Doi Mae Salong is a mountain village about 60km north of Chiang Rai, at roughly 1,500 metres above sea level near the border with Myanmar. It was settled in 1961 by remnants of the 93rd Division of the Kuomintang — Chinese Nationalist soldiers who had retreated from Yunnan into Burma in 1949 and were eventually relocated to Thailand. The village retains a distinctly Chinese character: there are Yunnanese restaurants, Chinese temples, and a morning market where traders arrive from the surrounding hills with produce, tea, and occasionally goods that have made their way quietly across the border.
The tea is the main draw for most visitors. The hillsides around Doi Mae Salong are planted with oolong and green tea, and the plantations are some of the highest-altitude in Thailand. Several guesthouses and tea shops offer tastings; the oolong produced here is genuinely good. The morning mist over the valley most of the year makes for a particular kind of early light, and the road up from the lowlands passes through some of the most scenic countryside in the province. A half-day drive from Chiang Rai, or you can stay overnight if you want to catch the morning market at its best.