Stages in hill tribes

One of the objectives of this adventure was to get in closer contact with the ethnic hill tribes of the North. These people arrived in Thailand from Burma, China and Laos in the twentieth century. As they were used to do, they settled in the mountains and continued living according to their traditional way of life for many decades. Due to growing trade and economic development in Thailand, some of them have seen their life improving slightly but might have lost a part of their identity in exchange. Some villages have fought also to keep their traditions and take the opportunity of celebrations to make them live back.

Almost 50 years ago these tribes cultivated poppy that they sold or exchanged to Chinese merchants in the Golden Triangle. The prohibition of this culture in 1959 coupled with the introduction of alternative crops enabled Thailand to completely eradicate the presence of poppy. These tribes live today from agriculture, farming and hunting. The objective of the Thai government is to integrate these people into the Thai society. Today most of the young generation is able to speak Thai, children have Thai nationality and go to school, villages are now often linked by dirt roads. At the instigation of the King and the Princess, many projects have been launched: the Royal Project is dedicated to help farmers to develop new alternative cultures ; The Princess project is an extensive program of development of schools for children from tribes.

Despite a certain decline of the traditional way of life of these tribes, it’s interesting to get in closer contact with them. One can still witness the food, cultural and dress traditions have not disappeared; there are many villages where you can meet people with traditional costumes. It is also a nice experience to spend some times in villages in the middle of mountains or rice paddies. Sharing a meal and drinks around a fire place in a pretty traditional bamboo house, spending a night on a simple couch and waking up in a nice place far from any civilization is the best reward you can get.

During this race we will have the opportunity to cross many tribe villages from the smallest ones that have only 10 families and are accessible only by footpath to the largest and most develop ones (tenths of families). We will meet almost all the different tribes present in Northern Thailand (Hmong , Lisu , Akha , Lahu , Lisu , Karen). Here is the list of the most important villages we will cross (stations) or where we will spend nights (stages).

Village stages:

BAN MAE KHA PI