Day Trek with the Family in Chiang Dao

Price per person in THB
2 persons3 persons4 persons5 persons6 persons7 persons8 persons
  4,0003,200 2,6002,2002,000 1,800 1,700
Difficulty
40%

This private tour takes you to Chiang Dao district. We want to show you daily life in a mountain village. You will meet the Dara-ang (Palong) people and learn about their history and culture. We will introduce you to the weavers of the village. You will also learn about the livelihood of this village, their community forest, and their crops. We will also teach you a couple of words in their language. Your visit will benefit this community. If you have children under 8 years of age, please contact us for a special rate: info@green-trails.com

Total driving time: Approximately four hours and fifteen minutes

From: 4,000.00 ฿

Banana leaves with mountains in the background
View on Doi Luang Chiang Dao

Fantastic Family Adventure in Chiang Dao

The Elephant Poo Poo Paper Park

Your guide and driver will meet you at the hotel at 0800 for your one-day Chiang Dao Hilltribe Family adventure. Look here for a review of a customized version of this tour. We will drive to Chiang Dao. People of the Akha, Lisu, Lahu, Palong (aka Dara-ang), and Karen tribes live in this area. It is an agricultural area encircled by forested mountains. Many crops grow in this area such as corn, cassava, and rice. There are lots of fruit trees as well, amongst others papaya, longan (lamyai), rose apple, and mango. The Palong grow pineapples as well. Today you will taste some of the fruit of the season. Yummy!

Baskets with poo poo paper balls at Elephant Poo Poo Paper Park
Poo Poo Paper Park paper balls. Picture by Frans Betgem

The Mae Malai local market

Our first stop today will be the Elephant Poo Poo Paper Park. During an excellent self-guided fun tour, you will see all the stages of the production of paper from elephant dung and learn about the history of papermaking. There are no elephants here but it is nevertheless a very interesting and fun place. The next stop is the fascinating local market at Mae Malai. Your guide with take you around and tell you about the herbs and vegetables, used in Thai cooking. He will also tell about the strange kinds of food and the other local products you can find here. We buy some of the ingredients for our lunch here, which we will prepare in the village.

woman at a market with fruit
Sales woman on the Mae Malai Market

Family Adventure: meet the Palong people

Here we will leave the main road to proceed further into the countryside where we will stop at the Dara-ang village Pang Daeng Nai. In Thailand, the Dara-ang are known as Palong or Palaung. Most of the women still wear traditional dresses. In this village, there is a small Royal Project that we will visit before we start our hike today. Here you can find more about the history and background of hill tribe trekking in Chiang Mai. We’ll hike through the protected community forest to Mae Chon, another Dara-ang village. We will pass through dipterocarp and bamboo forest and patches of evergreen forest. The trail goes up and down but is not too steep. There is plenty of time for some explanation of flora and enjoy the tranquillity of the forest.

Young student learning to weave
Student enjoying weaving at a Palong village

Cooking at the home of Lung Bun

The village Mae Chon is our final destination. The last part of our hike takes us through the plantations and fields of the villages. Your guide will show you around the village. He will explain about the village shrine and the ‘huja rawl’, the ‘village heart’. The Dara-ang (Palong) people escaped from Myanmar and moved to Thailand in the 1980s. The Dara-ang women are excellent weavers, who make beautiful textiles that are for sale in the village for very reasonable prices. We also will show you a traditional rice pounder. We installed it in the village because there wasn’t one. At the house of Lung Bun we will cook our lunch. Our guide is a master cook on a wood fire. You can help cut the vegetables and try your hand cooking in a wok. After this, we will consume our delicious lunch.

Man cooking food
Our guide Rung teaching how to cook

The Buatong Waterfalls, aka the “Sticky Waterfalls”

The Sticky Waterfalls are in the Sri Lanna National Park. We are in an area with a lot of limestone mountains. Limestone is partially soluble and therefore forms many erosional landforms. Doi Luang Chiang Dao, the third highest mountain in Thailand (2175m), is a limestone mountain. Waterfalls are often slippery, but a limestone waterfall is not, hence the nickname “Sticky Waterfalls”. After a day full of activities, it is time for relaxation. We will spend an hour at these delightful falls, which you can walk up and done. Be careful, though. Enjoy the cool and clean water before we head back to Chiang Mai. We will arrive back in Chiang Mai in the late afternoon.

End of your Chiang Dao Family Adventure

People in Buatong Waterfall action
Buatong Waterfall action

Highlights

Comfortable private transportation

Gentle and flexible trekking

Lovely scenery

Local village life

Palong (Dara-Ang) culture

Lisu tribal culture

Royal project

Elephant Poo Poo Paper Park

Inclusions

What is included?

English speaking guide
Transportation by AC Minibus
Lunch
Drinking water during meals
Limited medical insurance

What is not included?

Other drinks except for water
Personal expenses
Tips

Timeline

08.00 – Departure from the hotel
08.45 – Visit Elephant Poo Poo Paper Park
09.00 – Drive to Mae Malai
09.30 – Visit the local market
09.45 – Drive to Chiang Dao
10.30 – Arrive Pang Daeng Nai
10.45 – Start hiking
11.45 – Ban Mae Chon
12.00 – Cooking and lunch
13.00 – Activities at village
14.30 – Depart from village
15.30 – Sticky Waterfalls
16.30 – Drive back to Chiang Mai
17.30 – Drop off at the hotel

What to bring

T-shirt and shorts for daytime
Long sleeves/Jacket during wintertime (Nov – Feb)
Hiking shoes with good grip
Flip flops
Sunscreen
Hat or cap
Insect repellent
Sunglasses
Small backpack