♪ ♪ (Rudy Maxa) I'm drifting downriver through the lush forest valley along the Burmese border to explore the wonders of Thailand's Golden Triangle.

(woman) "Rudy Maxa's World," proudly sponsored by The Leading Hotels of the World.

Quests for travel begin at LHW.com, where you'll discover a collection of nearly 450 unique hotels worldwide... including the distinctive family of Taj hotels, resorts, and palaces.

♪ ♪ Every quest has a beginning-- online at LHW.com.

Additional funding for "Rudy Maxa's World" provided by: Medjet.com, medical evacuation membership protection for travelers.

Take trips, not chances.

And by... Yokoso!

Or "Welcome to Japan."

And by Delta--serving hundreds of destinations worldwide.

Information to plan your next trip available at delta.com.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (Rudy) Northern Thailand's fertile mountains and verdant valleys are home to a diverse array of cultures and traditions.

This is a land of sacred places and ancient customs, of the deeply spiritual and truly exotic.

Here, elephants and humans have formed deep relationships, and skilled artisans create an ever-evolving kaleidoscope of color and form.

This mountainous land known as the Golden Triangle was once the opium producing capital of Asia.

Today, it's virtually poppy free and tourist friendly.

♪ ♪ The Golden Triangle covers more than 200 square miles, encompassing the mountainous region of Burma, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand.

The border region of northern Thailand is home to about 20 different ethnic groups, or hill tribes.

Each hill tribe has its own language and unique traditions.

Just getting to the tribes is an adventure, a magical journey on elephant and bamboo raft into the heart of the Golden Triangle.

The forest is primeval, as if ripped from the pages of Kipling's "Jungle Book."

There are very few places like this left in the world, and those that do remain are rapidly disappearing.

In northern Thailand, you can still find lush forests and authentic hill tribe cultures.

Elephants have been part of Thai life and culture for thousands of years.

Mahouts, the drivers and caretakers of elephants, will often spend more time with their elephants than with their own families.

It's a bond unlike any other in the animal kingdom.

My journey to a nearby Lisu village begins at the Mae Ta Man elephant camp.

There's no experience quite like riding an elephant.

Ah, the rustle of the tall grass, the music of the fast-flowing creek, this is the way to see the countryside and the jungle aboard the ultimate all-terrain vehicle.

The Lisu are one of the 6 main hill tribes of northern Thailand.

They're thought to have originated in eastern Tibet and migrated down through China and into Burma and Thailand.

Their colorful clothing is reminiscent of the Kang people of Tibet.

[bamboo flute plays] ♪ ♪ Music is an intrinsic part of Lisu life.

It's used to celebrate homecomings, hunts, and harvests.

This small community was once isolated, but today the village is accessible to tourists.

Most of their income comes from selling handicrafts to visitors.

For many hill tribes in Thailand, the balance between tradition and tourism is a delicate one.

♪ ♪ Long-tail boats, which are basically canoes with great big car engines, carry goods and passengers along the idyllic Kok River, past verdant hills, tribal huts, and rice paddies.

Long-tail boats are the best way to navigate the sometis treacherous Kok River.

Water levels can fluctuate dramatically, exposing large rocks with just the narrowest gaps between them.

The long-tail allows the driver to quickly pull the prop out of the water to prevent it from being shattered in the shallows.

The Kok River originates in Burma and flows across the Thai border into Chiang Rai.

A scattering of hill tribe communities cling to the river's edge.

Nan runs My Dream Guesthouse on the outskirts of a small Karen village.

Sawadee khrap!

I am Rudy.

My name's Nan.

Nan, nice to meet you.

And this is your guesthouse?

Yes.

My Dream.

Tell me how many different tribes live in this area around My Dream Guesthouse?

What are their names?

Do they all speak different languages?

Alright.

Although roads have brought the outside world to their doorstep, the villages still retain much of their traditional way of life.

Nan, what are these women making?

(Rudy) ...in the middle, yes.

Is the cotton the weavers are using grown here in the village?

...in the field.

♪ ♪ (Rudy) In this area, many different hill tribes live side by side.

Each has its own customs and language, but they all share one thing in common, the love of dance.

When you speak to them, you speak in Lahu?

