Bamboo Workshops



Southeast Asia has long been known for its bamboo culture (there are about 80 species of bamboo in Thailand). We used bamboo to cut the umbilical cord when a baby was born and then we continued to use bamboo daily througout our lives: to build our homes, for fuel, to make tools and/or weapons, and after someone died, we used bamboo to make the fire for cremation of the body.


Yochit (Dtaw) Nampholsaen of 3rd Eye Travel has organized these workshops which combine 3rd Eye Travel's most popular trekking tour (visiting Karen, Lahu, Lisu and Akha hilltribes to see how they live in harmony with nature in the forest) and an immersion into bamboo culture where we will live and work together in building a bamboo house.



Our Bamboo Workshops will run from May 2006 to February 2008 (Each workshop will run for 9 days - 4 days trekking and 5 days at 3rd Eye River Camp building our bamboo house).



Cost for participants to join a Bamboo Workshop is $333 US and includes:

- Participation in all activities including trekking, elephant riding, bamboo rafting, preparing the materials and building the bamboo house.
- Food: mostly organic food from nearby farms and/or some produce from organic shops in Chiang Mai. Starts from lunch on the first day to lunch on the last day.
- Accommodation: 3 nights at Karen hilltribe villages and 5 nights at 3rd Eye River Camp (bamboo hut style).






Bamboo Workshop Itinerary:


Day 1 : Start from Chiang Mai city at 9.00 a.m. visit the Hilltribe Museum first, then on our way to the national park, we'll stop at a local market and bamboo basket shop. Arriving at the national park, take a mineral bath at a hotspring, then after a short rest we'll hike for an hour and half to Bong Noi Karen village. Here we'll see bamboo houses and bamboo roofs (cut in half vertically, laid side by side, then another piece covers the top between the two pieces). Stay over night in a bamboo hut.






Day 2 : We hike in the jungle through bamboo forest, rice fields and up dry hill forest for 3 hours to Baan Pha Khao Lam Karen village. Two years ago we helped these villagers to set up a Bamboo Reforestation group. At night we will have a meeting with this group and other villagers who are interested in joining us.







Day 3 : Planting bamboo with Bamboo Reforestation group ( during May - October ).
Weaving baskets or working in the nursery with them ( November - March ).
In the afternoon, we'll make our bamboo raft with our staff and villagers.







Day 4 : Bamboo raft down Mae Tang river past elephant camps (stop to take an elephant ride through the forest) and afterward, stop for lunch at the Lahu hilltribe village. Then continue our bamboo rafting trip (total rafting time is 3 hours). At the end of our bamboo rafting trip, we take all the bamboo with us to our 3rd Eye River Camp where we'll use it to build our house.







Day 5 - 8 : Visit Lisu ( 10 k.m.) and Akha ( 3 k.m. ) hilltribe villages to see their handicrafts and houses made from bamboo. Lunch at our river camp, then start to work on our bamboo house with 4 staff members from 3rd Eye River Camp and 4 Karen villagers (all materials will be prepared at the work site). We will complete the bamboo house (Karen hilltribe style for the workshop of May 27 - June 4 2006) by the evening of day 8.







Day 9 : Ritual ceremony in the early morning for Buddhist monks to bless the new house. We will offer food to the monks for their breakfast and have our breakfast afterward. We leave 3rd Eye River Camp about 11.00 a.m. and have lunch on the way back to Chiang Mai (we will arrive back in Chiang Mai around 2.00 p.m.)







Bamboo Workshops Schedules:

August 5 - 13, 2007
September 30 - October 8, 2007
October 28 - November 5, 2007
November 11 - 19, 2007
November 25 - December 3, 2007
December 9 - 17, 2007
January 6 - 14, 2008
January 20 - 28, 2008


If you're interested in joining the workshops, contact us by email

dtaw@3rdeyetravel.com or call us at 01-602-9563 or 053-892-405.

Please don't hesitate to ask us if you have further questions.


 We look forward to seeing you at our workshop!


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