Thailand Adventure Travel The beauty of Thailand as a travel destination is the sheer number of activity options the Kingdom offers. From hiking, rock climbing/bouldering, scuba diving, sailing, water-skiing, kite surfing, and mountain biking – Thailand really is an adventure sport fan’s dream come true.
Elephant trekking through untouched jungle can be enjoyed as nearby as Pattaya, a two-hour car journey from the capital. Sit two to an elephant here, and get up close and personal with these gentle giants who will also demonstrate their logging skills.
However, the most authentic of the elephant camps can be found in and around Chiang Mai and the Chiang Dao Elephant Training Centre enjoys the most natural of jungle settings. In present day Thailand, elephants are only used as powerful beasts of burden – or as tourism attractions, but in earlier times, they were a vital part of the King’s Army, and played a very important role in Thai warfare. On this trip, you will witness the traditional techniques still used in the training process. You will wonder at the delicacy and precision of such gigantic creatures in action. Clean and spruced up, you can have a closer encounter with them during feeding time, when you can buy bananas and sugar cane to tempt them with. Then it’s onto the natural amphitheatre for the logging display. Then you can climb aboard the howdah on your elephant for a 90-minute safari to the Lisu hill tribe village; trekking up through the jungle, and returning back up the river, led by the elephant’s mahout.
Also in Chiang Mai, take a hot air balloon high over the quilt-like countryside spread below, and enjoy the breathtaking panoramic views of mountains and terraced rice paddies, the odd water buffalo can be observed grazing below, or gazing in a bewildered manner up at the balloon.
Diving in Phuket is a must-experience activity, as the island’s surrounding dive locations are thought to be among the top-ten scuba destinations in the world. Sporting breath-taking reef and rock formations and a colossal cross-section of marine life, the best time to dive Phuket is between October and May (between the monsoons). The visibility in this period is often exceptional, and consistently above average. With new dive sites appearing every year, as the largely unexplored Andaman Sea yields ever more secrets, expect to be faced with endless schools of colourful, tropical fish, lurking mantra rays, and even a monstrous Whale Shark.
Join a live-aboard dive excursion to fully appreciate the pearls of the Andaman Sea. Forget about the world of dry land and immerse yourself into your underwater discovery. Varying in price according to comfort and service levels, expect to pay anywhere between $500 and $1,000 for a 5-day/4-night cruise.
Phuket also serves as an ideal base to complete your PADI Open Water, Advanced Open Water, Rescue Diver or Divemaster courses. The island attracts some of the world’s most experienced instructors – yet happily, the prices remain local not international. A four-day Open Water will set you back only $200! Add only a little more for the two-day Advanced. An eight-day Divemaster course can be taken for the incredibly reasonably priced $550.
Non-divers need not feel left out in Phuket - jump into a two-person canoe to explore the myriad nearby sea caves and lagoons. Accompanied by qualified guides, whoosh through these beautiful caves, some barely bigger than your canoe, avoiding the stalactites and stalagmites as you go. Occasionally, these island tunnels will open out into enormous caverns, and in the pitch dark, the flickers emanating from glow bugs are the only lights you will see.
Like Phuket, Koh Samui is set up for water-based activities. Fancy a spot of deep-sea fishing? The deep blue clear waters of the Andaman Sea are ideal for game fishing. The region is on the migratory path of classic fighting fish such as marlin. Go for an explorative snorkel around one of the many archipelagos of islands that team with an abundance of underwater life, caves, and white sandy beaches.
A short hop from Koh Samui, Koh Tao (Turtle Island) is another popular location for all things Scuba. A small island containing a rich central jungle with tranquil, palm tree-laced beaches around its perimeter, the reefs here are alive with whip corals and sea fans, and abundant marine life. Spy bat fish, huge shoals of barracudas and snappers, turtles, blue-spotted stingrays, file fish, starry puffer fish, groupers and titan trigger fish.
Great trekking/hiking can be accomplished at a number of hotspots around the country. For an off-the-beaten-track adventure, head up to Erawan National Park, near Kanchanaburi (famous as the location of the bridge over the River Kwai). Several companies, like Wild Watch Thailand (www.wildwatchthailand.com), an eco and adventure tourism operator, run several-day hikes throughout this lush, intriguing area.
This heady mass of deciduous, mixed and bamboo forests plays host to many creatures, great and small. The day I joined a trek with Wild Watch, with a little help from the team leader/wildlife biologist, we were able to identify the tracks and other telltale scented signs left by boars, elephants (including those of a young calf) and a particularly large leopard.
