Chiang Mai Elephant Trek and Karen Long Neck Tour - Review

On 4 Feb 2015, I took a Chiang Mai budget tour for Elephant Trek and Karen Long Neck Village Tour

The mini van picked us up at 8.15 AM and after few more pick ups, we spent less than 1 hour journey to the first stop, orchid/butterfly farm. There were 12 guests in total plus a driver/guide and a guide trainee.
We spent only 15 min in the farm, the place itself is small and there isn't much variety of the orchids. Nonetheless, if you are a flower fan, you will like it.

The orchid farm

Add caption

Then after only 3 minutes drive, we arrived at Li Su tribal village and the Karen long neck tribal village. Entry is 500 baht, which is included in the tour cost. We spent 30-40 min here.
It is more a stalls of souvenir rather than the actual village. The Li Su tribes' ancestors are originally from China, and there has been some comment that their village style is similar to those in Yunan. The Karen long neck tribes on the other hand were originally from Burma. These tribes fled their countries and have since settled in Thailand and are officially Thai.

The Li Su tribes stalls

The Karen long neck part

Then after a short drive, we arrived at the Mae Taman elephant camp, one of the many elephant camps in Chiang Mai. Here, foreigners can stay and have an in-site training as a volunteer mahout (elephant driver) for months.

We missed a few minutes of the elephant show. The elephants, small and big played few tricks and drew paintings.
After the show we were given opportunity by several mahouts to take photo with the elephants, big, medium and baby. 

The painting was sold on the spot

Few months old baby elephant

This is how close we got to the big elephant

Then after we had a 1 hour lunch buffet, we were taken to do the ox riding for 20 minutes, just outside the camp.

The view during ox cart riding

We were soon took the elephant riding for 30 min. Every elephant has names. Ours is Olongnu, we asked the mahout the meaning of the name but he didn't know. There was an elephant whose name means full moon.
We went across the river, to the track at the edge of the forest, then back to the river before going back to the hut.

View from on top of elephant

We stopped to buy sugar cane for the elephant

After that, we went bamboo rafting for 45 min. This ride turned out to be the best one as we were navigated through a peaceful river, passing a village and another elephant camp. I really enjoyed the tranquility of the nature. We were also given an opportunity to use the big bamboo stick to navigate the raft.

Add caption

I rated it 6 out of 10. The places itself are nice, especially the elephant camp. What I didn't like is how the tour was a bit rushed because we 'were' late. We missed the elephant show. And they made an extra stop at a tiger kingdom for almost 1 hour unexpectedly, for extra fees. The buffet lunch was poor. Lastly, although they provided a bottle of water, they didn't even give them to us. In the end, we  had to taken them ourselves and not everybody was aware of this. The driver also said that he will talk more about the Karen long neck, however he didn't.
It is one of the cheapest tour that I found online, so I shouldn't complaint much, but i believe tour guide plays an important role to make your tour feel more comfortable.

Hong by Starlight Kayaking Tour, Phuket, Thailand - A review

 On 2 February 2015, I  joined Hong by Starlight with John Gray Sea Canoe.

The mini van picked us up at 10.30 AM at our guest house, a good timing because we just arrived at Phuket at 10.20 AM. After two more other pick ups, they dropped us at a meeting point near the marina. At 12 PM we  have a short briefing, then a short walk to the marina and a short ride on a local bus across the bridge to the boat.

The marina, 45 minutes from the phuket town

The beach at the marina

The shuttle bus that took us to the boat

Light lunch were served: hokkian vegetable noodles and spring roles with sauce, fruits (seasonal fruits like rose apple, pineapple and banana). Drinks are bottled waters (which are available throughout the tour), orange juice, green tea and thai tea (which was heavenly)

Then we had a briefing, the dos and dont's, the hows, and that we are going to visit three caves with hongs (meaning room in Thai language, or a lagoon) with a free time at a small beach in between. The caves are only are accessible during low tide.
2 guests were designated with a guide, who will take us on the kayak to the caves and hongs. We quickly found out that the guides like to joke around and a friendly bunch.

On the second deck

Lunch

 Although there were around 12 guides with 2 cooks, the boat felt spacious and the guides mainly stay on the first deck.

After 1 hour journey, we arrived at the first cave, which is what they called a dark cave. We were provided with a waterproof ocean pack to secure our belongings, while the guides are getting ready at the water.

The guides who were waiting for the guests on the water

Going inside the first cave

Our guide took us about 150 m dark pathway passing the cave, to an open lagoon.With the guide's head light we can see bats and some oysters on the outer caves

Inside the dark cave

Entering the lagoon

The water was shallow, and the lagoon was very peaceful. We can hear the insects and the birds. We saw small crabs and mud skippers, unfortunately we couldn't see any monkeys that are part of the ecosystems. We spent an hour inside and around the cave.

The hong or lagoon

Around the cave

The boat

A fisherman on the sea

After that we were back on the boat for an afternoon tea of lovely banana cake, fruits and hot drinks of either tea or coffee. Then our guides taught us how to make the loy krathong offering that we will release on the cave.

One of the loy krathongs made on the boat

We were then taken to a small beach for 30 min free time. We can choose between swimming or kayaking without the guides to the beach.

The beach for the free time

On the second cave, we went to a light cave, the hong or lagoon isn't as big as the first one but it shares the same ecosystem. We spent about 40 min here.

Another fisherman we saw on the way

The phuket sea ranger's cottage. He went to our boat to collect government tax

On the second hong, when we saw mudskippers again, we were treated with sight of two mudskippers fighting with each other.

Mud skipper on the second hong

The mud at the lagoon. The texture is odd

Then board the boat for banquet dinner: fruits, tom yum soup, chicken, prawn, curry, fried fish, sweet sour fish, chicken soup, mixed stir fry vegetable with soya sauce, cashew nuts chicken stir fry, brown fried rice

Dinner

 After the big dinner, we went to last hong. The current was quite strong, and inside the small dark cave it was quite windy, but once we arrived at the smallest hong of the three, it was really peaceful. Inside the dark cave we released the loy krathong offering, took photos and took them back with us.



 

Inside the last cave

Our guide set off the loy krathong inside the cave because the lagoon was too windy

Kayaking back to the boat

When the tour guides turned off their headlights, we could see planktons sparkling inside the cave
We spent about 30 min here before went back to boat for about 1 hour journey back to the marina.



We arrived back at the marina at 8.30 ish, where we returned to our respective accommodation with the mini van.


My verdict: 8 out of 10.


This is the most expensive tour I did in Thailand,  But I guess it was worth the experience, which is quite unique for me, and the small group (said we were lucky to have ''only'' 27 guests on board, as they usually have about 40 people) made it feel like it's a private tour. Also because we visited places that are non tourist-infested.
The guides are pleasant to be with with their sense of humor and looked happy. Who wouldn't, when nature is your workplace.