Hilltribe Museum : If you are going to visit tribal people, it is highly recommended that you visit the Hilltribe Museum and Education Center at Chiang Rai The Hilltribe Museum is the best place to learn about tribal people of Northern Thailand. It is conveniently located, accessible rain or shine and packed with information you normally would not be able to find when visiting an actual tribal village.
What you can learn from the Hilltribe Museum:
- Basic information about the six largest tribal groups in Thailand (Available in English, Francaise, Deutsch, Nihonggo and Thai)
- The history of opium
- Agriculture and hunting activities by tribal people
- The importance of bamboo for tribal people
- The truth about the Long-Neck Karen (Human Zoo)
- Dos and donts when visiting a tribal village
We have a 20-minute slideshow where you can learn more about the tribal people of Northern Thailand. This slideshow is available in 5-langauges (Thai, English, German, French and Japanese). Furthermore, we also have several other slides shows – such as the one about the Mekong River, Weaving, Community-based tourism, and other slide sets regarding PDA Projects (e.g. anti-human trafficking, rural industrialization).
Ban Lorcha : PDA-Chiang Rai was instrumental in establishing a community-based tourism project at an Akha village at Ban Lorcha. This multi-awarded project (which recently received the Kinaree Award for Northern Thailand by the TAT) has been operating since the year 2001.
We also have a Cabbages and Condoms Restaurant at Chiang Rai City. This is located at the PDA Chiang Rai Building along Thanalai Rd., (see map below).
PDA Tour organizes trekking tours for groups of up to 12 persons. If there are groups are larger than 12 persons, we will have to break it up into smaller groups. Typically, our trekking tours could be from one to 3 days. We have one 3-day 2-night program that is for rather serious trekkers. The group will trek to Doi Chang. The first night will be at a Lisu village (staying at a PDA-built facility, but operated by Lisu villagers). The 2nd night will be at an Akha village. Total trekking distance is approximately 25 km over 3 days.