My Dream Guest House, Northern Thailand

Whether you arrive in Chiang Rai by plane or bus an additional longtail boat transfer is needed to reach the My Dream Guest House. During the almost one hour boat ride, it is all about relaxing and enjoying the river, while the city turns into rice fields that turn into beautiful mountain formations along the Mae Kok River.

There are a lot of expectations when one chooses to call his guest house “My Dream Guest House”, but the house lives up to its name. “My Dream Guest House” is located in the far north of Thailand, more specifically in Chiang Rai, which is a three-hour drive north of Chiang Mai..You will be welcomed by the owner Nan, who runs My Dream together with his wife and two children. After placing yourself  in an armchair on the terrace, you will suddenly feel very far from everything. In fact, it might be difficult finding anything more authentic and real in Thailand than this place and this area in general.

Luxury here does not consist of room service, swimming pools, minibars and air conditioning.  You can experience this elsewhere in the Kingdom. Luxury at this place is great nature and cultural experiences, which Nan is excellent at conveying. Still you will find everything you need in the riverside bungalows that we always try to book. They are clean and neat with a good bed with mosquito netting, a fan, hot and cold water and a terrace with a river view. That is all you need. The restaurant always has cold beer/water and a nice menu put together by Nan, who is also a master of making good sandwiches and tasty Thai food. There is even a computer with internet that occasionally works. Out here wi-fi is unknown. The jungle area is inhabited by numerous tribes, each with their own characteristics and traditions. Nan is from the Karen tribe and you will not find anyone better to tell you about their cultural customs.

Nan is the guide on most of the trekking trips whether it is by foot or a one-day trip in his worn-down but loyal red jeep.

On trekking trips you can normally choose between one or two days with an overnight stay with a tribe. The trips are of course adjusted to whether there are children and how far you can manage to walk. Nan takes pride in the trips, making sure they take place in areas where you normally will not meet other tourists. The villages that are being visited do not see many tourists. We are “off the beaten track”, which is why the trips are often unique and different each time. This only makes the trips more authentic. However the following are typically on a trekking trip:
Lots of water. It is hot in the jungle and you are usually soaked in sweat from the humidity. The reward, however, is the incredible scenery; a stunning flora, enormous trees, a few formidable-looking but quite harmless beetles, spiders in several variations and perhaps a herd of cows crossing the path. At the end of the long path you’ll enjoy the view over the river, the villages and the tribal people working in the fields, which in these latitudes are sometimes rice fields. All the sweat is then worth it. And if there are children, parents will often be surprised how far their children can walk, when it is fun.
The visits to the various villages are mandatory and their primitive way of life may leave you speechless. One feels set back 100 years when you see women sitting by the pot over the fire, while the pigs are running around, grunting beneath the tree house. Perhaps poor but by no means discomforting or depressing, although different. It is in these surroundings you stay overnight on the two-day trip. It is simple mattresses with mosquito nets. The toilet is a hole in the ground, but it is an experience of a lifetime.

The one-day trip is usually varied with driving by jeep/car, riding on an elephant and wandering through the jungle. You will typically be driven down to the elephant camp further down the river. The next couple of hours is on the back of one of these enormous creatures through a beautiful part of the jungle. It is a fantastic experience observing the gracefulness and strength of the elephant in its own natural habitat. It doesn’t get much better.
The last stop is at the village of the Lahu tribe. Lunch is prepared here and sometimes you will get to eat with members of the tribe. From here it is about a two-hour walk through the jungle before reaching a waterfall and a much needed shower. You can swim right under the waterfall and the pressure is gentle enough that all sizes can take part. The last part of the trek is usually by car. If time and weather allows it, we will visit two other hill tribes; the Akha and Lahu tribes. After a short walk back late in the afternoon, you can enjoy a cool beverage on the terrace.

