Learn to drive a Tuk Tuk & holiday in Thailand
Description of Learn to drive a Tuk Tuk & holiday in Thailand
Tuk Tuks! Little three wheeler vehicles – essentially motorised rickshaws – that you might be familiar seeing in Bangkok’s traffic jams. On this holiday, the Tuk Tuk is unleashed on the mountain roads of Northern Thailand – and you’re in the driver’s seat.
Could this be the best driving holiday in the world? It’s definitely one of the most unusual. On this trip you get everything you need to learn to drive, and then you’ll hit the road on small group adventure – with no more than 12 like-minded pioneers.
After flying into Chiang Mai, you’re whisked to a small countryside village nearby for training over two days. You get to practise driving on quiet country back roads with little traffic first, and after your driving test – and a special blessing at the local temple – the adventure begins.
You’ll be heading up towards Doi Inthanon National Park, the site of Thailand’s highest mountain. You can expect steep switchback roads and plenty of opportunities to stop and admire the views which change with every turn, or stop at a roadside snack bar. On the way, you’ll stop at an elephant home, to spend time with Thailand’s gentle giants, and stay the nights in a Karen village. You’ll get a break from the Tuk Tuks to go on a hike through the National Park, on a route that has been designed especially for this tour.
This trip uses local guides who really care about helping guests forge meaningful connections with the places and the people they visit – you might be joined for dinner by neighbours, as well as staying in family run and locally-owned accommodation. There are no tourist traps, just roadside snack bars serving up no-fuss northern Thai delicacies, and the opportunity to relax at the end of each day, in good company, and with an ice-cold lager.
Your bright orange Tuk Tuk has been specially built with more legroom and headroom, so that driver and passenger can travel in comfort, and there are even Bluetooth speakers!
You’ll never drive for more than an hour at a time without a break, and the group always travels with a support vehicle and support team. The minimum age for drivers is 18, but anyone over the age of five can come along and be a passenger in the back.
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Reviews
3 Reviews of Learn to drive a Tuk Tuk & holiday in Thailand
Reviewed on 18 Sep 2023 by Sam Tipple
Perfect, this is a must do if you want to explore Northern Thailand and enjoy driving. Read full reviewReviewed on 23 Apr 2023 by Siobhan Hanrahan
Every day was different and memorable because of the wonderful staff that took care of us, who made everything seem to happen organically... 10 out of 10. Read full reviewResponsible Travel
Planet
We are very aware of the environmental impact that travel has on the world, both in terms of the travel itself and our office function.Adventures:
• We actively support a local elephant home and through our collaboration it has been able to stop all elephant riding at the home and set a great example in the local area in how to provide a much better life for its elephants. Whilst riding still takes place in other ‘camps’, more and more are following the lead of the home we support and understanding that the welfare of the elephants is the most important element.
• Whilst access to clean water and remaining hydrated is vitally important - and we provide drinking water throughout the adventure - we committed to removing all single use plastic water bottles from our adventures by the end of 2020 and instead provide every traveller with a re-useable water bottle and take large tanks of drinking water with us to ensure all can remain suitably hydrated. In addition, we continue to work with all of our accommodation partners (owned and operated by people from the local area and community) to help them transition from the provision of plastic water bottles to glass bottles in rooms.
Head Office:
• We don’t send out paper brochures – everything is available online and in PDF format
• We use recycled paper
• We allow our team to work from home where possible (of course our Guide team don’t work from home!) to not only save time wasted commuting but also to reduce unnecessary use of cars, buses and even Tuk Tuks!
People
OUR TEAMWe all live, work and play in Chiang Mai and Northern Thailand. Our staff are local to the region therefore able to give expert insight and advice throughout our adventures. All are passionate advocates of the beauty and culture of Northern Thailand and love nothing more than giving an insight into this part of the world to all of our travellers both through their own knowledge and also enabling conversations and shared experiences with the communities we visit.
We also use additional local guides when for trekking and rafting experiences allowing for even more local expertise and of course employment.
We ensure that all of our staff, and local additional activity guides, are paid a fair wage and are respected as a vital and integral part of our adventures. In addition, we take the on-going training of our team very seriously, from our introductory two month training programme to on-going learning and skills development in all areas of our operations.
GROUP SIZES
By operating exclusively with small groups we try to minimise the potential negative impact on local communities and maximise the positive impact. With small groups of this nature, and the number of guides accompanying each adventure, we aim to maximise the interaction between travellers and communities, provide translation allowing us to share stories and learning and also to work with our travellers to encourage the purchase of local food and products from the communities we pass through and spend time in.
SMALL LOCAL RESTAURANTS
We only use small local restaurants and food-stalls throughout the adventure not only delivering fantastic local specialities but also delivering money directly into the local community.
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