School Trip To Chiang Mai

[MrLee]

Good morning everyone,

I have a question to all you Chiang Mai expats and experts:

I am currently planning a school trip to Chiang Mai and I was wondering what kind of extraordinary things there are to do and see in and around Chiang Mai? Money in this case is not really the issue, it should be more focused on a team building character which also improves the relationships within the group.

Any input is welcome and maybe you even know some secret spots that are not very commonly known.

Thank you very much in advance

Lee

[BlackArtemis]

How many people, how many days, and what age group.

For team building there is a ropes course, Flight of the Gibbion, if I am not mistaken (someone correct me if I'm wrong please)

A hike up Doi Suthep.

Other things to see are elephant camps

Kontok dinners

ETC. I am sure other people will chime in with plenty of ideas, especially once we know more details.

[anonymouse]

How many people, how many days, and what age group.

For team building there is a ropes course, Flight of the Gibbion, if I am not mistaken (someone correct me if I'm wrong please)

A hike up Doi Suthep.

Other things to see are elephant camps

Kontok dinners

ETC. I am sure other people will chime in with plenty of ideas, especially once we know more details.

Depending on the age I was also going to mention Flight of the Gibbon.

[MrLee]

I apologize, I should have of course included these details straight away.

In general, the age ranges between 12 and 18 as we might want to organize these trips on a more regular basis and for different classes as well. The size of the groups would not exceed 20, but of course if more than one class joins on the field trip there could be more than that.

Basically what I am looking for is one day trips, two days at the most.

Thank you very much for your input so far!

Lee

[BlackArtemis]

One of the first things we did as an exchange student was a photo scavenger hunt. We had to get photos of certain things like your group of 6 all in one tuk tuk. Or a member eating fried insects, a quick video of one of us ordering fruit in Thai, etc etc. Since you have younger kids, this could be limited to someplace like Sunday Walking street, or even something more closed off like the zoo, or a mall.

Edited February 9, 2010 by BlackArtemis

[jdinasia]

Hilltribe trekking ... keeps your group together, can be challenging or not (different places to go) and vastly different from just another city trip.

[Asmerom]

A hike up Doi Suthep.

What exactly does this entail? Do you mean a guided hike with a tour leader organised by a local organisation, an easy jaunt up one of several little paths starting from the road up to Doi Suthep, or do you really mean what you say; "a hike up Doi suthep" as one might say in the UK, "a walk up Snowdon"- all 1850 meters?

[scorecard]

One of the first things we did as an exchange student was a photo scavenger hunt. We had to get photos of certain things like your group of 6 all in one tuk tuk. Or a member eating fried insects, a quick video of one of us ordering fruit in Thai, etc etc. Since you have younger kids, this could be limited to someplace like Sunday Walking street, or even something more closed off like the zoo, or a mall.

I've taken part in this several activity several times and it's great fun and could be further tuned to make certain people (from each team) responsible for something at ceratin spots along the route.

Another addition could be a requirement to buy something unusual and photos must be produced which have been taken at certain spots where clues are given out by locals on the hunt for the object to purchase.

Another idea is that certain food must be progressively picked up along the way and cannot be eaten, and at the end of the activity it's used for a party.

Also a time line could be introduced and at certain spots a group photo must be taken and a statement must be produced which signed by a bystander indicating what time the shot was taken. If late there's a penalty.

One time I did this there that the requirement to show (in the photos) that certain safety precautions had been observed.

Good luck.

[BlackArtemis]

A hike up Doi Suthep.

What exactly does this entail? Do you mean a guided hike with a tour leader organised by a local organisation, an easy jaunt up one of several little paths starting from the road up to Doi Suthep, or do you really mean what you say; "a hike up Doi suthep" as one might say in the UK, "a walk up Snowdon"- all 1850 meters?

It depends on what they want. I suggested this prior to knowing there were 12 year olds.

Many people simply walk along the roadside, like all the CMU freshmen.

[Asmerom]

Many people simply walk along the roadside, like all the CMU freshmen.

