Stay with a local Karen family in the village of Pong Nam Ron in Chiang Mai (Thailand), and learn about the rural local lifestyle. During your stay you’ll get to do activities, such as:
-Learning to cook Karen food from very local ingredients and eating together with your host family
-Practicing the livelihood of the family (Dying cotton or basket weaving, visiting rice fields on rainy season)
-Bathing in hot springs in the village (as many times a day as you want) and cooking an egg in the spring!
-Hiking 9km along the river in the jungle and having lunch in the farming hut
OR
-Climbing your way through the rocks to the hidden waterfall in the jungle. Both options include dipping in the crystal clear natural pool so bring your swimsuit – and lot’s of drinking water!
You can choose your arrival time to the village but it’s advised to arrive in the afternoon, before dinner time. The local contact person of the village will give you instructions on how to get there.
Sustainability
The village experience is especially socially sustainable because the locals benefit directly from the travellers’s stays. The locals are also free to choose themselves what part of their culture they show to the travellers, instead of having a readymade touristic program to follow. Finally, no special tourism infrastructure is built in the village and the food and water consumption is only according to the locals’ needs. To maintain the carrying capacity of the village, only individual travellers can visit the area at once and no groups are accepted.
What’s Included
-Private room in a local home or separate hut/cabin on the yard, mosquito nets and bed sheets included
-Home made breakfast, lunch and dinner daily
-Shared toilet and washing facilities
-Activities
What’s Not Included
-Tranportation for getting to the village (note that there’s no public transportation to the village so prepare to pay some extra for the pick up)
Trip Itinerary
1st day: Arrival to the village in the afternoon, meeting the english speaking local contact person who introduces you to the host family. Getting familiar with the house and the hosts. Cooking and eating dinner together with the hosts. Depending on the time of arrival, small activites in the village can happen.
2nd day: Breakfast with the host-family, getting familiar with the livelihood of the hosts, for ex. dying cotton or basket weaving, visiting rice fields on rainy season. Lunch with the hosts. Afternoon freetime for walking around the village, bathing in the hot streams and talking with the hosts and the neigbors. Helping to cook the dinner with the hosts.
3rd day: Breakfast with the hosts, activities in the village before lunch. Afternoon going for a hike along the river or to the waterfalls in the jungle. Dinner.
4th day: Breakfast with the hosts, last activities and maybe meeting the savings group of the village. Leaving from the village before lunch time.
Please note that the activities mentioned are not final, and are suspected to change according to the season or the weather.
Program And Price
3 nights / 4 days: 160 eur / adult. Children between 5-15 years old – 50 %, children between 0-4 years old Free.
Awards/Testimonials
June 2018, Samuel: “The 3 days spent in Pong Nam Ron has got to be one of the highlights of my month in Thailand. Jim, Jane and their whole family were absolutely amazing in welcoming me into their family. I booked this trip as I wanted a chance to meet real local people, away from all the tourist industry and this was just that!!
