Tour of North Thailand with farm stay experience and seaside stay in Phuket

Arrival in Bangkok, welcome by our local staff and transfer to the hotel.

Accommodation in the rooms (officially available from 2 PM). Day off.

Overnight in Bangkok.

No activity is planned for today: feel free to explore the city at your own pace.

Breakfast included. Overnight in Bangkok.

Breakfast and check-out by 12:00. Pick-up from the hotel and transfer to Bangkok airport, in time for the flight to Chiang Rai.

Arrival in Chiang Rai. SIC transfer at about 11:00 (coinciding with the Thai Smile flight BKK-CEI WE130 09: 05-10: 25) and about 16:00 (coinciding with the Bangkok Airways flight BKK-CEI PG233 14: 00- 15:30).

Transfer to your Farm Stay with driver only. Accommodation in the rooms (officially available from 2 PM). Free time.

Dinner and overnight stay at the Farm Stay (Ahsa Farmstay).
 

After breakfast, departure to visit a village not far from the farm where you are staying. Here it will also be possible to visit the local market with a local person and purchase the products necessary for the sustenance of his family. On the way back, together with the lady of the house we will take a real Thai cooking course, to prepare lunch which will then be consumed all together.

In the afternoon (about 1:30 pm) we will head towards the Burmese border, entering the territories once the scene of opium cultivation. Going along an inaccessible mountain road we will reach the state border, where the Thai soldiers have the operational base of surveillance, and from where you can observe the territories of Myanmar that extend as far as the eye can see offering a breathtaking view.

Now that the illegal traffic is less intense, the militaries have had time to engage in other activities. Some of them have become excellent bartenders, so much so that inside the base they have opened a small cafeteria where they serve the fragrant mixtures of Arabica that are grown on these mountains.

After that we will overcome the 1000 meters of altitude, where the Oulong tea crops will begin to appear clinging along the slopes. And where there is tea there are Chinese communities, which again do not betray their stereotype. Affable and ingenious, at the tea houses set in panoramic points on the dizzying geometries of their crops, they offer us with great skill their products of excellent quality, showing off all their knowledge and the richness of their traditions.

The refined aroma of the tastes of the various blends will not betray the expectations and will satisfy the palates of the most demanding lovers of quality tea. Return to the farm for dinner and overnight stay.
 

After breakfast we will be able to further familiarize with the locals, who will take us around the property throughout the morning to show us everything they produce and how they support themselves. You will learn how rice is grown, how rubber is extracted from trees, how soap is made and how natural oils are extracted. Check out before 11:00 and family lunch. Afterwards we will know the guide that will accompany us in the following days in the Mekong area, on the border with Laos.

Departure in the early afternoon and stop in a Thai-Leu ethnic village, where elderly women are still dedicated to the ancient and traditional weaving art, which they practice with large and rudimentary wooden frames. Thai-Leu embroidery is considered one of the most precious as well as one of the most difficult to achieve, requiring a very long weaving time. The majority of women work independently in their own homes but for the poorest and most needy, a sort of local consortium makes available to them the looms belonging to the community and which are located in the local weaving center. Here, with a little luck, you can admire them in large numbers at the same time as they work.

For their productions, Thai-Leu women grow their own cotton! The plantations are located behind the village and cotton is harvested in November. The next stop will be at the port of embarkation from which to board a motor boat that will lead to the exploration of the river.

The navigation will extend for about 15 km (about 45min, depending on the strength of the current and water regime) until you reach the city of Chiang Khong, known for the border with Laos and located in front of the Laotian city of Huey Xay. Accommodation in local resort and free dinner. Free dinner and overnight in Chiang Khong (Chiangkhong Teak Garden  Riverfront).

Brakfast and lunch included.

From Chiang Khong we set off in direction southward bounding the Laos border. Two mountain ranges run parallel to each other, delimiting between them a narrow plateau at an altitude of about 600 m where many tribal ethnic groups have found refuge. Among them are the Thai Leu and the Yao.

Passing through their villages you will descend until you reach a landscape area of ​​great interest where the mountains rise, forming peaks with bizarre conformations. One in particular has become very well known among the locals. Its sharp shape recalls a finger pointing to the sky, which in Thai is translated as "Phu Chi Fah", which reaches an altitude of 1600 m.

You can reach the summit to admire a vast panorama of Laos along an easy path. The mountains are then interrupted abruptly to make room for a very extensive plain cultivated with rice. Today this center is known as Chiang Kham: here you can still admire a series of ancient temples in the Lanna style of which one is built entirely of wood and unique.

Chiang Kham also offers a rustic and exotic settlement made up of ancient wooden houses, among which those of the Thai Leu community stand out for their beauty, so much so that some of them have become museum-houses. Continue to Phayao and check-in at the hotel. Free dinner and overnight in Phayao (Phoglong Hotel or BR2 House Resort or similar). Breakfast and lunch included.
 

Breakfast and check out. Transfer to Chiang Mai, the third Thai city. On the way stop for a visit from a local tribe and one of its villages; lunch in contact with the locals and to follow we will head towards Chiang Mai, where we will arrive in the afternoon. Visit the city market that takes place on Saturday and characterized by many silver stalls.

Then transfer to the city's most famous temple, the Doi Suthep. The legend tells that the place of its construction was indicated by the herring of a mythological white elephant carrying on its back a sacred relic of the Buddha. The relic was buried where today stands the imposing golden Chedi at the center of the sanctuary, one of the most recurrent religious images of Thailand. In the late afternoon the monastic community present at the temple recites the Dharma, strictly in Pali language respecting the Theravada traditions. Free dinner. Overnight in Chiang Mai (De Lanna Boutique Hotel o similare).

Breakfast and lunch included.

Breakfast and check-out by 12:00.

Transfer to the airport with driver only in due time. Flight to the sea destination - recommended islands:

* Koh Samui during the summer period until 31 October

* Phuket during the winter period from November to March.

Arrival in Phuket and transfer to the hotel (Hotel Kata Palm). Overnight.
 

Breakfast in the hotel. Days at leisure. Breakfast included.

Breakfast included in the hotel and transfer out to the airport in due time (driver only).