I would never recommend walking up the road to Doi Suthep. A hazardously unhealthy activity, breathing in all those noxious gases from all that rusty old iron belching up the hill. Please don't do that. Most unpleasant. Stick to the off road short trails, one or two of which do reach the top but I've never discovered which ones. And the waterfalls and pools, much used by young Thais, are attractive local playgrounds.The older children,provided they're fit,could maybe do the real thing starting from the Huay Hueng Theo Lake. An arduous 14 kilometre ascent.But it would be advisable to use a guide.If they were French of course, they'd only need to be over 5.

[harrry]

It is also important to respect the weather. At least one teacher and child from a school group have been killed by lightning in the rainy season visiting hills and going anwhere near gorges or caves in the wet season is dangerous for flsh flooding.

Edited February 10, 2010 by harrry

[MrLee]

Thank you very much for all your ideas and suggestions. There are several ideas which I find to be fascinating and sound very promising. Of course if you have more ideas, they are always welcome.

Lee

[AndersSN]

There is an alternative ti Flight of the Gobbon now, It's longer and cheeper and in my oppinion better (having done both), but of course the name escapes me.

There is also the X centre, with many different types of activities Link to X centre

You could also just try to google 'team building chiang mai' and see what you get.

Here is two options:

Rock climbing

Tracking

Used to work with kids myself and do this kind of stuff, it's great fun.

Good luck

[lyndar]

I suggest that you look at The Prem Visiting Schools Program in Chiang Mai. They specialise in school group trips: team building, geography and science fieldwork, art and culture trips and soft adventure. The center has safe accommodation. Last year over 7,000 students experienced a trip from the Chiang mai center or the associated barge on the Chao Phraya.

[MrLee]

Good day everyone

Thanks again for all your input.

I have decided to try the scavenger hunt you have suggested. It sounds like a very good way to get to know the area in and around Chiang Mai and it should also be a lot of fun for the students. Which places should we definitely include into our schedule? Of course there should be some temples, but also markets, maybe a local food stall, but what else?

And what kind of challenges could we give the students? I really like the picture idea, taking pictures while eating a local specialty or a group photo in front of a temple.

Any other suggestions, maybe even some concrete examples you could think of?

Thank you very much

Lee

[BlackArtemis]

Good day everyone

Thanks again for all your input.

I have decided to try the scavenger hunt you have suggested. It sounds like a very good way to get to know the area in and around Chiang Mai and it should also be a lot of fun for the students. Which places should we definitely include into our schedule? Of course there should be some temples, but also markets, maybe a local food stall, but what else?

And what kind of challenges could we give the students? I really like the picture idea, taking pictures while eating a local specialty or a group photo in front of a temple.

Any other suggestions, maybe even some concrete examples you could think of?

Thank you very much

Lee

Are you ok with them using public transportation?

You really need to educate them about the laws of the roads in CM, first being that pedestrians don't have a right away, pedestrian crossings mean very little and sometimes red lights and stop signs don't either.

If you do the hunt at sunday market or in the night bazaar you rule out the need of driving around.

Also if you plan on temple shots, you should also mention that funny pics with Buddha images and showing a lot of skin (especially for girls) is a no no.

A time limit, a money limit, public transportation or no, and anything else anyone could come up with would really help us flesh something out.

Good luck, you really seem adamant about putting together something really enjoyable and memorable for these kids.

[MrLee]

Thank you very much for your reply.

What I had in mind is that it should be a full day activity. Meaning that we start at some meeting point (I looked at a map of Chiang Mai and thought that maybe the park in the south west corner of the old city (Buak Hat, right?) could maybe serve as the starting point. In general, the hunt should be mainly limited to the old city with a lunch around midday somewhere and then afterwards the second half of the old city center. Maybe it would be wise (if I should stick to the above mentioned starting point) if I would try to do the southern half of the old city before lunch and the northern part after lunch.

I think it would be wiser to let the hunt be more in one direction rather than having them zipping from one end of the city to the other one and back

One other thing that I thought would be fun would be if we give each group a certain amount of bath with which they have to buy some small items and the group that can haggle the best receives some extra points

I also thought that maybe it would be possible to rent Tuk Tuks for the day (with a driver of course) as this would prevent them from getting too lost but it also is a very nice experience to travel in one of these.

