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Day 1: CHIANG MAI - ARRIVAL (D ).
Arrive in Chiang Mai airport be met and transferred to your hotel for check in.
At 7pm pick up at hotel lobby for an evening of cultural events and the khantoke dinner at the largest khantoke place in Chiang Mai - Khum Khantoke. You will see authentic traditional northern Thai and hill tribe performances while you partake of the non-stop flow of food to your round-table (called khantoke).
Overnight at Rydges Amora Hotel, Chiang Mai.
Day 2: CHIANG MAI - TOUR TO DOI SUTHEP (B,L)
Buffet breakfast at your hotel.
Meet in the hotel lobby at 9am for a tour up Doi Suthep to visit the mountain monastery, Wat Prathat Doi Suthep, with its famous naga staircase and golden chedi. On a clear day you can see the city spread out below and more mountains in the distance. A small museum holds exhibits of votive tablets and Buddhist amulets as well as Lanna-style Buddha images. Be sure to ring all the bronze bells surrounding the main chedi for good luck. Burn a joss stick, light a candle and say a prayer for yourself and friends. Return to Chiang Mai city and on the way drop in at the Tribal Cultural Centre in Chiang Mai University to know about the hill tribes living in the mountains around Chiang Mai. Lunch of good northern and central Thai cuisine at Tha Nam Restaurant beside the Ping River. After lunch, a tour of this old city in the afternoon to include the old city moat and gates, Kad Suan Kaew shopping complex, and a couple of the important temples like Wat Phra Singh, Wat Chedi Luang and Wat Suan Dok. Engage in a "Monk Chat" under the tamarind trees where the monks gather to meet visitors and chat about Buddhism or how they live in the monastery and study and learn the Dharmma.
Overnight at Rydges Amora Hotel, Chiang Mai.
Day 3: CHIANGMAI - DOI MAE SALONG ( B,L,D )
Buffet breakfast at the hotel. Check out and meet in the hotel lobby for pick-up at 8am to go on an excursion of Chiang Rai province via Fang and Thaton. Visit the elephant camp at Chiang Dao for an experience with elephants. For those wishing to ride on an elephant with a mahout for a 10-minute romp into the jungle at a nominal fee to the mahout. Continue on to Thaton, the Kok River depot where boats cruise downstream to Chiang Rai. Lunch at Thaton River View Lodge. Early afternoon you continue to Doi (mountain) Mae Salong, now renamed Santikhiri to gain respectability. This is the successful settlement of the Chinese Kuomintang who fled communist China in 1949, initially to Myanmar; but in 1961 the Yangon government decided not to let them stay and so with their ponies and packed caravans they wandered into the mountain settlements of northern Thailand.
From its infamous beginning as an opium fiefdom, Mae Salong has gained respectability as a cash crop producer today. Among the many kinds of cash crops they produce is the famous and expensive oolong tea. In the cool season around February the whole place is covered in cherry blossoms. Visit an Akha and a Lisu hill tribe village to see how these mountain people live.
Check into hotel and be at leisure.
Dinner at the hotel.
Overnight in a Mae Salong Villa bungalow (fan room), Doi Mae Salong.
Day 4: DOI MAE SALONG - DOI TUNG - GOLDEN TRIANGLE (B,L)
Breakfast at the hotel. At about 10am depart from your hotel to tour Doi Tung, home of the beloved Princess Mother (mother of King Rama IX). Adjacent to the royal villa is the beautiful Mah Fah Luang Garden open to the public. Along the 38km mountain road you can visit an Akha and a Yao hill tribe village as well as a school for hill tribe children. We visit Mae Sai on the Thai-Burmese border. (If you wish to cross over into Burmese Tachileik, your guide can make the necessary arrangement for you. The cross-border fee is USD5 ).
Tachileik has many kinds of goods from China - blankets, bed covers, fabrics, shoes, utensils, electrical appliances, mushrooms and fruits both fresh and dried. Duty-free cartons of cigarettes and bottles of alcohol of dubious quality are pressed on you along the shopping streets. By strolling about this small place you will acquire an insight into an aspect of Burmese life in a poverty-bound town typical of provincial Myanmar.
