5-Day Karen Tribe Tour in Mae Wang from Chiang Mai with Homestay

• Pick up from your accommodation in Chiang Mai and drive to the Mae Wang countryside, where you will make a short stop at a local market to stock up on supplies for the next five days.
• Continue to a nearby cycling start point and ride through villages, past fruit farms, rice paddies, crops, and waterways. Stop at a local Buddhist temple, a great viewpoint from which to enjoy the scenery. After a two-hour ride, stop for lunch at a local restaurant.
• Trek to a tropical waterfall before walking on to a Karen tribe village. The trekking length depends on your preference, so please discuss it with your guide, who will choose an appropriate trail. In the village, meet the Karen family, have dinner with them, and spend the night as their guest.

• Wake up early and watch the mists lifting below in the valleys. After breakfast, walk to the farmland and rice paddies surrounding the village and learn about traditional farming practices. Come prepared, as this is a hands-on cultural experience. Depending on the season, you may learn about preparing the fields, maintaining water levels, planting, harvesting, drying, or milling rice and other seasonal crops.
• Before lunch, walk to a nearby waterfall and learn how to cook in bamboo stems over the fire. Enjoy a delicious northern Thai lunch, jungle style!
• Have a hands-on experience of Karen weaving. A Karen lady will show you how to prepare for weaving and how to use a wooden loom to create traditional striped Karen fabric. This is a short weaving demonstration only. Those who wish to turn it into a weaving class should let us know in the comments. The weaving class has two parts, each about 4 hours, and you will finish a piece of clothing.
• In the afternoon, learn how to prepare and cook traditional Lanna dishes during a cooking class. Afterwards, have dinner and spend the night with the host family.

• After breakfast, visit the local school, where the children love practising English. Please note that the school is only open on working days.
• Savour a delicious lunch before learning about traditional Karen tribe building techniques or woodcrafts, depending on what the villagers need help with during your visit. You may weave a traditional Karen roof using leaves, make bamboo walls for Karen hill tribe huts, create a wooden basket, or make a rice broom.
• In the afternoon, walk to Spicy Villa and enjoy a second Thai cooking class.

Dinner and overnight in a private bungalow.

• After breakfast, go for a trek through the farmland and jungle surrounding Spicy Villa. Stop at another Karen tribe village and a waterfall, and have lunch on the way. Trekking is optional, and the length and difficulty can be adjusted.
• In the afternoon, visit an elephant camp where you will learn about Thai elephants. Feed them, and cool off in the river as you bathe with these gentle giants.

Dinner and overnight at Spicy Villa.

• Enjoy free time between breakfast and lunch, or wake up early to visit a Buddhist temple in the valley to give alms to the monks and make merit. Then have breakfast at a local restaurant and visit a local mixed minority school. For the children, this is an opportunity to practise English, which can greatly improve their futures.
• Drive to the Wang River for bamboo rafting before heading back to Chiang Mai.