Thailand tour, Bangkok and Chiang Mai

country:	Thailand
location:	Northern Thailand
departures:	2008: 7 Sep, 5 Oct, 26 Oct, 16 Nov, 30 Nov, 21 Dec 2009: 4 Jan, 18 Jan, 8 Feb, 1 Mar, 22 Mar, 5 Apr, 19 Apr, 3 May, 24 May, 14 Jun, 5 Jul, 2 Aug, 30 Aug, 4 Oct, 25 Oct, 15 Nov, 6 Dec, 21 Dec, 27 Dec
price:	From £440 - 485 (9 days) excluding flights. From £495 - £515 for private group departures. Price includes accommodation, transport, including transfers and some meals

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the amazing things you'll be doing

This is an adventurous tour to the north of Thailand featuring sightseeing in Bangkok and Chiang Mai and a 3-day jungle adventure. This features an easy trek, an elephant ride and a bamboo rafting trip through the forests and along beautiful tree-lined rivers, enjoying the sights and sound of the nature around you. Various extra tour options including a cooking course are also available.

Starting in Bangkok we take a tour to the Grand Palace. Former residence of the king, this collection of impressive temples and buildings is set amongst picturesque courtyards and gilded roofs. After lunch trying some delicious Thai cuisine by the Chao Phraya river, we have an afternoon long-tail canal boat trip through the surprisingly green and rural western suburbs of Thonburi, with various stops including an orchid farm.

The overnight sleeper train takes us to Chiang Mai, often referred to as the capital of the North, and which has a wealth of temples and markets waiting to be explored. After spending time visiting the colourful Doi Suthep temple overlooking the city and seeing how various local handicrafts are made, we continue north via a local market in Mae Malia into the forested hills to begin our jungle adventure.

We begin with two half-days of trekking to local Karen hill-tribe villages where we will learn all about their way of life, including bamboo weaving and trap making. We also enjoy time walking through rice and vegetable fields learning about cultivation techniques and through the forest learning how to survive in this challenging environment.

Next it’s on board an elephant for a short ride through beautiful unspoiled jungle before taking to the river for an exciting journey aboard traditional bamboo rafts, stopping en route at local villages. Finally we head back to Chiang Mai where you have a free day to explore the city, do a cooking course, or one of several other options. The overnight sleeper train then takes us back to Bangkok where our tour ends with a dinner cruise and departure airport transfer.

Options are available to extend the tour to visit the south of Thailand and its islands & beaches if required.

day-by-day itinerary

Day 1:	Arrive in Bangkok.
Day 2:	Bangkok - Grand Palace & City Canal tours, sleeper train to Chiang Mai (B,L).
Day 3:	Chiang Mai - Doi Suthep & handicrafts tour.
Day 4:	Jungle Adventure – local market, trekking to tribal village (B,L,D).
Day 5:	Jungle Adventure – forest trekking and elephant ride (B,L,D).
Day 6:	Jungle Adventure - bamboo rafting (B,L).
Day 7:	Chiang Mai - free time (various options including cooking course), sleeper train to Bangkok (B).
Day 8:	Bangkok - free time (various options including floating market tour). Evening dinner cruise (you can fly home today) (D).
Day 9:	Bangkok - free time. Transfer to airport for flight home (B).

how this holiday makes a difference

This tour is aimed at introducing our travellers to the people, culture and country of Thailand, and not cocooning them from it. This is helped by the tours and activities we include, having some free time to explore, and keeping our group sizes small (max 12, normally 6-10) and also running the tour privately for families, couples or groups of friends.

We take responsible travel very seriously, and have given some details below of how this is implemented on this tour.

Local people:

We chose our local suppliers in Thailand very carefully and are very impressed with their attitude to responsible tourism in their country, and to supporting local people and different regions not normally visited by many tourists. They have helped us incorporate their beliefs and our own principles into our itineraries.
We use fully-trained Thai tour leaders, guides and reps, rather than flying in Western leaders whose knowledge and love of the country will never be as full or passionate.
We use small locally owned and operated hotels wherever possible, and the tour also features 2 nights in tribal village huts, where your stay directly benefits small families and village communities.
The elephant trekking and bamboo rafting is run with the assistance of the local tribal villages to their benefit.
One of the highlights of the tour is finding and enjoying local Thai food in a wide range of small restaurants and snack shops.
We give information and advice to our travellers on how to respect local customs and religious practices, giving them a greater understanding of the local people and culture.

Environment:

The long journey between Bangkok and Chiang Mai is done using the overnight sleeper train instead of flying, so reducing extra pollution and energy use.
Explanations are given during the adventure trekking section of how the local people manage their forest resource and how we can help them to sustain it. This includes using renewable bamboo for our rafting rather than man-made materials.
We have a recycling policy in our UK and local offices and re-use or recycle the information booklets we provide to every client on arrival wherever possible.
We do not produce a glossy brochure, concentrating on a comprehensive website, and providing as much information to our travellers as possible electronically, reducing the use of paper and inks.

Local projects & charity support:

We donate £2 for every person travelling on this tour to the Border Green Energy team to help this dedicated group build community micro-hydro systems and train Karen Thai villagers to operate, maintain and repair solar electric systems
Our travellers are welcome to arrange visits to these projects and to support them personally if they wish.
The company also supports further projects and charities internationally.

Responsible tourism: We send all our travellers a copy of our responsible tourism policy before their holiday, and encourage them to read it and join us in following the ideas and suggestions contained within it.

Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people.

We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel.

'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left).

We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays.

We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism.

This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards.