Recently the 12th annual Hilltribe Festival took place at Baan Huay Mae Zai. We were invited by the festival's original founder, Mr. Junlapahn Sithiwong of the Golden Triangle Tours and Inn to see how unique the Festival is still. Baan Huay Mae Zai is a 30 minute drive from the city limits. A drive of 30 minutes is very near but the destination is decades away from city life. Baan Huay Mae Zai sits in the middle of a beautiful forest with tall green trees and open fields. A sparkling stream runs through after all the meaning of the northern Thai word, Huay, is a small sparkling stream. The small pathways for meandering up and down hillsides are very tempting to follow.

We were accompanied by visitors who had never been to northern Thailand before. For even more of an adventure, we booked an hour's ride in a long-tail boat on the Mae Kok River. We were to board the long-tail boat near the Dusit Island Resort. At the pier, each person felt it was a 'must' to have one of the woven straw hats that were so very conveniently for sale near the stairs leading down to the river edge. There is a canopy on top of the long-tail boat to protect passengers from the sun but nothing like going native with a new hat for the journey.

The day in mid-February couldn't have been more beautiful. The temperature on the river was a bit cool, the sky was blue and the afternoon light was casting long shadows. Though we saw other boats coming upon sandbars, our pilot knew just where to navigate. No hitches for us. The sight of life on the river was dreamy as we sailed on by. Thank goodness for a few sudden 'splashes' when other boats were passing by. We were so relaxed, we would have slept the entire way. Our destination was the Ruammit Karen village known as the elephant camp offering safari rides on elephant back.

We disembarked and noticed that there were other tribes apart from Karen living in this 'bustling' village with a population of 500. The main dirt road had all types of souvenirs for sale to visitors. We were expecting to meet with our driver who drove us from Chiangmai in a van. The time was 4:00, then 4:15, then 4:30-no sign of the driver. Throughout this time we stopped to ask directions from guides with official TAT badges, but with no luck. Their only comment was @quot;Mai Roo@quot; meaning I don't know. (Just what is the purpose of the mandatory jungle survival training, if the graduates don't even know the direction or distance from Ruammit to Huay Mae Zai, Baan Yao)

While the ladies sat in the shady garden of the village pastor, the gallant men in our group arranged a ride from one of the villagers who had a pickup truck to take us to Huay Mae Zai. It was obvious that our driver had gotten confused in the directions between Chiangrai city and Ruammit village and he wouldn't be coming.

At 4:45 our group of 6 adults and 2 children boarded back of the pick up truck and away we went over the hills up on the back trails to Huay Mae Zai. It was a fascinating trip to see how the hillsides were prepared for planting hilltribe rice. The valleys were prepared for planting rice requiring water. Plenty of lynchee orchards were seen. Riding in the truck with the setting sun in the sky was a very pleasant experience we could not capture again.

Arriving in Huay Mae Zai, we asked the Tourist Police to radio back into town to the guesthouse to find our driver. We had left our warm jackets in the van and with the temperature already falling at sunset, we knew we would really appreciate the warm jackets during the candlelit show of the Khantoke.

Our minds safely at rest with the Tourist Police helping us, we entered the Khantoke with tickets in hand. Things were really buzzing. There were many young hilltribe women in their very best native dress scurrying back and forth. One young tribal woman led us to the 'pantry' and collected our khantoke table with sticky rice and a selection of food. Carrying the food laden khantoke table, she escorted us to our seating area. All the seating areas were terraced on two facing hillsides. With candles to light our tables, we enjoyed a meal under the stars and the lingering fresh, cool air around us.

The show started after the Governor of Chiangrai arrived with a welcome procession and a speech. We were each given a souvenir of a hard boiled egg that had been dyed red around which a string net had been woven. Then followed various dances of the performance which were delightful. The highlight of the evening was a drama staged with over 20 actors depicting the arrival of Akha tribes in Thailand 30 years ago. As the show moved on, the village children became more brave and stood in as extras in the cast.

And all too soon the evening had come to an end. Oh, yes, our driver did show up with all our jackets. And as we expected, he was waiting in another village not the one where we were. He was forgiven. After all he was a tourist just like us. His home is in Haad Yai and he has only had the experience of going to the regular tourist sights like most people. It turned out to be an adventure for us all. And a great one to remember for a long time to come.