To be competitive in today's market it's crucial to include off-the-beaten path activities and experiences in your itineraries, in addition to the must-see location highlights that most travel companies include. Based on our experience, we recommend you consider adding these 10 authentic experiences when planning your Thailand programs to create unforgettable travel memories for your clients.
1. Get around like a local with unique modes of public transportation
Instead of, or in addition to traveling by regular coach or car, experience a different way of getting around. While in Bangkok, plan one evening off the beaten path by taking a Sky Train to Talad Plu Market, a 120-year-old artisan food extravaganza packed with local flavor! Here travelers can explore the evening street food market stalls by walking through the old community and meeting the locals. We recommend trying Pork Sate "Moo Sate" and "Kanom Bueng", a fabulous stuffed crispy egg crepe from street vendors. After enjoying the market, clients can take a night-time Tuk-Tuk ride back to their hotel. The market is usually open 5 pm to 11 pm.
Include some other modes of transportation to create more fun and impactful experiences for your clients:
Ride a motorbike taxi in Bangkok or Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai, or Phuket.
Tuk Tuk ride in Autthaya, Kanchana Buri, Chiang Mai.
River Taxi (Klong Saen Saep boat service or Chao Praya Express boat) in Bangkok.
Song-Taew (Taxi truck) in Sukhothai, Phuket, Chiang Mai
2. Eat like a local
You can’t plan a trip to Thailand that doesn’t include some of the delicious local fare. Even better, we recommend you combine food experiences with local transportation. You can always find street food all over Thailand, as it's a staple for the locals. While in Chiang Mai we recommend taking the Song Taew (red truck taxi) to the morning market at Chiang Mai Gate. At 6 a.m., you can start the day by joining the locals for a Buddhist alms giving and a special blessing by the monks. Then pick a place filled with locals to experience a Thai Breakfast such as "Pa Lek coffee trolley.” You must try the "ancient style coffee" and "Cha-Thai" where locals often take "Pa Tong Ko" as their light breakfast. You might also want to try "Kanom Jean Nam Ngeaw", a delicious local noodle soup. From Wilai stall head back to the hotel on a Motor Bike Taxi.
Besides experimenting with new and different street foods from either the morning or evening markets, here are some other options to eat like a local for your itineraries:
Join students for a light lunch at a local cafeteria such as at Thammasat University or Soi Lalai Sap in Silom- Bangkok.
Take part in free community meals at 80 years old Sikh temple in Pahurad - Bangkok (Kurud Wara Sri Kuru Sing Sapa) which is open for free vegetarian meal from 8-11 am.
3. Live one night like a local
Most travelers can book their own hotel room; but travelers often choose to travel with a company to seek out once in a lifetime experiences they can’t do on their own like special, unique overnights.
Overnight at a Buddhist temple in Chiang Rai or Kanchana Buri and join in with the monks for their daily routines. This is a real highlight. We organized a unique experience for a group to stay one night at a small temple in the Northern Thailand where tourists simply don't go. They loved it so much and couldn't stop talking about it, "it was really a life changing experience, despite sleeping on a mat…. It was a joy participating in the alms giving, eating meals with the monks and hearing about their life stories.”
Home stay with local farmers in a remote area where travelers are not only enjoying the tranquility of nature, but also participate in the simplicity of the farmers everyday life activities like joining in with the cooking, meeting the community, and helping out on the farm. Some recommended options are to either select some authentic tapioca/sugar cane farming families to visit in Ampor Sai-Yok in Kanchana Buri or a rice farmer in Chiang Rai or Mae Hong Son.
Loy Kra Thong Festival
4. Take a risk and create travel magic by including local fairs and celebrations.
Plan your itineraries to go over special festivals to experience the realities of local celebrations and spontaneous cultural opportunities.
The annual Loy Kra Thong festival takes place on the evening of the full moon, on the 12th month in the Thai Lunar Calendar (dates vary annually). The festival takes place for around 3 days where locals float “Kra-Thong”. The banana leaf baskets filled with flowers, offerings and candles to float on and light up the river while the locals worship and pay homage to the river goddess. In the north of Thailand, they also worship and pay thanks by lighting small hot air balloons that light up the entire sky. Some locals also believe it's a romantic night for all couples to make “merit” together, so in their next life they will meet each other again.
