Lying less than 75 kilometres north of Chiang Mai City and set amid bucolic mountain scenery, the town of Chiang Dao has long been considered a contender to rival Mae Hong Son’s tourist Mecca of Pai. Scenery-wise and in terms of sites it is right up there and remarkably Chiang Dao is said to be the only Thai district where all of the six main hill-tribe groups. (Akha, Hmong, Karen, Lahu, Lisu and Yao), are represented, yet, perhaps luckily, the hordes have just failed to materialise.