Exotissimo Travel Blog

Personally, I love trekking. In my opinion, it is another great way, I have just discovered, to be with one self, to concentrate on a track trodden, to meditate even feet are stamping ahead. There is no way out but walking ahead is only the answer when you are in a jungle. Forget about Mac Donald, Pizza Hut, Sizzler, or any modernity to serve you. I could spend this time clearing my mind, or sometimes, rethinking about happenings I have passed through.Three or four years ago, my feet had tramped the forest of Jae Son National Park in Lampang, Doi Inthanon National Park, Mae Tang, Mae Malai, Tha Ton in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phu Kradueng National Park in the Northeast Loei, trekking to different local villages, hill tribe villages or even settlements, to see both real ethnic livings and those which are transformed to a kind of “stage- authenticity commodity” for tourism. However, those all impressive me, because no one can deny hospitality of those local people who host us very well. You will have chance to see their living; talking with them to feel them in such environment, the environment which sometimes you think it does not belong to you; to eat local foods which you will need to accept that they are so delicious, especially after a hard trekking. Traveling to this kind of place, you may need to have some basic information about hill tribe. We are a visitor. Visiting them and spending time with them may require an understanding about them, in order for you not to behave yourself in the ways that influence their traditional living, or that make them feel inferior. After that, if you want to try this kind of travel, an adventure travel to hill tribe, a trekking through hill tribe villages, try Exotissimo Travel. There is a collection of adventure tours, trekking, cycling, homestay in Thailand, Cambodia, Siem Reap, Angkor Wat, north and south Laos, Luang Prabang, Vietnam, Myanmar, Yangon, and other exotic places which you will find all interesting to experience a “Different and Meaningful Travel”.

Along the borders of Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and China, there are dozens of mountain-dwelling semi-nomadic people collectively known as ‘hilltribes’. Although they do share an elevated lifestyle, these colorful communities actually represent a diverse myriad of languages, cultures and belief systems. 

The Akha, one complex hilltribe group in the region, are closely related to the Hani of China’s Yunnan province but speak their own distinct language which comes from a branch of the Tibeto-Burman language group. The Akha are traditionally subsistence farmers, and Akha Zang (The Akha Way) combines animism, ancestor worship and their deep relationship with the land. 

Also originally hailing from Yunnan, the Lisu have primarily earned their name as a tribe alive with color, and are considered to use the greatest variety of colors of all the hill tribes. Their confident decision-making and independence is reflected in the way the Lisu use powerful combinations of colors to decorate their costumes.

The Karen are one of the largest hilltribes in Southeast Asia with a total population of about three million spread throughout Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. Famed for the ‘long necks’ of their women, the Karen now live at relatively low elevations in permanent villages, and have developed environmentally sustainable terraced rice fields. 

The Lahu are a strongly independent and very diverse ethnic group. In Thailand alone there are no fewer than six different Lahu tribes, some of whose languages are not mutually intelligible. Although primarily subsistence farmers, the Lahu are also proud of their hunter-warrior heritage and are strongly committed to principles of unity and working together for survival.

This brief look at just a few of these fascinating groups illustrates the complex diversity of Southeast Asian hilltribe communities. 

Experience these remarkable ethnic groups for yourself on our Shan Homestay in Tham Lod in Mae Hong Son province, Thailand.