that are going up are everywhere and most of the time these places have overzealous security guards that are looming and staring at you in an intimidating way even though your only crime is that you are running around, getting some exercise, and also cleaning up trash along the way.
It's tragic really because this feels almost like the end of an era. We now have to go quite some distance out of town in order to even have a nature run that it isn't just the burden of the travel on the day on the run, the people who set the trail have to go out that way several times in the week before the run and something that was once fun has become a chore.
Therefore we have had to kind of accept this and a change of strategy is likely going to be in order: We simply cannot find the nature that we loved for so long anymore. Nearly everything has been converted into some sort of construction site or manufacturing center and the farms are being moved further and further out of town.
Also, and this is strange, but the National Parks seem to have an attitude now as well. For decades we have made our trails at these locations without complaint and there was even thanks given to us because we would always collect garbage on these runs. These days it seems that everyone is extremely protective of their land and doesn't want anyone on it, even if it isn't technically their land. Perhaps there was some sort of administrative change at the top or perhaps they are planning on charging admission fees to anyone entering these parks. This has not been the case in the past but seeing as how Thailand never saw a chance to "make a buck" that they didn't take, it wouldn't surprise me.
This by no means is the end of the Chiang Mai Hash, we will continue doing this even if it means that all of our runs have to be in cement covered neighborhoods that one of our members lives in and knows the people living there and therefore can get permission to use it. But seeing as how almost all property in Thailand has walls around the property, this is going to be a big letdown. A big part of the fun of our runs is that it isn't very clear where the trail is going to lead you. But if you look at the top image again you will notice that almost everything is a straight line and this is because it has to be, all the property has fences or walls around it and we never cross any pathway that is marked off and is evident they don't want people on it.
I think that this expansion of the city has kind of made the population less friendly and as a result a lot of our runs are probably going to become less fun. We'll do the best that we can with it, it's just unfortunate to see this happening.
No matter what though, we will always be carrying ON ON!