Have a buffet lunch at Wang Thong Hotel in Mae Sai.
After lunch proceed to the formerly infamous Golden Triangle where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet. Make a photo-stop at the monument, the recently constructed giant Buddha image all shining in gold, the small Opium Museum and check into your Golden Triangle hotel with views of the Mekong River.
Overnight at Imperial Golden Triangle Hotel, Chiang Saen.
Day 5: GOLDEN TRIANGLE - CHIANG KHONG - CHIANG RAI (B)
Breakfast at the hotel. Morning departure at about 9am from your hotel on the way to Chiang Khong sitting on the Thai-Lao border 66km away. We follow the Mekong River as it flows south to Chiang Saen, established in 1328 by Saen Phu, the nephew of King Mengrai who later founded Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai. There are old temples dotted about. The more interesting ones are Wat Phakhaopan and Wat Chedi Luang with a little museum next door. By following the southward flow of the Mekong River again you pass through scenic river and mountain views to arrive at about noon in Chiang Khong. On the opposite bank of the Mekong River is the small Laotian market town of Houy Xai. It is very similar to Chiang Khong in the housing and life-style.Chiang Khong is a market town for local hill tribes among who are Mien and White Hmong, and for trade with northern Laos. On a hill overlooking the river is a Nationalist Chinese Soldiers Cemetery with 200 graves of KMT soldiers facing China. About 1km south is the village of Ban Hat Khrai, famous for its seasonal catching of the giant Mekong catfish in April and May. Continue on to Chiang Rai arriving in the late afternoon.
Overnight at Rimkok Resort by the Kok River or Wiang Inn hotel in downtown Chiang Rai.
Day 6: CHIANG RAI - DEPARTURE ( B,L)
Breakfast at the hotel. At 8am take a boat ride up the Kok River in a long-tail boat to visit a Karen hill tribe village where you can ride on an elephant (charge 400 Baht) through the village. Then go to a Lahu village to see a different lifestyle. Visit a cave temple by the riverbank (falling into disrepair) still used for worship by the locals before returning to your hotel to collect your bags and be transferred to the airport. A simple buffet lunch at the airport. After lunch board your flight to Bangkok to connect with your flight home.
End of Program
Price Per Person in Twin Room in JPY
| HOTEL CLASS | 1 Pax | 2-3 Pax | 4-6 Pax | 7-9 Pax | 10-15 Pax | 16-20 Pax | 21- Pax | |
| SUPERIOR CATEGORY | May-Oct | 69000 | 47000 | 46000 | 45000 | 44000 | 43000 | 42000 |
| Nov-Apr | 74000 | 49000 | 48000 | 47000 | 45000 | 43000 | 42000 | |
| FIRST CLASS CATEGORY | May-Oct | 78000 | 53000 | 52000 | 51000 | 50000 | 49000 | 47000 |
| Nov-Apr | 84000 | 56000 | 55000 | 54000 | 52000 | 51000 | 49000 | |
| CHILD WITHOUT BED | CHILD WITH BED | ||
| SUPERIOR CATEGORY | May-Oct | 34000 | 43000 |
| Nov-Apr | 36000 | 45000 | |
| FIRST CLASS CATEGORY | May-Oct | 38000 | 48000 |
| Nov-Apr | 39000 | 51000 | |
Above package rates include 5 nights in hotel rooms as stated in the program, half-board of 4 lunches and 2 dinners, boat fare on the Kok River, all transfers and transportation in air-conditioned vehicle, all entrance fees, parking and toll charges, porterage, and services of an English speaking guide.
NOT INCLUDED: All airfares and airport taxes, drinks at meals other than what is served at table, use of hotel mini bar, laundry, phone-calls, tips to guide and driver and expenses of a personal nature.
HOTELS IN USE:
SUPERIOR: Royal Lanna in Chiang Mai. Wang Come in Chiang Rai.
FIRST CLASS: Rydges in Chiang Mai. Rimkok Resort or Wiang Inn in Chiang Rai.
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