Upon arrival at the airport, head to the arrival hall and door number 10. You will be greeted by your English speaking guide at the arrivals area of the airport, with an ASEV Travel Thailand welcome board with your name on it. You will then transfer to your hotel for the evening, by air-conditioned vehicle (transfer time approximately 30 minutes).

Accommodation : (or similar)

- Reference Hotel Pictures

After breakfast at your hotel, your English speaking guide will meet you in the reception of your hotel, and transfer with you in a private air-conditioned vehicle for the day’s activities. You will transfer to Nong Hoi local market. This fascinating colorful local fresh market is popular with locals who purchase their daily food and goods from here. Sample local snacks introduced by your guide, and learn how to pick the freshest ingredients for your cooking class later today. (market tour is approximately 60 minutes).After exploring the market, you will head to Baan Hongnual (transfer time approximately 15 minutes), where you will be welcomed into a typical Lanna style kitchen. Meet your chef host who will go through the menu for the day and ensure you have your apron and cooking station all set up ready to start cooking! Be prepared for a fun cooking class, learning Thai methods of cooking. Learn how to make not only tasty dishes but also how to present beautiful dishes. During this activity, you will take a short break, where hot drinks and herbal teas are provided, before heading back to the kitchen to Jnish your dishes. (a total of four dishes will be prepared). After you have completed your menu, you will be invited into the home to eat the dishes you have made. In the afternoon, you will drive by air-conditioned vehicle to Bua Thong Waterfall (transfer approximately 1 hour). This waterfall is known locally as ‘Sticky Waterfalls’, because of its unique limestone formation that combined with water, allows you to not slip. Ropes are attached to the waterfall, allowing for you to try climbing up the waterfall, whilst water rushes past you downwards. Experience walking along 5 levels within the waterfall. You will spend approximately 3 hours at the waterfall, before driving north to the town of Thaton, where you will check into your hotel for the night.

Accommodation : (or similar)

Meal : Breakfast; Lunch; Supper (Hotel Restaurant)

- Reference Hotel Pictures

After an early breakfast at your hotel, your English speaking guide will meet you in the reception of your hotel, where you will transfer in a private air-conditioned vehicle to Baan Phatai pier (about 30 minutes transfer time approximately). You will climb into a traditional Thai longtail boat, where life vests will be provided for safety reasons, before you set off down the Mae Kok River, on route to Baan Ruammit (riverboat transfer time will be approximately 2hours), a Karen indigenous hill-tribe village. As the boat glides down the river, you will have the opportunity to see everyday life along the riverside, viewing traditional hill-tribe houses built on stilts along the river's edge and locals, Jshing in the river. As the river enters into a smaller river, you will arrive at a small pier, from here we leave the boat behind and transfer by private air-conditioned vehicle to Baan Yafu, a traditional Lahu indigenous hill-tribe village. (We do not include visiting the elephants at this village). The Lahu are one of the smallest and most ethnically diverse indigenous hill tribes in northern Thailand. Originating in China, this ethnic hill-tribe are Jercely independent subsistence farmers, who belong to one of six different Lahu sub-tribes. Your guide will discuss the history and unique culture of this indigenous group, as you take a walk for a soft trekking activity, (soft trekking will last around 45 minutes approximately), around the village, interacting with the families within the village, up to the viewpoint of Doi Bo View Point, where we will stop for a tasty picnic lunch (lunch will be set up ready for when we arrive). Relax on the roof of the world with stunning panoramic views of the mountains below. You will then make your way back to your vehicle waiting point, where an air- conditioned vehicle will be waiting to transfer you to your hotel for the night (transfer to the hotel will be approximately 1.5 hours). On arrival at the hotel, your guide will assist with the check-in process.

Accommodation : (or similar)

Meal : Breakfast; Lunch (Picnic); Supper (Hotel Restaurant)

Trekking Distance : 3 kilometers

Trekking Time : 1-2 hours

Altitude Gains & Losses : 350 meters

- Reference Hotel Pictures

After breakfast this morning your guide will meet you at the reception of your hotel, where an air-conditioned vehicle will transfer you to the Jrst activity on your itinerary, the Jinnaluck Mulberry Saa paper farm in Mae Sai. Explore the Mulberry Farm in a walk and talk experience, learning how the mulberry plant is harvested and used. Back in the studio the art of paper-making from traditional mulberry leaves, and get creative with natural dyes, as you make your own unique paper. (activity lasts approximately 1 hr). After this activity, you will transfer by air-conditioned vehicle to the Golden Triangle. Northeast of Chiang Rai lies the border town of Chiang Saen, where the infamous Golden Triangle, once the center of opium production and trade in South East Asia. The opium trade has long died in the region and been replaced by stunning coffee and various agricultural crop plantations under Royal Patronage projects of the former Thai King H.M Bumibol Adulydej. In an effort to provide sustainable agriculture and livelihoods to the hill tribes of the area, the former King set up many projects aimed at improving living conditions and local infrastructure, whilst maintaining the natural beauty and landscapes of the region. Explore the stunning scenery, learn about the Kings Royal projects and view stunning panoramic views from the temple of Wat Phra That Phu Kao. You will then switch to a traditional private boat, where you take part in a river cruise along the Mekong (river boat ride is approximately 25 minutes’ duration). On arrival at Wat Pasak, you will transfer from the boat to a traditional form of local transport (the E-Tan), where you will continue on to the restaurant La Valle, for lunch (transfer time approximately 45 minutes). After lunch, you will depart the Golden Triangle and drive to Chiang Rai, through stunning mountain scenery. Stop for photos against the backdrop of the mountains. You will make a stop at the famous marble temple of Wat Rong Khun (White Temple), still unJnished after being rebuilt following an earthquake, by local Thai architect Chalermchai Kositpipat. Explore this stunning temple which is very different architecturally from nearly every other Thai temple in Thailand. Its uniqueness externally and internally is likened to Barcelona’s still unJnished Sagrada Familia, and is a must explore activity whilst in Chiang Rai. (transfer time approximately 1.5 hours). At the end of afternoon, you will head to Chiang Khong, located at the border with Laos. Ready for crossing the borders the next day and enter Laos.

