When the winter winds began to hit Thailand last month, I knew difficult times lay ahead for mountain travellers.
Of course I don't mean the bitterly cold temperatures, ice storms and blizzards caused by the polar vortex in North America. The weather in Thailand was still very nice. We got sunshine every day, but still, our "winter" brought travel chaos to the North.
Most people, except those in the mountainous areas, think the country has only two seasons _ summer and rainy season. So weather forecasts about dropping temperatures make people jump with joy. And news about hoar frost in the North and Northeast even prompted people to make a trip upcountry.
Bangkokians, who never experience winter chills for long, bought their new coats and made plans to escape the congested roads in the city and feel the beautiful mountain breeze.
During the last four weeks of 2013, Hmong merchants at Ban Khun Klang set up new markets to cope with the enormous amount of travellers at Doi Inthanon, the country's highest peak.
Parking areas were cleaned up. Gardeners trimmed bushes. Fruit orchard owners swept their lands and turned them into temporary camping grounds. A truly festive atmosphere filled the air in Doi Inthanon National Park.
But when the time came, their preparations were almost useless. Each day, the narrow road leading to the peak, which can carry only 3,000 cars at a time, was packed with over 43,000 vehicles and hundreds of thousands of tourists who wanted to see the hoar frost and get to the top of the mountain _ and of course to experience "real cold".
Inadequate parking drove exhausted motorists to park their cars on the roadside, making the narrow road even narrower. Congested roads slowly turned to gridlock and the festive atmosphere on Doi Inthanon became a chaotic one.
Getting up before dawn, tourists who rushed to the mountain peak to see the hoar frost found themselves stuck for hours, going nowhere. But the park officials were looking forward to the big admission revenues _ 40 baht per head for local people _ and allowed more and more cars to make the journey.
Bangkok tourists found themselves in traffic jams with other cars from Bangkok, just like at home. Gridlock on the country's highest mountain was definitely not expected by anyone.
Tourists who gave up and turned back, heading to the park headquarters, found that the restaurants and markets were packed as well. All space was occupied. There was nowhere to park, and pitching a tent was certainly out of the question.
The most terrible part of the park's camping ground was their toilets. During the whole New Year week, a handful of toilets were available to cope with probably 100,000 people, which was far beyond their capacities.
As I well know, there were less than 20 toilets available at the park's headquarters and its camping areas. I do not want to think about what state they were in by the time the tourists were leaving.
So the countdown party among an extremely congested crowd with inadequate facilities was unlikely a feelgood experience for most travellers.
Those who couldn't find space to pitch their tents, as well as those who realised the whole thing was a disaster, managed to flee the scene. Thousands of tourists then had the same idea, and drove to the same nearby town, only to find of course more traffic jams and packed restaurants.
Starving travellers stormed eateries and found that they had to wait quite a long time for their food. However, that was better than facing overcharging restaurants, or nothing at all to eat, on New Year's Eve.
Unfortunately, Doi Inthanon was not the only place you could witness such mayhem. Most popular mountain destinations such as Samoeng in Chiang Mai and Phu Tubberk in Phetchabun suffered much the same fate, though with differing degrees of chaos.
I'm sure most people who travelled to the mountains will remember their New Year's Eve 2013 experience for a long time to come, and for all the wrong reasons.
Peerawat Jariyasombat is a travel writer for Life.