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

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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.

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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.