The brand New Sofitel Riverside Chiang Mai is more than a 5-Star respectable hotel but it's also a Thai style tradition service and design.

In this video we visit Chiang Dao Cave Shrine, The small village of Thaton, overnight in a beautiful bungalow on the river, visited hill tribe villages, and the night bazaar in Chiang Rai.

If you don't have much time and want to go elephant riding, do a little rafting and spend the night in a traditional hill tribe village... this is the program for you. Here is part one which includes elephant and ox cart riding, trip and overnight in a Lisu hill tribe viilage. You can find the details about this trip and many others in Thailand by visiting the All Thailand Experiences web site.

For an excellent Thai dinning experience, a traditional Lanna Khantoke dinner is a must. Many believe this north Thailand dinner with music and dance was invented for tourists, but the Khantoke dinner dates back many centuries. Locals celebrate festivals and holidays in their homes with the Khantoke dinner today. Here is a short 6 minute video of the Khantoke dinner with my wife and friends.

Here is a short streaming video of the festival over a two day period. The first day, April 13, is the Songkran parade, which takes place on Muangchareon and Thapae roads at 2 PM and lasts around 3 hours. We then hit the streets to join the water fight mostly concentrated along the moat in the city center.

Here is the video We went down to the Ping River in Chiang Mai Thailand for the Loi Krathong Festival around dusk. We purchased food from vendors a waited for it to get dark. More and more people arrived to float krathongs and shoot fireworks. We left around 9 PM as it was getting too crazy with people and fireworks. The water parade starts around 10PM, The Land parade starts around 6:30 on the road next to the river. Next year we will video the land parade. We went home and toured our neighborhood, lit candles, launched Khome Loi ate and drank with our Thai neighbors. Enjoy, Randy and Ning

Here in North Thailand the Loi Krathong Festival is much different than anywhere in the Kingdom. In the small town of Mae Jo north of Chiang Mai they started the festival on Saturday night by launching hot air balloons called "Khom Loy". I went with my wife and friends and took this short video. We are not talking about a few Khom Loy but thousands upon thousands all at the same time. You got to see this.

This is the Thailand version of the Rose Bowl Parade in the USA. Colorful floats made with colorful flowers, orchids and seeds are used. Wonderful traditional northern Thai costumes are worn by all and lovely girls and beauty queens adorn the floats. There are marching bands and country folk playing northern Thai music in the parade. The festival is always the first weekend in Feburary. On Saturday is the parade and on Sunday is the beauty pagent and displays of unique flowers, plants, trees and orchids in the park. As with every festival in Chiang Mai there is plenty of delicious food available from vendors along with a Shopping Bazaar surrounding the park.

One of the most famous and oldest landmarks in Northern Thailand is Doi Suthep Temple, whereas, the word Doi means mountain. The temple overlooks the city of Chiang Mai and attracts thousands of visitors each year. http://www.tda-digital.com/TDA-Digital/index.html

Loi Krathong is a special event for the Northern Thai people. It originated in Sukhothai and spread north and east. The other parts of Thailand celebrate this festival but nothing like in Chiang Mai. Here is the video.