Thailand forum

hey guys,

ive just finished my week in the northern mountains of chiang rai and i had to write to tell any travelers out this way to make sure you make a pit stop here...

seriously this is the real deal....enough of the lonely planet off the beaten track shebang...this actually is off the beaten track....i did a homestay with a tribe up here called the akha hill tribe....(its an hour north of chiang rai..mr akha the leader of the gang provides free transport too and from the city every day cuz theres literally no otehr way of getting here its that far out of it) and it has literally been amazing....

when you wake up in your bamboo hut you are overlooking the mountains with the tea plantations and the paddy fields and everything is really misty and mysterious....kids run and have competitions to see who can shout 'HELLO' at you the loudest cuz its the only word they know in English......and the food is awesome...i asked one of the children of the tribe to teach me how to make traditional thai food and i learnt all these different wierd spicy pastes and how to make pad thai from scratch......

i was teaching at the local school and they're looking for more volunteers...if you do teach you stay with mr akha and his family in their family home and eat together with the family....if you dont then the trekking up here is wicked....there's a waterfall ten minutes walk from the huts that you can go and cool down in and they've got elephant tours up here that arent show jumpers or acrobats......

come to chiang rai and do a hill stay...this is real Thailand mwahxxx