Not all youth hostels limit themselves to just providing budget accommodations. Some, such as the Chiang Mai Youth Hostel in northern Thailand, also arrange economical opportunities for independent budget travelers to experience and learn about the local culture. At this hostel guests can now sign up for Thai cooking courses, to learn traditional Thai massage or to join a special Hill Tribe trek program that incorporates information-gathering for the Chiang Mai University-based Tribes Research Institute.
Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand. It’s a city of more than 300 temples, with its original section still surrounded by walls and a moat. This is the gateway to hiking adventures — which usually include elephant riding, river rafting (on bamboo rafts) and visits to hill tribe villages.
You can book a regular Tribal Trek program through the Chiang Mai Youth Hostel for about $43 for two nights or about $49 for three nights. Departures average every three days.
The hostel has a second tour that offers travelers the opportunity to get more involved with the local communities. The three-day Heart of Siam Tour costs about $49 and includes elephant riding and river rafting, plus you might find yourself helping to build a school, teaching children how to make simple educational toys, giving out vitamins or collecting data for the Tribal Research Institute. This program has been created for groups, but if two or three individuals get together and contact the hostel in advance by e-mail, the management will try to make arrangements for them. The hostel provides backpacks, blankets and bedding, and the tour has an English-speaking guide.
The hostel staff can also arrange for guests to join one- to three-day Thai cooking classes. The cost is $23 to $24.50) per day. On your first day, for example, you go with the instructor to the market and learn about essential herbs; then, in a traditional Thai home, you’re instructed on making green curry, red curry (pannang), and sweet and spicy sauces. In the afternoon you learn to make chili paste and cook pad thai with sticky rice and mango, then dine on your creations with your instructor.
Another distinctive element of Thai culture is traditional Thai massage. At the Chiang Mai hostel you can arrange to take an introduction to basic ancient Thai massage, which is taught in 30 hours stretched over five days. The cost is about $51.
The Chiang Mai Youth Hostel is located at 21/8 Changklan Rd., about a 20-minute walk from the popular Night Market. This is one of 12 Hostelling International (HI) facilities throughout the country. You can get information on all of them on the Internet at tyha.org, including addresses in Thai that you can print out and carry with you.
For the Chiang Mai Youth Hostel or any of its programs, call 011-66-53-276737, fax 011-66-53-204025 or e-mail chiangmai@tyha.org.
There is no age limit for guests, and the hostel is open all day. The regular rate for a double is about $5.50 per room or $9 with air conditioning. Students and HI members get the double room for about $5 — $8 with air conditioning. Single rooms are slightly less.
THAI TIPS
Thailand is exotic and inexpensive, ideal for budget travelers, but it’s not without a few problems, so get a good guidebook and keep these points in mind.
– Be prepared for the popular scams and ripoffs: steer clear of touts who will tell you that the accommodations you want have been closed so they get you to go to another location that is paying them a commission.
– Be wary of those who try to get you to buy expensive gems by saying you can resell them at home for a higher price.
– If you are going to store valuables in a hotel safe while you go on a trek, make sure the credit cards can’t be used (put them in a sealed envelope and write your name over the sealed flap). If you’re leaving items at your hostel/hotel, make a list of them and get it signed.
– Make sure any trekking company you are considering traveling with is registered with the Tourist Board of Thailand (TAT). Try to speak to other travelers who can recommend them from first-hand experience.
– Make sure there will be adequate bedding (it can get quite cold at night), that your guide speaks enough English for you to understand him or her, and that there’s at least a second `helper’ to keep an eye on anyone who is having difficulty keeping up.
– Carry your own bed net. In my experience, you can’t trust trekking companies to have adequate ones. Malaria is a concern, and taking anti-malaria tablets does not give you 100 per cent protection. Japanese B encephalitis and dengue fever are also spread by mosquitoes, so the best idea is to protect yourself as well as you can from being bitten. Get proper medical advice from a traveler’s health clinic before you leave home. If you have been trekking and suffer flu-like symptoms after your trip, seek medical attention and tell them where you’ve been.
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Lucy Izon is a Toronto-based freelance travel writer and author of “Izon’s Backpacker Journal.” Internet: www.izon.com.
