Huay Tung Tao Reservoir

The reservoir takes its name from the existing stream and village of Huay Tung Tao. Army press releases say the name was royally granted, but no document explains its meaning. In the northern dialect "tung" is the phluang tree (Dipterocarpus tuberculatus), a big tree of the dry dipterocarp forest on the hills behind the lake whose large leaves were used for roofing and wrapping; "tao" means old. The name probably means "stream of the old tung trees". No source supports the often-told "old man" story.

Before the reservoir, the land belonged to the army. In the late 1970s it held the Military Agricultural Centre of the Chiang Mai Military Province, the unit that later became the 33rd Military Circle. Landless villagers had settled on the government land around it, and the centre itself was short of water for farming.

The army unit that manages the area has a long history. A Defence Ministry order of 22 March 1918 created the Phayap Military Circle, made up of the Chiang Mai–Lamphun and Chiang Rai military provinces, and 22 March is still the 33rd Military Circle's founding day. On 8 April 1952 the Chiang Mai base received the royal name Camp Kawila; in 1981 the Chiang Mai Military Province was placed under the Third Army Region; and in 1990 it became the 33rd Military Circle, covering Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son and Lamphun. When King Rama IX visited in 1980, the unit was still the Chiang Mai Military Province.

In 1980 King Bhumibol Adulyadej visited the agricultural centre, learned of the water shortage and gave a royal initiative to build a reservoir. He also asked the Third Army Region to set up the Huay Tung Tao Model Village Project. The spot where the King stood is now marked by a 10-tonne stone next to a five-storey viewing tower.

The project gathered the scattered villagers into a single village south of the lake: 61 families, each given 2 ngan for a house, 2 rai of orchard and 1 rai of rice paddy, so they could farm for themselves and stop clearing forest. Water from the lake served both the agricultural centre and the villagers' fields.

No official record confirms when the reservoir was finished. Thai sources give only the 1980 initiative year, while some English travel articles say it was built in 1983, so it was most likely completed in the early 1980s. The army built both the reservoir and the village. When the model-village project ended, the 33rd Military Circle took over the care of the residents and the land.

Long before it became an official attraction, locals used the lake for picnics, swimming and som tam in bamboo huts run by villagers. The army also used the area for training and team-building, with a 34-foot parachute jump tower, an ATV course and campsites.

In 2007, under the army's policy of promoting tourism on military land, the Huay Tung Tao Reservoir Tourism Promotion Office was set up in Don Kaeo under the 33rd Military Circle. Its aims were nature-based recreation, income for Huay Tung Tao villagers and welfare for soldiers and their families. The entry fee of 20 baht for Thais has stayed the same ever since.

Swimming here carries real risk. On 20 April 2015 a 17-year-old student on an outing with more than ten friends swam beyond the buoys into deep water and drowned; divers searched for about two hours before finding him some 20 m from shore at a depth of about 2 m. Manager Online reported that drownings happen here almost every year because people swim past the buoys and ignore the warning signs.

The moment that made Huay Tung Tao famous nationwide came on 1 June 2018. Lecturers and students of Rajamangala University of Technology Isan used more than two tonnes of rice straw and six days to build a 4 m King Kong in the 8-rai royal-initiative demonstration rice field behind the lake, symbolising the richness of the Doi Suthep forest. The idea was inspired by the Sapporo Snow Festival, and lecturer Boonkerd Srisukha is credited with starting the giant straw works.

On 27 July 2018 a second figure, the "mother" Mae Khwan, more than 6 m tall with stairs up to her palm, was unveiled to long queues. A roughly 8 m "father", Pho Chok Lap, was added later, joining the first "child", Nong Rampage, to form a family of three. Visitors can climb internal stairs for a photo on King Kong's hand. Claims of a straw Godzilla here are untrue; straw Godzillas belong to Japanese harvest festivals.

In December 2018 the 1st Huay Tung Tao Straw Sculpture Contest was held on the theme "Wildlife under the Father's Grace", with nine teams from three universities competing for more than 100,000 baht. RMUTI won five awards, sharing first prize for its lion with a deer by RMUT Lanna. The entries stayed on show: deer, lion, wild boar, moose, peacock, hornbill, kouprey and two elephants. A straw ewe and lamb covered in real sheep's wool stand in the sheep pasture.

There is no evidence that the Huay Tung Tao straw contest was held again after 2018. RMUTI's later straw festivals moved to its Nakhon Ratchasima campus — the second one ran from 1 to 10 September 2022 — so the figures at Huay Tung Tao are a legacy of that single first contest and need re-strawing from time to time.

On 19 March 2020 a wildfire broke out on army land north of Huay Tung Tao and burned about 5 km of dry dipterocarp forest. More than 200 personnel and over 30 helicopter water drops were needed before it was brought under control around 22:30. It is a reminder that in the March–April dry season the hills around the lake face high fire and haze risk.

In late 2021 and early 2022 the Third Army Region promoted 11 activities here, including the King's standing point, a 12 m Buddha named Phra Phuttha Rattanachai Suraphalarak Phithak Kawila Siam Thet, raft restaurants, a tram around the lake, a 4 km running loop, fishing, water bikes, a sheep pasture and a Swiss-style windmill. Later came a bamboo bridge more than 100 m long across the rice fields, reminiscent of Su Tong Pae in Mae Hong Son, and a zipline over the water.

In December 2024 Chiang Mai News reported that about 100 lakeside food huts were nearly full every day, serving herb-fried fish, tom yam with fish, kung ten ("dancing shrimp") and som tam. All stalls charge the same prices so no one overcharges visitors, and buoys mark the deep water so people swim only within the safe zone.

On 10 September 2025 heavy rain sent a flash flood down the Huay Tung Tao stream onto Highway 107 (Chiang Mai–Fang) in Mae Rim, and soldiers opened the camp gates as a detour. Huay Tung Tao waterfall, upstream in Doi Suthep–Pui National Park, has also been closed several times in the rainy season because of flash-flood and landslide risk.

A small waterfall hides behind the lake. Visitors report a trail from the King Kong area — in at the large white sign, then left, following signs for about 1.5 km — taking about three hours there and back with a rest. It is a small fall with shallow water to wade in, and the return route has a viewpoint over the whole reservoir. Doi Suthep–Pui National Park has closed it temporarily in the rainy season because of flash-flood risk.

On Labour Day, 1 May 2026, tens of thousands of people came, and the 33rd Military Circle and the Lampang Jet Ski Club put on a jet-ski and towed-ride show on the lake. Entry for Thais was still 20 baht, with children under seven and people over 60 free on showing ID. Today Huay Tung Tao is at once a royal-initiative reservoir, farmland for the descendants of the original 61 families and a weekend escape for Chiang Mai people.