crellston

I have a friend who is shortly about to depart for her first trip to Thailand with two children. She has wisely chosen the Anatara in Chiang Rai and would like to visit some of the hilltribe areas. I have warned her about the exhorbitant cost of the tours provided by the hotel and explained that, generally, hill tribes are more accessable from Chiang Mai. Can anyone recommend a guide or operator in the area?

Kathie

Gpanda's son and his wife used Sgt. Kai's company located in Chaing Mai. In order to do a real hill tribe visit it will require hours of walking and at least one overnight stay in a hilltribe village. I don't know the ages of her children and whether they are up for that. The hill tribe villages you can drive to have few of the traditional lifeways intact, and many people object to the exploitation and the "human zoo" aspect.

hypecm

I had a chance to visit Chiang Rai and went to Doi Mae Salong. There is a real hilltribe village unlike other touristy hilltribe villages in Chiang Mai. You can also see they're growing tea, weaving textiles.

crellston

Thanks Kathie and hypecm. I had already warned of the lack of authenticity of most of the tourist villages and I am definitely one of those people who object to the exploitaion of the people in a lot of these places.
Hypecm - I am sure we went to mai salong. Is that the place up close to the Burmese border?

Kathie

That's where it is, crellston. It didn't strike me as a hilltribe village, but more as a border town.