Hill Tribe Home Rental
Location: Pang Ma Pha, Mae Hong Son Northern Thailand.

A wood home with a separate bamboo home for the kitchen, and local style toilets and shower.

The holiday bungalow is set in the heart of a Lahu hill tribe village. An exotic colourful region of jungle clad mountains and mighty rivers. This location is perfectly situated for a visit to the local hill tribes.

Pang Ma Pha district is in the mountains to the northwest, about halfway from Chiang Mai towards Mae Hong Son. The district is already well known for its beautiful landscape and world-class cave systems, the most famous being the huge cave of Tham Nam Lod. Many of the caves contain evidence of prehistoric activities, with the large wooden coffin burials being the most obvious and impressive examples of this evidence. Spending a week in a hill tribe village is an excellent way to learn about the culture of the people in the village. Excellent Thai meals will be available fresh in a clean nearby restaurant. It's likelly that the village headman or someone in the village will invite you into their home for a cup of tea. This type of hill tribe village stay promotes harmony in the village. The culture is not disrupted and you are treated like a friend rather than a source of income as a tourist. Excellent restaurants in a small nearby town on the banks of a beautiful river surrounded with mountains will give you more choices.

Location: Pang Ma Pha, Mae Hong Son Northern Thailand.

How to get there from Chiang Mai: By Car Pang Ma Pha is located 170 kilometres from Chiang Mai. To Drive from Chiang Mai to Pang Ma Pha choose the following route: Chiang Mai - Mae Rim - Mae Malai - Pai - Pang Ma Pha - Mae Hong Son (Route 1095). Pictures of the road from Chiang Mai to Pai (Google Earth) and Pai to Pang Ma Pha (Google Earth). It's easy to rent a car in Chiang Mai Airport or near Thapae Gate in Chiang Mai. By Bus From Chiang Mai Bus Station 1 Chotana Rd. Tel. 211 584. 4 or 5 bus per day (Chiang Mai - Pai - Mae Hong Son Line). Trip take around 6 hours.

Pictures from Pang Ma Pha more pictures

A few words about the Lahu hilltribe

Lahu people are to be found in the mountains of China, Myanmar (Burma), Laos and northern Thailand. There are approximately 25000 Lahus now living in Thailand. There are four tribes within the Lahu: Black, Red, Yellow and She-Leh. Lahu villages are mostly at high altitude in the northern provinces of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son. They originated in south west China. Houses are built on high stilts with walls of bamboo or wooden planks, thatched with grass. A ladder leads to the open central living area, with a store room to one side and living quarters to the other. Their domestic animals like chicken, pigs and buffalos are kept in the basement corral. Their practice of slash and burn agriculture does not provide them with even the basic essentials of life, let alone the enrichment to be found in education for their children, adequate medical care, and the simple amenities of modern life.

Lahu women are skilled in weaving cloth, both on back-strap and foot-treadle looms, producing delicate patchwork trims, and unusual embroidery work. The Black Lahu women wear the most distinctive costumes within this tribe. They wear a black cloak with diagonal cream stripes. The top of the sleeve is decorated in bold colours of red and yellow. Red Lahu women wear black trousers with white edging and vivid sleeves of broad red and blue stripes. All the other Lahu tribes have supplemented their traditional costumes by sarong and Thai shirt. Men and women together make some of the finest baskets to be found anywhere in Thailand. Lahu men produce excellent crossbows, musical instruments, and other items made of wood, bamboo and rattan.

The Lahus are animist and believe in one spirit with overall control all the others. About 30% of the Lahus have been converted to christianity and have abandoned their way of life. The Lahu are independent people and love entertainment and the easy life. They are abviously pride themselves on their skills in hunting and trapping.