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Comments from our friends
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Hollins Family (UK), Dec 2011, Mae Hong Son Loop
Hello, we really enjoyed the trip. The guide (A) was friendly, informative and flexible. The driver was friendly and very careful, which for a nervous passenger like me, was a big relief! Some days the driving was quite long and the kids got a bit restless, but 'A' was able to adapt the days to fit their needs, much appreciated. The kids saw things they learnt a lot from and they loved it. All the places we stayed in were clean and friendly. The home stay was a must do. We found the family very welcoming and fun to be with. We ate in places we would never have dared had we been on our own, but the guide selected carefully and we had good cheap food. Over all a really great experience we will be recommending to our friends, thank you!.......Family Hollins
Rens & Martine (Netherlands), June 2011, Mae Hong Son Loop
Hi Melissa, Pat and Vinai
Thanks a lot for organising the tour & thanks to Pat for the DVD with all the pictures. We liked the idea of both helping the local people and see the way of life in the mountains. So keep on the good work!
It all started when surfing on the internet to find some information about Northern Thailand. I found a forum in English language and one person answered a lot of questions. It was Melissa from www.thailandhilltribeholidays.com
Now I became curious about her website. They offered 2 longer tours. We asked for the price and possibilities for the tour. We decided to do both tours, a total of 1 week. Melissa was very fast in answering my questions, which I appreciate very much. That and the responsible sustainable tourism were the main reasons for us to book with Thailand Hilltribe Holidays.
Chiang Mai:
Here was the starting point for the tour. We went to a lot of places and some days we were the only foreigner (Farang) we saw the whole day! We found that really exceptional for Thailand. We visited: Mae Sariang, La Up village, May Hong Son, Soppong, Pai, Ang Khang, Noa Lae, Doi Mae Salong, Mae Sai, Golden Triangle, Chiang Saen and Chain Rai.
Pat was our guide; very friendly and knows a lot about the hill tribes and the Thai food.
The driver was Vinai; a very friendly and very helpful man from La Up village.
The Second day we remembered as the most special day. In the morning and along the way Pat collected a lot of food to bring with us to the Homestay in La Up. We visited some hilltribes in the neighbourhood of La Up village. At the end of the day we went to the home stay family (Lawa tribe) The family with the lovely parents and children we very heartwarming. We felt very welcome at their house and we found it a really amazing experience. We loved the food that the family and Pat prepared for everyone.
The famous red curry!! Janjira, Good luck with your study.
The families in the mountains have to work very hard. We saw the real life of the hilltribe people and we will never forget how friendly these people are.
The rest of the tour was also amazing. We saw a lot of people of the different hilltribes and also some "must-see" tourist attractions. We can really recommend the trips of Thailand Hilltribe Holidays. What the people of the home stay earn is clear, because we paid to them directly. (different from big tour operators who take most of the money)
Also the school visits were very nice to experience and being in the middle of an English lesson at one of the schools.
The best to Melissa, Pat and Vinai and we'll stay in contact! Maybe see you next holiday.
What we loved the most Northern Thailand were the friendly people especially
Steeve Heere (US), June 2006, Northern Thailand
I went on a 2-week journey led by Pat and his partner Melissa. We traveled to hill tribes, border towns, ancient and historical sites, destinations with amazing natural scenery, markets, unbelievable restaurants (thai, lao, shan, akha, burmese...) and many more places. I had an amazing time and would highly recommend Pat's trips to anyone! Pat knows all of the best places and he knows many secret or unknown sites that are not in the Lonely Planet Travel Guide. He is truly an expert on North Thailand.
He also has many connections across Northern Thailand and can speak many of the hilltribe dialects. It seems that wherever we went, he had friends (or easily made friends with his charming personality). Pat always takes care of his customers. He is full of surprises and also knows where to find the best food! Pat's very thin, but he can sure eat with the best of them! He loves fruit too! Get ready to eat a lot of random fruit that doesn't have English names.... Pat also is extremely knowedgeable about the conditions that the minority people and hill tribe people are living in. He knows the true inside story on which NGO's are helping and hurting the situation. He can offer great advice on the best way for tourists to act and offer help if they felt they were interested in doing that.
