Thai Hotel

Most people who vacation in Thailand have a similar pattern with respect to their sightseeing choices; they usually visit the same places and participate in the same traditional tourist activities. Now, this phenomenon can applied to almost any tourist destination, not only Thailand. By no means am I putting down Joe Average Tourist in his choices, but sometimes JAT feels uncomfortable about deviating from the norm and finds a comfort zone in following the pack.

As an example, the typical tourist to Bangkok stays only a couple days in this large metropolitan city; his itinerary usually includes an all day highlights tour visiting the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Jim Thompson’s House and a river boat cruise including dinner on the Chao Praya River. Now that’s comparable to a tourist visiting New York City whose sightseeing itinerary includes the Empire State Building, the Statute of Liberty, World Trade Center, Central Park and Broadway. In addition, the ladies usually love to go on a shopping spree at one Bangkok’s sprawling shopping centers like MBK, in addition to shopping for bargains at Bangkok’s colorful night market.

Now if the tourist were aware of some of the alternative activities available besides the conventional sightseeing expeditions, he would really have an opportunity to have a unique singular experience. For those people with an artistic bent, they may want to consider taking a special 2 day /1 night watercolor workshop with Pe Seenam, an internationally renowned watercolorist from Bangkok The workshop takes place in the rural countryside alongside a beautiful river, about an hour’s drive from Bangkok.

While in Chiang Mai, Thailand’s 2nd largest city and the gateway to Northern Thailand, a good option for the artistically inclined would be a special 3 day/2 night Terracotta workshop at a rustic homestay, located in the mountain village of Mae Rim, about a 30 minutes away from Chiang Mai. While you’re in Mae Rim, you can visit one of the area’s elephant camps and go on a little elephant trek into the countryside. What a thrilling adventure!

As a sidenote, in defense of about JAT (Joe Average Tourist), many times the JAT has a very limited time in a popular destination spot. As.a result, the most viable option for him is to do “the popular city highlights tour”.

Bus Goldberg is a seasoned world traveler and the director of Calypso Island Tours, a travel company that specializes in botanical adventures and nature tours to such diverse destinations as Costa Rica, Thailand and the Caribbean. He also maintains his own travel blog, Calypso Island Chronicles

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So you’re interested in a homestay experience with a rural hilltribe community in northern Thailand? Sounds Great! Just remember, don’t be expecting luxury or hotel type accommodations. Be prepared for rather basic accommodations without too much amenities. Most likely your shower will be very rudimentary and consist of a bucket of cool water that you empty on yourself, and your toilet will be the traditional Thai squat toilet, which is low to the ground and does not flush by itself; you’ll have to pour a bucket or two of water to induce the toilet to flush. Don’t worry; if you have chosen the right homestay, you’ll get a very rustic but clean room with a functional bed. Don’t be anticipating gourmet restaurant style food, however meals should be very tasty and healthfully prepared. The ladies in the village who prepare your meals will most likely be very experienced cooks and well versed in their own culinary traditions. If you’re a vegetarian, they should be able to accommodate you.

Just a tip - if you’re staying with a hilltribe community - i.e. Akha, Hmong, Lisu, Lahu, Karen or Mien, it wouldn’t hurt to do some research in advance on their culture and history.

While I have no personal experience with homestays in Thailand per se, I had the opportunity to do a site inspection of a relatively new homestay in the mountains, about an hour drive from Chiang Mai, the tourist hub of Northern Thailand . Rooms were simple and small as expected but very clean and had a small outdoor verandah with chairs in addition to a small area inside the room to lay your personal belongings.

The villagers grow both tea and coffee in the immediate vicinity and many people in the community were engaged in farming and other agricultural pursuits. While perusing the merchandise in their community’s gift shop, I bought a special neck collar-pillow stuffed with aromatic green tea. For some strange reason, I thought that US Customs might tear it apart looking for marijuana but they didn’t even bat an eye.

Bus Goldberg is a seasoned world traveler and the director of Calypso Island Tours, a travel company that specializes in botanical adventures and nature tours to such diverse destinations as Costa Rica, Thailand and the Caribbean. He also maintains his own travel blog, Calypso Island Chronicles

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Kanchanaburi is the one province that has varieties of natural resources in Thailand. Kanchanaburi is Thailand’s third largest province, covers an area approximately 19,473 square kilometers and it far from Bangkok - about 129 kilometers. Kanchanaburi has many tourist attractions including the word-famous bridge over The river kwae and several well known waterfalls, caves, forests, rivers and dam. Therefore, tourist can have many kind of activity at Kanchanaburi such as mountain biking, rafting, fishing, play golf, junkle trekking and living in bamboo raft. Moreover, you will visit the notorious Dead Railway and the Bridge on the River Khwae, one of the famous World War II.

Kanchanaburi consist of 13 districts(Amphoe) which Amphoe Muang, Amphoe Bophloi, Amphoe Lao Khwan, Amphoe Phanom Thuan, Amphoe Sai Yok, Amphoe Sangkhla Buri,, Amphoe Si Sawat, Amphoe Tha Maka, Amphoe Tha Muang, Amphoe Thong Pha Phum, Amphoe Dan Makham Tia, Amphoe Nong Pru, Amphoe Huai Kra Chao.

Many kind of transports that you can use to go there one of the most convenience is by car in case of you have a car or hire cars. So start with buy a map from book shop or traveler information at the airport. However, I think most of tourist like to travel by bus. If you prefer t o use bus you can go to Kanchanaburi by take a bus at Southern Bus Terminal, it take you around one and a half hour to arrive there. Air-conditioned buses to Kanchanaburi leave the Southern Bus Terminal twice per hour all day until 9 p.m. return buses run on the same schedule. Sometimes if you would like to learn way of Thais’ life and you have a lot of times you can go to Kanchanaburi by trains. Trains to Kanchanaburi leave Thon Buri Station at 7:50 a.m.and 1:40 p.m. daily. Return trains leave Kanchanaburi Station at 7:30 a.m. and 3:20 p.m. It take about four and a half hour to be there. You can get more information about Trains schedule at www.railway.co.th. There are also tourist minibuses directly to/from Khao San Road, departing Kanchanaburi at 13:30 and 18:30.
At Kanchanaburi you can use songthaews (converted pickups) for transportation also taxi, motorbike and tuk-tuks are available.

Kan likes to write about travel in Thailand more information about travel Thailand visit http://www.thaitripguide.com

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