General
Day 1
Your guide picks you up at your hotel in Chiang Mai at 09.00 am and we drive to a local market in Mae Rim district to buy supplies for the trek. From the market, we continue to drive for another 45 minutes on a rural road between rice fields until we reach Sai Mok waterfall where you can go for a swim while we prepare your lunch.
After lunch, we drive for an hour to our trekking start point in Huey Nam Dang National park. We first visit Papae hot springs; the biggest geyser hot springs in Thailand and trek from there for about 45 minutes to Karen tribe village. From the village, we trek for another hour to the next Karen village where we make dinner and stay as guests with the villagers.
Day 2
After breakfast, we start a 2.5 to 3 hours trek on the mountain and stop for lunch in the valley. We boil water for tea or coffee in bamboo stems and make bamboo cups to drink out of. Lunch is packed in banana leaves.
After lunch, we continue trekking for one and a half to two hours to Mae Taeng river. Then, we cross the river to reach Lahu tribe village.
We spend the second night at Lahu tribal village. Our house is on the mountain slope and close to the river with wonderful scenery. We have dinner in the village and spend the night.
Day 3
After breakfast, we get our bamboo rafts ready and raft down the river for two hours and a half. This part of Mae Tang River is great for bamboo rafting as we make our way downstream amidst the lush green jungle.
We reach a Shan village and disembark there for lunch and to meet our pick up truck. After lunch, we drive for 45 minutes to a local elephant camp where we feed the elephants, ride them to the river and bathe with them.
Then, we drive for 1 and half hour to Chiang Mai city. On the way, we stop at the Elephant Poo-Poo Paper park. Here we learn how to make paper from elephant poo. There are also souvenirs available such as bookmarks, greeting cards, and picture frames.
If you want to visit the orchid/butterfly farm, we can stop there too.
Afterwards, we drive for one and a half hours back to Chiang Mai city. We arrive in Chiang Mai at about 05.00 pm.