Many of the hill tribes in north Thailand celebrate their new year the same time as the Chinese and last for several days. One of these hill tribes are the Lisu who originate from Yunnan Province in China. Here in part 1 you will see the early morning start of the festivities, which include drinking, fireworks, animal sacrifices and spirit worship and the beginning of the dancing. Many of the hill tribe where their colorful costumes during the New Year celebrations and the Lisu probably have the most elaborate and colorful costumes .

In part 2 the celebration continues with great food, colorful costumes, music and dance.

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.

This is a short film I wrote, directed, and appeared in, alongside dozens of Thai comedians. It premiered at the Hilltribe Film Festival and won one of two awards in the short film category. It's a story about a Lahu (hilltribe) person, Yaka, who takes offense at a racial slur by a comedian on TV and thus becomes determined to get on TV himself, so he can represent his culture and make it look good. I met Yaka on Yafu Mountain in Chiang Rai and asked him to be in this movie. During the filming of "Lahu Funnyman" Yaka did some great shows with my comedy group even though he'd never performed on stage before. This film was for the Mirror Art Foundation; check them out at www.hilltribe.org and www.mirrorartgroup.org!