AKHA OUTPOST

CONCEPT

Akha Outpost is a simple, cottage-style accommodation on the former site of an Akha hilltribe village. It is designed to give our visitors an experience of hilltribe life in conditions which are basic, but as clean and comfortable as possible without distracting from the authenticity of the experience.

The key concept of Akha Outpost is local participation: to enable the local hilltribe people to participate within the tourism industry, and to learn the tourism business for themselves. The house itself belongs to them, while they learn from us about management, maintenance, green practices, and providing our guests with quality service. At the same time, they preserve their culture, their lifestyle, and the environment around their community.

Akha Outpost brings supplemental income to the area and the families living there. Most mountain people earn a subsistence income from agriculture, and working at the Outpost provides some of them with more direct income. Others in the area receive indirect income from the Outpost as profits are distributed, or products purchased from tourists.

DESIGN

The design of Akha Outpost is adapted from a traditional Akha house, with the addition of some features to improve the level of comfort for guests such as hot showers and Western-style toilets. The house is on short stilts and has a thatched roof with an open veranda. There are six rooms with mats and standard mattresses on the bamboo floors. It is simple and neat, with no electricity, nor any power sources and no signs of modernization; but there are gas hot water showers that are comfortable for clients in the jungle-style bathroom. The kitchen is in a separate house as is the traditional Akha style.

LOCATION : Former Akha village of Ban Jom Hod

Akha Outpost sits on a hill at 1,000 meters above sea level at Ban Jom Hod, Phrao district. There are only 2 families living here at this time. The views from this point are spectacular, looking north to the valley far below, or east to Phrao town and Khûm Lanna and the mountain peaks stretching towards Myanmar (Burma) and Laos.

CONSTRUCTION

The framework of the Outpost is hard wood, with lattice bamboo walls and mixed wood and bamboo floors. The veranda is wood. The house is 8 meters by 9 meters, built on wooden poles. The veranda is 4 meters by 5 meters without a roof, while the living area and kitchen is 3 by 8 meters.

BEDROOMS

There are six guest bedrooms, each 2.5 meters by 3 meters (divided into two wings and by a wooden corridor). The room is divided by a bamboo sleeping platform 30 cm in height. The walls are of lattice bamboo, and there is no separate ceiling. All rooms can be locked from the inside. The Outpost provides mats, standard mattresses (5x8 feet), mattress pads, pillows, pillow cases, extra colorful pillows, bed covers, bed sheets, blankets, clothes hanging, drinking waters, towels and mosquito nets in a charming, exotic style. All the maids are either local hilltribe people or northern Thai.

BATHROOM & TOILET

There is 1 bathroom with a cold/hot shower and 2 Western-style toilets built separately from the house. Each room is 1.5 by 2 meters with a cement floor and wooden, bamboo walls and a thatched roof.

LIVING AREA & KITCHEN

The living area and kitchen is an extended building measuring 3 by 8 meters.

Traditional performances can be provided for guests on the verandah by advance request and a small contribution to the villagers should be honored by the guests in these cases.