Khum Lanna

This place is just beautiful. It has wonderful teak buildings made from reclaimed local wood and has been beautifully designed. It is set in a beautiful hilly landscape surrounded by paddy fields. The courses here are designed to give guests a real taste of Thai village life. We loved the cooking course and the market trip, the staff couldn't do more for you and the cuisine was superb. We even took some bikes and went off for an explore on our own. The staff here are all local and Khum Lanna has a really ethical feel, and contributes to the community in many ways. Really wonderful place that we didn't want to leave.

October Fri-Sat So funny story: I convinced a friend to make the detour with me to Khum Lanna from Chiang Mai and days before our trip, after countless confirmations emails, she asked if this was a real place. Facebook and TripAdvisor reviews seemed scattered but it was just enough to convince me. On site, the guest list boasted mainly visitors from France. Apparently the tour guides there recommend Khum Lanna. All I was looking for was a cooking school to stay to cook at, a cooking retreat if you will, which is unbelievably hard to find in Thailand. For a fee, Khum Lanna arranged for pick up at our hotel in Chiang Mai, and drove us 1.5 hours to Khum Lanna. For another fee, we were driven 2.5 hours to Chiang Rai the following day. Khum Lanna itself is adorable. I loved everything about it except for the mosquitos. They bit through my 10 hour DEET. Perhaps it was the 11th hour. The rooms were efficient, the grounds were lovely. We were bustled from one activity to the next. We arrived at 10am or so, checked in, started cooking lunch (learned papaya salad and marinated chicken) at 11am, had our rice museum tour, had lunch with papaya salad, sticky rice, bbq chicken, slept off our food coma, attended our Thai massage at 3pm, learned how to cut fruit at 4pm, and rushed over to cook dinner (Tom kha, panang curry, stir fry, spring roll) at 530pm and had that with fried bananas. We were given a recipe book. The next morning we were ushered up at 530am, and rode our bikes at the market at 6am. I was super nervous about biking again but it was pretty easy and I was able to film with one hand and ride with the other. Our guide was knowledgeable and funny and helpful and gracious. Then we rode back and had breakfast of congee and chicken/pork at 8:30am (you choose your option the night before). We checked out at 11 and were shuttled out to Chiang Rai. Bring bills to tip. Totally recommend the bike ride and fruit cutting. Overall a super lovely place. Recommend!