Meal : Breakfast; Lunch; Supper

In the morning, you will head to the Lao border post and proceed to the immigration formalities. Welcome in Laos, the Land of a Million Elephants.

At your arrival in Laos, you will be greeted by your Lao English-speaking guide. You will head towards the Mekong Shore and onboard a privatized traditional slow boat. (about 7 hours of navigation) The Mekong is a mythical river that crosses China, separates Laos from Myanmar and Thailand, plunges into Cambodia and ends in Vietnam. You will discover these magniJcent landscapes, with impressive mountains and lots of villages with wood and bamboo-houses settled along the river. Lunch - served on board. You will end the cruise in Pakbeng late afternoon and settle down at the Sanctuary Pakbeng Lodge, where every room has a terrace with the Mekong view and the surrounding nature.

Dinner and Overnight at the hotel. A charming hotel perched on the banks of the Mekong River, the Sanctuary Pakbeng Lodge is a member of the Chinguetti / Pakbeng Medical Association. It hosts the clinic on its site, Jnances the doctors coming each year, and takes care of the transport, the accommodation and catering of the entire medical team. On the opposite bank is the Mekong Elephant Park. A pilot eco-tourism project, that offers visitors the chance to discover the privileged role elephants play in Lao culture whilst also taking in the spectacular natural surroundings. The park wishes to encourage travellers to raise awareness and to support the protection of the Asian elephants.

Accommodation : (or similar)

Meal : Breakfast; Lunch (Picnic); Supper (Hotel Restaurant)

- Reference Hotel Pictures

In the morning, you will leave the Lodge for a walk (about 3 hours of walking - easy walk with some steep passes - to foresee walking or sport shoes) through the forest to meet the inhabitants of a village Kamu. On the way back, you will stop at Vat Si Chom Cheng which offers a view over the Mekong and its surroundings. Lunch at the Lodge restaurant. Then, you will cross the Mekong onboard a pirogue to reach the Mekong Elephant Park. You will have the opportunity to meet the mahouts and their elephants to witness the elephant bath in the river, a nice moment of sharing between the elephant and his mahout. You will then accompany the elephants back to the jungle. Return to the village of Pakbeng in pirogue.

Accommodation : (or similar)

Meal : Breakfast; Lunch; Supper (Hotel Restaurant)

Trekking Distance : 8 kilometers

Trekking Time : 2-3 hours

Altitude Gains & Losses : 300 meters

- Reference Hotel Pictures

In the early morning, you will continue your cruise on the Mekong aboard your traditional boat, in just as amazing landscapes. Lunch - served on board. Before arriving to Luang Prabang, you will stop at the conNuence of the Mekong and Nam Ou River to discover the sacred caves of Pak Ou. For hundreds of years they have housed hundreds of Buddha statuettes that have been deposited by pilgrims for centuries. You will arrive in Luang Prabang at the end of the day (around 5pm). Then, transfer and settle down at the hotel. Suggestions at your own expense: In the evening, on the main street of Luang Prabang settle the Night Market. (from 5pm to 9pm) You will be able to do some shoppings and wander between the small stalls.

Meal : Breakfast; Lunch

Suggestion without guide: The early birds will be able to go to the ritual of the Tak Bak, the offerings to the monks by the faithful, in order to follow the procession of the bonzes. Beware, this religious ritual, which is especially important for the Buddhist faithful, has unfortunately also become a tourist attraction, some paparazzi tourists stalking the photo of the monks who have become stars despite themselves, others disrupting the ritual by participating in it without knowledge of the rules to respect. Breakfast at the hotel. In the early morning, you will be driven to theHmong and Khamou village of Ban Long Lao. You will hike around 3 hours between cereal crops, rubber plantations, forest etc. to arrive at the summit of the impressive Khuang Sy waterfalls and then you will slowly come down. Possibility to bathe in the clear waters of the basins downstream of the waterfall. Lunch at the Carpe Diem restaurant located below the site, away from the crowds. This restaurant offers fusion cuisine full of Navor in a dream decor... You will surround small turquoise basins and will be able to swim between two dishes! In addition, Carpe Diem pays 5% of the proJts to the ASAS association whose purpose is to build access to drinking water and participate in the schools rehabilitation in isolated villages in northern Laos. In the afternoon, you will head back to Luang Prabang and start the discovery of this small town with a city tour by bicycle and visit its famous temples which call for the quietude with amongst others: - Vat Xieng Thong: Founded in the 16th century, the "Temple of the Golden City" is considered to be the most beautiful in the country, with the roofs of the main sanctuary descending almost to the ground and the Jneness of its decorations, Mosaic of the tree of life adorning the back of the sim or the small red chapel housing a very rare lying Buddha. A newer building also houses the former funerary car of the Kings of Laos. - Royal Palace having become a national museum: Built at the beginning of the 20th century, it housed the royal family until the abolition of the monarchy in 1975. It is possible to discover the ofJcial spaces, as well as the royal family. The Phra Bang, the Buddha statue that gave the city its name, is housed in a recent chapel built in the gardens of the Palace. After your visits, you will head towards Luang Prabang International Airport, depending on your flight schedule. We recommend you to take an evening flight (Not before 6 PM).

Accommodation : Own arrangement

Meal : Breakfast; Lunch