Live like a member of Karen hill tribe during 2 days, one unforgettable experience.
Do you want something different the normal trekking? Go on the cultural adventure and real immersion in the Karen hill tribe during 2 days.
The first morning, you will have the appointment with me in the small bus station at the border of the old city, and like many Thai people, we take the 100% local transportation to go to market that is around 45 minutes from the city. The occasion for we change to your program, Karen people or Thailand in the general! When you arrive at the local market, we have hearty breakfast in the small restaurant (Rice and pork on the menu) while our Karen guide join us.
After that, you go to the first Karen village where you will start to do the trekking, in the middle of the terraced rice fields and the waterfalls. Your guide will be there to explain everything that you want to know in the jungle and around there. The trekking will bring you to the middle of the herds of buffalo which graze in the rice fields or the sugar cane fields.
The trekking is private, we will modulate according to your physical condition and your desire, to adapt better the break time and the time to walk. In the evening, you will arrive to the village of our guide that you can visit for your convenience. The people here will take the time to discuss with you in the village instead of watching television and is very happy to advise the visitor and bring you to visit some places and share their daily life. Your guide will introduce for the Thai barbecue, and you will have the evening to discuss together about the customs, history or the tradition of Karen and thai people. He will prepare the cutleries and glasses by bamboo: we don’t have Ikea in the mountain! Next, it will be the time to sleep, for a good night’s sleep.
For the bravest, awakening to the rooster crowing for a dive into the agricultural world!
Indeed, Karen people are farmers and breeders, also today you will accompany them. After the breakfast, with the local products only and organics (no chemical product from our home), if you have the chance to be on the weekday you can go to school in the village to meet the children who are Karen people! They have around 15 students, aged between 5/6 years old, and want to have the visit because not many people come to visit their village which is very backward.
If you want, it is possible also to give some snacks and fruits that you bought at the local market on the first day. In Thailand, we have the custom that when we visit the people we have to offer some food to them. Not only, you can also play with them, but also you can discover their daily life by asking the question at your guide. We are doing 1 small box to have the donation to bring them to the beach for the first time in their life. Some visitors in Chiang Mai can donate by coming to Cool Guesthouse to give some donation. For each booking, one part of the money will be used for them, for the project.Once that you are tired by these small monkeys (the name they give to themselves, and you will understand very fast why ^^), It will be possible to visit the church of the village, a place that is quite unique in Thailand when we know that 95% of the population is Buddhist.
After that, it will be the time that to take you to the fields. Depending on the season, you can have to prepare the area in the fields by step to welcome the water and next harvest rice. If it is the rainy season that you come to visit us, you can learn how to plant the rice like the people do it in Asia since thousands of years ago. At the end of the season, you will have to transport the rice boots and separate the grains from the straw!
For those who prefer the activities less physical, or if have you finished your work in the fields already, you can also try to do the fabric making. The Karen people wear very often the cloths very recognizable with their own design and be very proud to do it by themselves. Many women in the village have the work to weave in wood, and will be delighted to show you their ancestral art!
At the end of the day, the unforgettable souvenir full in your head, It will be the time to separate to your adopted family, your guide will take you back to your hotel in Chiang Mai.