A hornbill-viewing platform can be visited here - and what a view! As we sat high in the forest’s canopy, before an exquisitely picturesque array of peaks and troughs, of foliage dense and sparse, birds darted fearlessly to and fro, and on occasion, the call of a gibbon would echo around our privileged ears.
| TRAINING SCUBA DIVING IN THAILAND
DIVING CRUISE - SNORKELING+SIMILAN ISLANDS & SURIN ISLANDS
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Destination : Thailand(Similan Islands, Surin Islands)
Activity : Scuba Diving Vacation)
Difficulty : Intermediate )
Start City : Phuket
Duration : 7 Days
Tour Type : Join In
Price : $935.00 USD
Trip Overview
TRAINING SCUBA DIVING IN THAILAND
Similan Islands: A cluster of nine tropical islands, fifty five nautical miles north west of Phuket is Thailand's premier dive destination. The Similan Islands offer a great diversity of marine life and under-sea terrain. This marine national park is considered to have the most colourful reef environment and best all-round conditions of all dive sites in Thailand. The islands themselves have some of the most stunning above-water scenery in Asia, with dazzling turquoise water, white sand beaches and secluded bays framed by rocky headlands.
There are dozens of dive sites to choose from, one of the most appealing aspects of diving here is the tremendous variety of underwater experiences they offer. Most striking is the contrast in under-water topography between the east and west sides of the islands. Dive sites on the east - which face towards the mainland and are generally more sheltered - characteristically have shallow hard coral reefs, which give home to a profusion of brightly coloured reef fish of all varieties.......go to InfoHub Specialty Travel Guide for more info.
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CHIANG DAO TREK 
Photos by Gronot and are used by permission fromthailandphotos.comDestination: Thailand(Chiang Dao, Chiang Mai)
Activity : Hiking Trekking Tour, Hilltribe Tour, Mahout Training, Nature Tour, White Water Rafting Trip
Difficulty: Easy
Start City : Chiang Mai
Duration : 5 Days
Tour Type: Join In / Private
Price : $440.00 - $948.45 USD
Trip Overview
A 5 day trekking trip to Phrao and Chiang Dao near Chiang Mai takes you from villages to villages passing jungles, waterfalls, elephant camps, bamboo raft and elephant rides. Here is spectacular jungle trek that takes you amidst Meo, Akha, Lisu and Karen tribe villages. It’s a special treat to be able to see the people through their daily life in bamboo huts in the jungles.
Remarks
Participants must be healthy and adventuresome. (Read what Harold Stephens says about getting in shape to travel) Participants should bring along tennis shoes or other comfortable walking shoes, T-shirts, light pullovers for November-March treks, shorts and trousers, towel and, if convenient, sleeping bag. Please note temperatures can occasionally rise to 38º C, but during November-February it can be quite cool at night. Accommodations are very basic and dormitory style. There are no Western-style toilets or washing facilities.
......go to InfoHub Specialty Travel Guide for more info.
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Wolfenden Books
ADVENTURE AT ITS BESTby Harold Stephens
At times we all like to rough it. It comes with the concept that; for adventure, if the road is easy going, then it's not adventure. I have to admit, I feel that way often. I do like to ride in an open Jeep, even with the top off, the wind blowing at my body, the dust swirling around in the air. But what if the trip is one that will take several days. Then I think about a sport vehicle with all the fancy gadgets and air-conditioning. I just discovered boating is that way too. I learned this when I took a cruise aboard the Ocean Rover, a first class yacht that operates out of Phuket on the Andaman Sea in southern Thailand.
Ocean Rover is a magnificent boat, thirty metres long, eight metres wide, with three 420 hp engines. She weighs 279 tons and has a range of 3,500 miles.
She is equipped with the latest navigational equipment such as Global Positioning Systems, radar and a state-of-the-art Satellite Communications system that allows guests to send and receive emails and faxes while out at sea. What puts the yacht in a class of her own is that she has eight private ensuite cabins that have individually controlled air-conditioning and private hot water showers. Ocean Rover definitely fits in the "luxury" category. Why rough it when you have such luxuries.
The concept behind the building of Ocean Rover was to create a live aboard dive boat for Andaman Sea around Phuket. There were none at the time, and Jeroen Deknatel, owner of Fantasea Divers- Phuket, and a leading dive operator in Thailand for over 24 years, saw that divers were beginning to look for comfort on diving adventures. He decided to build the right boat to accommodate them.
"The challenge was two fold," Jeroen explained. "On one hand we noticed that more and more of our clients wanted to bring along their spouses with them, but as their spouses didn't dive they asked if we offered other activities besides diving while out at sea".
Jeroen also noticed that many divers were business executives who couldn't be totally disconnected from the office. "We knew that we had to have access to instant communication along with other comforts and amenities," he added. That was when he decided to build Ocean Rover, not only for diving but he would add another dimension, he would pioneer adventure cruises.
When Jeroen set out to build a 100-foot luxury live aboard dive boat in Phuket, everyone said it couldn't be done. Some boat owners joked that he had spent too much time underwater. But as they would soon discover, Jeroen got the last laugh.
"We did it and we did it with an all Thai crew," Jeroen said. From Captain to cook, dinghy-driver to deckhand. All of his crew have special skills: welders, machinist, electricians, air-conditioning specialist and diesel mechanics....more.....
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