Like I said before, we are not exactly on a tight budget but this does not mean we want to throw money out of the window. I really hope to come up with more ideas and I really appreciate all your input. Thank you so much.

Lee

Good day everyone

Thanks again for all your input.

I have decided to try the scavenger hunt you have suggested. It sounds like a very good way to get to know the area in and around Chiang Mai and it should also be a lot of fun for the students. Which places should we definitely include into our schedule? Of course there should be some temples, but also markets, maybe a local food stall, but what else?

And what kind of challenges could we give the students? I really like the picture idea, taking pictures while eating a local specialty or a group photo in front of a temple.

Any other suggestions, maybe even some concrete examples you could think of?

Thank you very much

Lee

Are you ok with them using public transportation?

You really need to educate them about the laws of the roads in CM, first being that pedestrians don't have a right away, pedestrian crossings mean very little and sometimes red lights and stop signs don't either.

If you do the hunt at sunday market or in the night bazaar you rule out the need of driving around.

Also if you plan on temple shots, you should also mention that funny pics with Buddha images and showing a lot of skin (especially for girls) is a no no.

A time limit, a money limit, public transportation or no, and anything else anyone could come up with would really help us flesh something out.

Good luck, you really seem adamant about putting togevvccccvcther something really enjoyable and memorable for these kids.

[MrLee]

Good morning everyone,

I don't know if the bumping of a topic is allowed here, but I will just give it a go

Maybe some of the people that mentioned they already had done a picture scavenger hunt (maybe even in Chiang Mai, even though I doubt it) could add some more activities. Which places are the best go-to places in the old city?

Thank you so much!

Lee

[BlackArtemis]

This post is just a flow of ideas of things for them to find/take pics of.

I think doing it on a sunday would be great. The sunday market begins around 3pm but really picks up around 5pm.

Wat Pra-sing

Wat Chedi Luang

Wat Chiang Man

these temples are all within the old city.

When visiting temples modesty is important. It doesn't matter what others might be wearing, especially foreigners, there are some proper ways to dress. 99% of the time guys won't have trouble. But always wear a shirt while walking around. Shorts at the knees will be fine. For the girls they should cover their shoulders, no low cut shirts. A simple t-shirt is fine. Cover at least to the knees.

3 king Monument, there is also a decent museum there.

there is also a monument for Mengrai. It has some info about him. So you could ask why is he so important to the North, how he died etc.

I did a scavenger hunt and Q&A with my third grade students in the museum.

For walking street you can have them take a picture with the Ahka women and even have them buy a wooden frog from them.

Have them eat bugs and squid, with pictures.

Coke in a glass bottle

Golden statue in front of the police dept.

street dogs

fresh fruit / fruit shake

Kao lam - sticky rice in a piece of bamboo

A fresh coconut

a Thai "ice cream sandwich" which is coconut based icecream between slices of white bread, litterally and ice cream sandwich

a picture at each gate would be a big walk.

buy a pair of fisherman / elephant pants

Som-tam - spicy papaya salad

Thai Iced tea

Bubble tea - "Chai-muk"

http://thailandforvisitors.com/north/chian...al/oldcity.html gives you a map of some of the places I mentioned. do a search for Chiang Mai old city and you will see a lot more.

Other things to do:

Chiang Mai Zoo

Doi Suthep

Flight of the Gibbeon

rent a raft/house boat at Huay Tung Thao lake and float while eating lunch.

A Moo Gata, see the similarly named thread in the Chiang Mai forum. It's Thai BBQ

Elephant riding

there are tons of things I am leaving out, but I just can't think of them at the moment. I just highly suggest you explore a day before hand and think of pics and places. Obviously this can't be done for Sunday market.

It would also be helpful if you had people to help translate etc, but not 100% necessary.

Good luck and feel free to send me a private message if you have any questions, I'm state-side now so i might take a few hours to reply

[MrLee]

Thank you very much BlackArtmenis for your valuable ideas!

I will start looking into them immediately and write you a message in case I have any questions.

Very much appreciated!

Kind regards,

Lee