His partner Melissa is an excellent manager and is extremely well-organized. Melissa is a former mandarin student, thai student, NGO worker, and finance worker in the UK... Jack of all trades.... She worked in Mae Sai helping Burmese women (without Thai ID's) get a good education to stay out of prostitution. She has a huge heart, and is very chill and sweet! She has a great regard for safety and seems to think everything through very carefully. They are a great pair and will find exactly what you are looking for on a trip! After spending a day with them, you'll feel like you are old friends... Tell them what you are interested in and let them take care of the rest! It will be a trip of a lifetime!
Elena Erotocritou (Greece), Summer 2006, Chiang Mai
I have travelled with a friend to Chiang Mai for the first time in the summer of 2006 and Pat was our personal guide. This was my second time to Thailand, a forever favourite destination.
Pat was very punctual (actually always ahead of time), greeted us with a smile at the airport, and immediately wanted to learn how exactly we wanted to spend our holiday and tried to meet our expectations (however irrrational at times!)
Being a demanding traveller, on a made-to-measure travel plan, I can tell you that i highly recommend hiring Pat as your guide anytime! Needless to say that Pat was showing us off the beaten track places, took us to non touristic restaurants and really showed us the Chiang Mai way of life/customs/food specialities that we as tourists could never have come across.
Anytime I travel to North Thailand I will definitely hire Pat!
I wish there was someone like Pe in every place i visited around the world!
Trust me, you will not regret hiring his services as your guide!...........Elena <!--[endif]-->
Anita Nevers, Sep 2002, Chiang Mai
My trip to Chiang Mai was in sep - october 2002. We travelled up by bus from Bangkok and that was an experience in itself.I met Pat this tuk tuk driver that was so humble and kind. Me my daughter and my boyfriend all befriended Pat and his family that eventually we moved into his lovely house on a beautiful complex to rent a room. My boyfriend stayed for 3 weeks then flew back to London and I stayed on for an extra 3 weeks.
We went to some breathtaking places in our time spent there. Doi Inthanon was a lovely place where we stood up at the highest peak of Thailand and looked over the edge. Doi Suthep was also an amazing place up in the mountains just outside Chiang Mai,where you can visit the temples and one of the kings national parks and the ride on the taxi there was great because you drove through the clouds and the higher you go up the mountain the more you see. Every couple of miles there was a hill tribe some little hill tribe villages had stalls selling amazing arts and crafts what they handmade themselves. The most beautiful waterfall Pat took me and my daughter to was Maa Saa Its 30 - 40 feet high and its amazing.
I stayed in temples with Pat and his family for two days. His Mother lived at the temple and devoted her life to god and is a head monk at the temple. This is was off the beaten track way up the mountains which can leave you gasping for air but you soon acclimatise to it. While travelling this was probably the most humble experience me and my daughter had ever experienced. There was some orphans that lived in the temple because their parents cound not look after them. So Pat's mother took them in and looked after them even now. I had met them previously when Pat's mother brought them down to the city of Chiang Mai. They were a lovely group of children so well behaved, puts western kids to shame if you ask me. The monks at the temple was so humble and kind to me and Shannon, we just felt at peace with them. We prayed with them and talked to them,not to mension the Buddhist statues which was also amazing to look at and the view was stunning you felt very cut of from civilisation which we was but, that was also part of the experience.
These were just a few of my favourite places in the north of thailand there were so many other places of interest ,the markets in Chiang Mai and the nightclubs. The food in the north is more authentic than anywhere else in Thailand and the people are more calm than in the south. I would recommend anyone to go up north and link up with Pat because he is one of the best people you will ever meet in your life. He won't charge and arm and a leg for trips.If only more people in the world were like him. I will definitely be taking a trip up north on my next visit to Thailand. Take care Pat, Anita
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