The Songkran festival aka Traditional Thai New Year between 13th-15th April. In Chiang Mai, we led a group of Americans during the Songkran Festival. We started by watching the colorful parade with beautifully decorated floats, traditional music and dancers. It wasn't as fun to just watch, so we all joined the parade and danced with the locals while they splashed water on us. We were all soaking wet, but it was most refreshing on a hot day in April. We had so much fun that after the parade we jumped into tuk tuks with water guns in our hands and drove through the old city of Chiang Mai to spray the locals. It was an awesome and unforgettable way to celebrate the water festival like locals do.
5. Mingle and meet with locals at their places of work
One of our favorite highlights was when our Group Leader spontaneously stopped the bus along the highway in Supan Buri to interact with a group of female rice farmers and a few men who were catching frogs and snake head fishes with bamboo fish traps. It was not long before our group was helping the farmers to catch frogs and fish; and other travelers joined in the planting of rice in the fields. To top things off, the locals invited our group to their nearby hut to clean up. To underline the local culture, they offered the group a tempting deep fried field rat by way of a snack adventure!
6. Visit a Monastery School
In Thailand many young boys don’t attend regular school due to their families’ low income. The Buddhist Monasteries play an important role in providing free education and boarding for boys and young men who are willing to study in a Buddhist school or university. The interaction with young novices is an unforgettable experience that may include food offerings for lunch, chanting and classroom interactions. There are many options in Bangkok, Supan Buri, Sukhothai, or Chiang Mai. If your program includes Sukhothai, we recommend visiting the Chotikhun Wittaya Nusorn Bhuddist Monk school in Tung Saliem- Sukhon Thai; it’s about a 1-hour drive from the Sukhothai center. Here you can combine this school visit with other activities in the farming community and turn the experience into a magical once in a lifetime experience.
7. Play, learn (or watch) local sports and see how the locals get a work out
It would be a miss if your travelers didn’t learn and experience Thailand’s famous Thai Kick Boxing tradition. There are many kick boxing camps throughout Thailand who offer exclusive classes, demonstrations and discussions with the master and his students. Clients can have the opportunity to see the sport and practice basic skills with the teacher and their students, and to interact with the children. We partner with a kick boxing camp in the Khlong Toey slum community, where the master has a mission and vision to help change the lives of the young boys in his community by giving them opportunities to learn to kick box and to become professionals. This is more than just learning the Thai National sport, it’s a great way to connect people and learn through their experiences.
8. Change the way you include Dance, Art and Music performances
Instead of visiting regular theater or tourist driven dance shows that are offered by many travel companies, we recommend developing a long-term partnership with a dance school or dance college that allows for an opportunity for you to “give back” with funds to support the students’ educational programs. Your organization will have the option for exclusive visits where other tourists simply don't go. They’ll be able to have cultural exchanges with teachers and students, watch and maybe learn traditional dance with music, and then join students to learn the Ram Wong dance or play Thai traditional music such Ra-Nad or long drum. Yet another opportunity to have a direct, authentic connection with students and teachers in this country of great culture versus a canned, touristy performance with no interaction.
9. Meet local experts for in-depth discussions to learn about the hot topics and follow up with an in-depth visit
Depending on the interest of your travelers, we recommend scheduling at least an hour’s meeting with an experienced Professor/Lecturer who specializes on topics ranging from economics to politics to social issues. After the classroom lecture and robust question and answer session, we always go on site to visit the actual people who have direct experiences to the particular subject matters. When you travel to places in Southern Thailand such as Surat Thani, Krabi or Phuket, instead of just visiting the famous beaches, include a lecture with a Professor to learn about the Thai economy where you’ll learn about the issues facing the agricultural sector including the rubber farmers. Follow up the lecture with a visit with the rubber farmer’s family and plantation in Sa Khu Village, Amphoe Talang.
10. Always give back to the communities you visit
We select partners outside of the big cities, and work together with farming villages, women’s co-operatives, senior associations, orphanages and dance schools to help them create jobs, income and sustainable programs. It’s a win-win partnership for you and the community. They get some economic benefit and your clients get to share in the communities’ everyday life and cultural wonders.
One of our passions is to leave the big cities to find the hidden treasures in remote areas across Thailand and to discover unique cultural experiences through the everyday life of locals.
We have connections all over Thailand and South East Asia and work with over 80 communities plus hundreds of group leaders, expert speakers and partners across Asia.
Let us help you to create these magical experiences for your travelers.
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