Below is a great story about the Akha tribe in Thailand. The Akha "run the only tribal-owned retreat and trekking operation in the Chiang Rai province." I've trekked in Thailand about twelve years ago and lucked into an authentic experience - it was the highlight of my three-week trip to southeast Asia. The author does not exaggerate about driving on the red clay...
See Backpack Nation for all 20 stories - and vote for your favorites - or reference my original post for additional context.
Akha Hill House: Finding a Way by Laurie Weed
In Chiang Mai, the hub of northern Thailand’s trekking industry, more than a hundred tour companies compete to drag crowds of foreigners through a well-trampled circuit of impoverished hill tribe villages. The agents collect hefty fees for delivering this “authentic” experience -- complete with bamboo rafts and elephants -- while the villagers eke out a few baht selling handicrafts and sodas, or posing for photographs in their colorful native dress. Even the most oblivious tourists seemed to return from these treks looking slightly embarrassed, so although we were curious about the hill tribes, my travel companion and I decided against a tour and continued north, to the less-trampled countryside near the Golden Triangle.
From the much quieter city of Chiang Rai, I found an oblique guidebook reference to an interesting daytrip up the Koh River.
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