♪ ♪ (Rudy) Almost all traditional dances have some spiritual significance giving thanks for a fruitful harvest or successful hunt.

One of the most common Lahu dances is known as the stomping dance.

In this dance, the pipe player leads the other dancers as they mimic his movements.

♪ ♪ The Lahus are animists, believing that all things in nature have spirits or souls.

They believe that there's one spirit that controls all the others.

The evening celebrations conclude with the launching skyward of traditional paper lanterns...

I'm amazed I haven't set myself on fire here yet.

...a way of thanking the spirits and sending wishes into the heavens.

Okay.

(man) Okay!

♪ ♪ High in the lush hills of Doi Mae Salong, it's tea harvest time.

A mix of Lisu and Akha live among these hills and do most of the picking.

♪ ♪ The Golden Triangle has long been synonymous with the production of opium, but a crop substitution program by the Thai government in the 1970s changed all that.

These hills were once covered with poppies.

Today, they're tea plantations.

Now, the very best tea is made by picking the young sprigs at the top of each plant.

These plants can be reharvested every month and a half.

Tea is harvested by hand.

Only the first 2 leaves of each shoot are picked.

A single worker can gather an average of 30 pounds of green tea in a single day.

The process of pouring and tasting tea is an art in itself.

Khorb koon.

So the proper way to taste tea here is to take off this top cup.

Now your little cup is filled with tea.

This is very warm.

It's been bathed in hot water.

You have to rub it in your hand to feel the warmth.

Then you nose this... much like you might be nosing a rare wine.

Notice if it's floral, if it's bitter.

Set that down.

Then you nose the actual tea.

Again notice its fragrance, its flavors, and then sip it.

Never, never swallow big swallows.

Ah, this is a very gentle Oolong from the hills here.

If you like it, you can smile at the server and say "very good!"

Well, I was looking for adventure, and I guess I found it.

The rains come quickly in the tropics, and it's easy to get stuck in the mud.

But we're in luck.

A cowboy monk from the Golden Horse Monastery comes to our aid.

The question is, can this group of novice monks and hill tribe villagers really get us up the hill?

[men exclaim loudly] [engine races] Even Armin is impressed.

Armin Schoch runs Impulse Tourism out of Chiang Mai.

He's gotten himself out of some pretty tight spots over the years, but he's never seen anything like this.

Sheer manpower.

Sheer strength and determination.

Unbelievable!

Well!

No, I pull my hat.

I pull my hat.

You pull your hat to that?

I'll doff my hat too.

That was amazing.

(Rudy) With the excitement over, the villagers pack up, and the novice monks return to daily chores.

Historically, horses have been used in the area due to the rugged terrain.

The distance between villages is so great the monks collect alms on horseback.

The Golden Horse Monastery was founded by ex-Thai kickboxer Pra Kru Ba Nuea Chai.

He established the monastery along the Thai-Burmese border in the middle of a major opium trafficking route.

It would take an ex-kick boxer turned cowboy monk to bring Dharma to the front lines of a drug war.

He stood up against a powerful drug lord armed only with the teachings of Buddha.

The tattoos covering his body are a testament to his faith.

Ancient texts, Buddhist symbols, and mythological animals provide protection, ward off evil, and give him strength.

The opium trade damaged the traditional society of hill tribes in the area, especially the lives of children.

Many young boys orphaned by the drug trade have been taken in by the monastery.

Other monks have now taken up the Abbott's cause.

[speaking Thai] [Armin interprets] He's saying that most of the kids here come from villages around here.

This is a border area, as we know.

Most of these kids are kids that were not looked after, either mother/father dead, or that got indirectly involved in the drugs trade because father/mother was involved in the drug trade.

So the main purpose seem to be to take these kids out of that environment, bring them here, teach them Buddhism, give them a purpose in life, all right?

He says that altogether they're looking after more than 200 kids.

(Rudy) 200!

(Armin) Not all of them are here.

There's only 30, 40 that are here.

But altogether there are more than 200.

He's hoping that through donations, etc, they will have the means to actually increase their project here and to receive them all, the idea being that once they've been able to teach these young novices, they can send them back into their respective villages to be leaders.

(Rudy) It's dawn in Chiang Mai, the largest city in northern Thailand.

Every morning throughout the city, monks collect alms.