On the one-day trip the impressions and perhaps the experiences will be the same as on the two-day trip. But during the two-day trip you have the time and solitude to digest the experiences. It happens naturally when sitting outside your bamboo hut in the primitive Lahu village, where you will spend the night. Absolutely nothing happens here. But the eyes will never rest, as there is always something to look at; the old father sitting in the doorway in his colorful sarong with something that looks like a cigar, the shy local kids trying to sell you a bottle of water, litters of filthy piglets chasing their sow to get some food or a chicken trying to whip up a crowd. All the while, the locals will be unaffected and unstressed while doing their chores. Fortunately, Nan is really good at answering questions and offering information – including about his cooking, which you are welcome to watch.

Between the penetrating calmness of the village and being filled up from experiences, you will sleep well, despite it not being the most comfortable overnight stay in Thailand.

During the two-day trip there is about four hours of walking in the jungle interrupted by a couple of hours of lunch in a village. You are welcome to help with the food, if you like. On the second there will also be about four hours of walking. Waterfalls and elephants are scheduled on this trip as well. At the end there will be a short ride down the river, where you will get the opportunity to swim at a hot spring. We are back at My Dream Guest House before nightfall.

River trip, tea plantations and the Golden Triangle

On the last day of your Northern Thailand adventure, you will get some of the most beautiful experiences in the country. The trip starts, as soon as you arrived in Chiang Rai; in a long-tailed boat. We continue up the river from My Dream Guest House. It takes about 90 minutes up to Tha Ton, depending on the current of the river. On this stretch, you will see an even more breathtaking landscape than on the trip from Chiang Rai. The mountains begin to almost move in across the river. It is soothing for the eyes sailing through this truly astonishing area before we end up in the town of Tha Ton, near the Burmese border. Here, Nan will be waiting with a minivan.

Two kilometers later, you will arrive at a temple area on a hill, overlooking the entire Tha Ton area and a slice of Burma. This will not be the final view of the day. The next couple of hours, the drive is gradually getting more and more beautiful. Suddenly tea plantations appear and we are eventually so high up that it is good to know we are heading back down, because it can get cool in the evening.

Mae Salong is a very special and interesting city. The majority of the city is Chinese after a group of Chinese people in ancient times discovered that the steep slopes were very suitable for growing tea.

We eat a light lunch at a guest house with an incredible view over the tea fields. We continue driving through the mountains until we reach the Mount Bo area. There are some excellent outlooks into Burma from here. The area has occasionally been dangerous with frequent grenade killings on both sides, as a result of the civil war in Burma. Currently there is a ceasefire, although still several military checkpoints. It is not dangerous.

After driving down the mountains, we end up in Mae Sai; Thailand’s northernmost point. A busy border town populated by Chinese, Thai and Burmese people, looking to sell legal goods, as well as contraband, transporting them across the river border after dark. We will look at the goods, but there is very little buying as no one ever really needs a machete or a five kilo bag of almonds.

From Mae Sai it is about one-hour’s drive to the Golden Triangle, where Burma, Laos and Thailand meet. If you would like, there is time to visit the Opium Museum, showing the history of what the area is also known for; opium cultivation and trade.

We relax with a cup of coffee along the Mekong River, where we have a view of Laos. Last on the list is the trip to Chiang Rai Airport, where it is time to say goodbye to Nan. There is time set aside to have dinner – best at the airport restaurant on the 2nd floor. Then we departure to Bangkok again.

• Program as described
• English speaking local guide
• Entrance fees, trips, excursions and transportation by air conditioned cars/minivans as described in the program
• Meals as described in the program (B: Breakfast, L: Lunch, D: Dinner)
• Air conditioned overnight stays
• All taxes and charges

Not included in the price:

• Flights to and from Thailand
• Mandatory dinner during Christmas/New Year (additional)
• Other meals than described for lunch/dinner
• Beverages

Remember to bring:

• Light and comfortable clothes for the warm climate
• Light cotton clothing with long sleeves/legs (protection against mosquitoes at sunset)
• A warm sweater for cool evenings (optional)
• Swimwear and towel
• Sandals (trekking shoes are not necessary)
• Sun hat/cap
• Sunglasses and sunscreen
• Mosquito repellent (optional)
• Camera equipment
• Pocket money
• Personal travel insurance

It is important that you bring your passport, because we are in a border area.