Thailand tailor made holiday

Thailand tailor made holiday

How this holiday makes a difference

Environment

This trip to Thailand starts with a stay in the Old Bangkok Inn, a hotel with an old name but a forward thinking philosophy on the environmental and social impact of their business. They practice the ‘Three R’s’ – Reducing, Reusing and Recycling. Specific practices include the use of low flow showerheads and toilets to minimise water usage throughout the hotel, along with the use of low energy lightbulbs and appliances and energy-efficient lighting. All rooms are also equipped with sensors to shut down lights and appliances when guests leave the room. The hotel uses solar water heater system is estimated to have reduced hotel energy consumption by 25%. The hotel provides recycling bins in each guestroom to encourage guests to recycle as much as possible and practices bulk buying to reduce packaging levels. The hotel has also reclaimed or salvaged all the teak wood used throughout the building for things like stairs, doors and window frames, thus avoiding the felling of trees unnecessarily.

Your trip also spends time in Khao Yai National Park, a UNESCO registered National Park since 1962 located roughly 2 hours drive from Bangkok. Here, you will stay in a tented camp for 2 nights while exploring the many trails and wildlife spotting opportunities of the region. The tented camp is a non-permanent structure which can be dismantled at any time leaving no impact on the surroundings.

Also included in your trip is the 3 day mahout training package in the elephant camp of the Anantara Resort in the Golden Triangle region. This camp is the northern extension of the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre (TECC), which is a charitable body, supported by the Royal Thai Government, set up as a central body for the conservation of elephants, both domestic and wild and the communities that depend on them for their livelihood. This organisation offers support and training to the elephant guides (or mahouts), to provide the ‘street elephants’ better living conditions and to also help raise the awareness of the plight of the Asian elephant within Thailand and all of South East Asia. This package not only provides a fabulous experience and close interaction with these awesome animals, but will help to educate people on the need to preserve the species for future generations.

Our ground agents are committed to moving forward with green initiatives with regards their office administration. This includes little things like going paperless throughout (including the use of e-books and the launch of a staff intranet containing all relevant information to avoid the need for reference guides), using text messages to send instructions to guides to avoid them having to come into the office and the cancelling of brochure production.

Community

As well as environmental principles the Old Bangkok Inn operates a ‘Support the Community Initiative’ whereby guests are encouraged to contribute $1 each towards the scheme, which the hotel then matches dollar for dollar. The funds go towards supporting a variety of charitable organisations, including The Home for Handicapped Animals, The Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand, the Daughters Education Programme and the WWF Thailand.

Our ground agents only employ local guides and drivers to accompany our clients, which we feel is an important way of keeping money in the country but also in offering our clients a ‘real’ experience of Thailand. All food in the lodges and hotels is sourced locally, helping the local rural communities wherever possible. They also support the international charity Right to Play, established in the early 1990’s which helps give children a chance to become constructive participants in society, regardless of gender, disability, ethnicity, social background or religion. Through games and sports, they help create social change in communities affected by war, poverty and disease.

Thailand tailor made holiday