Monks are not allowed to cook.

They depend on Buddhist followers to provide them with food.

They eat only one or 2 meals a day.

They must finish eating before noon.

They're not allowed to keep food.

Any extra is donated to the poor or given to stray animals.

♪ ♪ Western backpackers and hippies flocked to Chiang Mai in the '70s, but today, this northern Thai town is home to sophisticated designer craft shops and luxury resorts, all set against the backdrop of lush green rice paddies, and wats with gleaming Buddhas.

King Mengrai founded Chiang Mai in 1296 as the new capital of his expanding Lanna Thai empire.

The old town surrounded by a defensive wall and moat has dozens of temples decorated with ornately carved wood and shimmering gold.

Chiang Mai is home to more than 300 Buddhist wats.

Wat Chiang Mun is the oldest temple in Chiang Mai.

King Mengrai lived here while supervising the construction of the city.

Inside, the temple walls are covered in murals depicting ancient battles and significant religious events.

I'm in the oldest temple in Chiang Mai, and I'm seeing something here I've never seen before in a Buddhist temple.

You'll notice that emanating from the left thumb of the Buddha are 2 strings.

One stretches this way to the side of the temple, where a monk can sit and pray.

The other stretches out here to the main room where a person can come and sit and tie this string which is all part of the string network.

Tie the string to their head, and it's said by sitting here while the monk is praying and meditating on the Buddha, your life can be prolonged.

♪ ♪ Chiang Mai is famous for its handicrafts-- silk, woodcarvings, necklaces and bracelets.

There's no better place to go bargain hunting than here at the night market.

♪ ♪ Is it too big?

No, no.

♪ ♪ Hello.

Sawadee Kha.

Oh, I like these.

Is this all one piece of wood?

Yes, it's one piece.

Mango wood.

Mango wood.

Okay, we do it.

Okay.

Khaap khun Khrap.

Kha.

♪ ♪ Showrooms around the city offer high-quality handcrafted goods that increasingly mix modern and traditional design.

♪ ♪ Scattered around Chiang Mai are small villages of skilled artisans.

The village of Borsang is renowned for its decorative parasols crafted from bamboo and covered in mulberry paper, silk or cotton.

Every umbrella is handmade from start to finish, each design distinctive with every artist adding his own signature to a dazzling array of parasols.

The artists at the Bo Sang Umbrella Factory don't just paint umbrellas.

They'll paint purses, wallets, cell phones, jean jackets, even my Blackberry, I think.

Sawadee khrap.

Can you paint on the back of this?

You can.

Maybe this silver dragon?

♪ ♪ This is amazing.

It took her 2-1/2 minutes to put the silver dragon on the back of my Blackberry.

The only guy in town with a dragon on the back of his Blackberry.

♪ ♪ Just minutes north of the city, but miles away in terms of ambiance, the Four Seasons Chiang Mai Resort is set in a valley ringed by mountains and rice fields.

The resort is all Lanna architecture-- teakwood, buildings on stilts, boardwalks, and steep roofs.

The effect is like staying in a rural village and in the lap of luxury all at the same time.

♪ ♪ My adventure is not over yet.

A long-tail boat ferries me to a remote forest camp, but this is not just any camp.

♪ ♪ Welcome to the camp.

(Rudy) Thank you.

Sawadee khrap.

It's nice to be here.

Welcome.

Normally we hit the gong to let the spirits and the rest of the campers know that...

I hit the gong?

(man) Yes, please.

[low, resonant gong] (Rudy) This is to let the Gods know I'm here?

(man) Yes, yes, because you're our guest.

I'm roughing it here in Thailand's infamous Golden Triangle in a tented camp, and believe me, I am one happy camper.

That's because this is the Four Seasons tented camp, an incredible adventure, a stunning location.

Modeled on luxury safari camps in Africa, the tented camp is romantic, remote, luxurious, ecofriendly, and out of this world.

Guests wake to the chorus of jungle birds and elephants crunching in the brush.

[crunching] For thousands of years, Asian elephants were used for labor-- hauling, logging, plowing fields, fighting wars, but modernization has changed all that threatening the centuries-old bond between humans and these magnificent creatures.

John Roberts is director of the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation.

He has his hands full caring for more than 35 rescued elephants.

What is the state of Asian elephants today?

There's really, really no work left for Asian elephants, domesticated Asian elephants.

Wild elephants are in the jungle, but the jungle's disappearing.

There's nothing that they can do that isn't done twice as efficiently and for twice as long and twice as cheaply by a diesel engine.

They find themselves either working in tourist camps, or when they can't find tourist work, especially with young elephants, they find themselves out of work and on the streets in... With their mahouts?

...with their mahouts, in pretty poor conditions, not able to look after them very well down there.

That's where many of your elephant's mahouts came from.

Yes.

Whoa!

Whoa!

Whoa!

Whoa!

What's the story with this elephant?

[laughs] We're rescuing you!

When she was born, her mom didn't have any milk, and so her mahout stayed up 24 hours a day bottle-feeding her and just making sure she survived.

After about 3 months, they ran out of money.

She was very, very tiny and a sickly thing, then we rescued them, we brought her up here.

Is she's sucking on your finger now?

She's suckling on my thumb, she likes to suck on the thumbs.

It's getting towards the end of the day.

And you are causing trouble, aren't you Babe.

[Rudy laughs] She's curious about the camera.

(John) Elephants like these who are too young to do tourist work, who find themselves in the cities, we try and bring them up, give them a good life, a childhood.

At least there will be a population of well-balanced, healthy elephants who had an elephant childhood and go on [elephant squeals] to the next step whether it be go out into the forests, or whether there's some work they can do somewhere else.

Is that a happy sound?

That's a happy sound.

(Rudy) Oh good!

(Rudy) Mahouts, the caretakers and drivers of elephants, form intense bonds with the animals they keep.

Because elephants can live up to 80 years, mahouts often spend their entire life with them.

At the Foundation, visitors can become mahouts for a day.

Will this elephant listen to my commands even though I'm not her regular...?

Yes, our elephant is very well-trained and lovely.

They know everything.

So they'll understand me too?

They don't just listen to their regular mahout.

Yes, that's why I teach you how to use the command here.

Okay.

So "bai" for go.

"Ben" for turn.

Yes.

And "How" for stop.

How-- like this-- "Ho-uw"... How-- Stop.

Song soong!.

My God, she actually did it!

I'm almost there.

Oh, this is high up!

It's higher up than it looks like from the ground.

Soong!

Soong!

Bai!

Bai!

How!

How!

It actually works.

I'm ready to go into the deepest jungle.

'Course I don't know how to get off the elephant, but as long as I'm on the elephant I'm okay.

♪ ♪ Ah-ha-huh!

Very slow.

♪ ♪ (Rudy) Bath time is bonding time for mahouts and their elephants an important ritual to keeping the elephant's skin malleable and to lower its body temperature.

Elephants don't sweat.

♪ ♪ Whup!

♪ ♪ Visiting the Golden Triangle is like stepping back in time to a vanishing world of rice paddies... hill tribes... elephants... and monks on horseback.

It's more than an adventure.

It's a meeting of cultures, a chance to connect with a people and a way of life that have survived for thousands of years.

It's also an opportunity in ways great and small to help the people and the animals of Thailand survive.

I think Tawan and I have bonded here, so if you don't mind, we're going to go for a little walk.

I don't know who's walking whom, but reporting from the Golden Triangle, I'm Rudy Maxa.

Sawadee khrap.

(woman) For information on the places featured in "Rudy Maxa's World," along with other savvy traveling tips, visit... To order DVDs of "Rudy Maxa's World" or the CD of world music from the series, call or visit... ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ CC--Armour Captioning & Twin Cities Public Television ♪ ♪ "Rudy Maxa's World," proudly sponsored by The Leading Hotels of the World.

Quests for travel begin at LHW.com, where you'll discover a collection of nearly 450 unique hotels worldwide, Including the distinctive family of Taj hotels, resorts, and palaces.

Every quest has a beginning, online at LHW.com.

Additional funding for Rudy Maxa's World provided by Medjet.com, medical evacuation membership protection for travelers.

Take trips, not chances.

And by... Yokoso!

Or "Welcome to Japan."

And by Delta--serving hundreds of destinations worldwide.

Information to plan your next trip available at delta.com.

[orchestral fanfare]