Buddy Day Tours
Buddy Day Tours
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3.5
21 reviews
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Tuicorp
1 contribution
First of all Leon was great he was the happiest guy I've ever met. Think it helped that our group was small and liked to drink cause Leon was more then pleased to share his rice whiskey. He was incitive and funny along the trek. Which was great but the trek was a bit average cause we missed out on some of the waterfalls due to seasons which felt like a bit of a huge let down cause we didn't no till we were half way through the trek. Also there were no village people around to dance and sing with, which mite not have been part of it but what I expected. Just kept to themselves. Sleeping conditions were what I expected but still think there should be mattresses for there hard floors maybe even banana leaves to soften it up. Water falls are amazing and you really appreciate them when it's so hot. Suppose it's trekking so you really have to go to nature out there which is a warning but must be expected. I had a ball done what I wanted to do, elephants, bamboo rafts, waterfall back flip, amazing hill views and campfire stories. Everyone's got to try it! Also food was great, Leon's got it all.
Written November 11, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
LuiseMS
Westlock, Canada30 contributions
Feb 2012 • Friends
We went on the day adventure trek, elephant ride and bamboo raft trip. The trip was pretty standard, nothing fancy to set it apart, but we really enjoyed it. And lunch was fabulous! It was all vegetarian and everything was wonderfully tasty and not spicy.
Our guide was very knowledgeable and informative. The hill tribes we visited weren't spectacular (not the long neck or colorful clothing & headdress), but it was very interesting and we did learn about their way of life, clothing, etc.
Our guide was very knowledgeable and informative. The hill tribes we visited weren't spectacular (not the long neck or colorful clothing & headdress), but it was very interesting and we did learn about their way of life, clothing, etc.
Written February 9, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
emily9790
Hong Kong, China23 contributions
Jun 2015 • Friends
It was my first time been to Chiangmai and i have no idea which company (Jungle Flight or Flight of Gibbon) is better so i didn't plan beforehand and just bump into the stores on the roadside. We found Buddy Tour somewhere outside the East of Thapae Gate..We didn't bargain as we found the price reasonable, a day tour with elephant riding, bamboo rafting, lunch, and 15-zipline. we booked it for around B1500/person ( but later found out that it can be cheaper..maybe around B1200)
Anyways, the pick-up is on-time, and the tour guide was pretty nice, but he didn't tell us the arrangement of the day clearly so we have to ask him everything. It would be better if he could tell us proactively. The elephant riding is fun, +the weather is nice on that day, we felt pretty relaxing riding on the elephant and feeding them with bananas.
Then we went to the bamboo rafting, we were not allow to wear shoes as we have to site on the bamboo directly and lower half will all get wet. We didn't expect this as the staff in Buddy Tour didn't told us to prepare anything. This have to be improved to let the participants know and prepare clothes for change.
As for the lunch, it was not a buffet, and 4 of us share 3 dishes and a large bowl of soup and rice. It actually taste good but the portion is too small (and most of us are already girls), especially after all the activity in the morning and also preparing for the zipline in the afternoon.
While we don't have much expectation after the morning session, the PM session turned out to be great! There are 2 zipline coach for our 12-people tour, and they were really fun and super hilarious that they can speak chinese/madarin/english to make fun and jokes! On the other hand, they are professional enough to teach us how to use the harness and all the safety precautions we have to be aware of. For some of us that were really scared at the beginning, were encouraged to try it out under their funny demonstration. This was the best part and I really loved it!!!
If you are still wondering which activity to join, just don't hesitate, you HAVE to try the zipline. While for the others, you may decide on yourself. And i think the people from Buddy Tour are nice but there are much room left to be improved.
Anyways, the pick-up is on-time, and the tour guide was pretty nice, but he didn't tell us the arrangement of the day clearly so we have to ask him everything. It would be better if he could tell us proactively. The elephant riding is fun, +the weather is nice on that day, we felt pretty relaxing riding on the elephant and feeding them with bananas.
Then we went to the bamboo rafting, we were not allow to wear shoes as we have to site on the bamboo directly and lower half will all get wet. We didn't expect this as the staff in Buddy Tour didn't told us to prepare anything. This have to be improved to let the participants know and prepare clothes for change.
As for the lunch, it was not a buffet, and 4 of us share 3 dishes and a large bowl of soup and rice. It actually taste good but the portion is too small (and most of us are already girls), especially after all the activity in the morning and also preparing for the zipline in the afternoon.
While we don't have much expectation after the morning session, the PM session turned out to be great! There are 2 zipline coach for our 12-people tour, and they were really fun and super hilarious that they can speak chinese/madarin/english to make fun and jokes! On the other hand, they are professional enough to teach us how to use the harness and all the safety precautions we have to be aware of. For some of us that were really scared at the beginning, were encouraged to try it out under their funny demonstration. This was the best part and I really loved it!!!
If you are still wondering which activity to join, just don't hesitate, you HAVE to try the zipline. While for the others, you may decide on yourself. And i think the people from Buddy Tour are nice but there are much room left to be improved.
Written August 2, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
clmokinawa
Okinawa, Japan (citizen of USA)139 contributions
Oct 2011 • Couples
My husband and I booked a tour with our other 2 friends through a website called "Window to Chiang Mai". The tour was a half-day ATV tour that was conducted through the company called "Buddy Tours" in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I know Buddy Tours offers treks and all sorts of other tours around Chiang Mai, but I am only reviewing the ATV Tour, which was aweful. Maybe my husband and I had high hopes for the tour because last year we did another ATV tour in Cambodia that took us on a nice route with off-roading and went both fast and slow when we wanted to. This tour was nothing like that. First of all, we were picked up from our hotel 30 minutes late, which wasn't too big of a deal, but was somewhat inconvenient since we all had to wait in the lobby when we could have been in our rooms or enjoying a longer breakfast. The reason they were so late was because they had to pick up a ton of other people - this is normal - however, we quickly realized that all of these other people were for different tours. Some were doing mountain biking, others white water rafting, others zip-lining... so, we had to make a ton of different stops on the way to our ATV stop, which was the last one. The ride to the place took about an hour and a half by the time we got to our "stop". We should have known something was up when we first arrived - the place is nothing more than a little shack with a few covered picnic tables. They had only 6 available ATV's, and one of them was being worked on by the mechanics when we arrived. The bikes were in poor shape - I don't know what other what to say it. They looked like they had not been well-maintained, but we figured that they were off-roading vehicles and probably just looked like that due to the normal wear-and-tear. One good thing was our group - we had a fun group of 6 - my husband and I, our friends, and another couple from Belgium. We each got one of the bikes and off we went - there was no instruction except for how to turn the bikes on and off. This wasn't a problem for us as we have driven ATV's before, but just something to be aware of if you haven't or are uncomfortable with them. The only other part of the day I really enjoyed was the scenery - gorgeous scenery! The first problem of the day - the bikes. We were in a single-file line the whole ride... 2 minutes after we began, we lost our friend in the back of our group. They eventually realized it and turned back to get him. His bike had inexplicably died. They got it started again. It died a minute later. One of the guides ended up switching bikes with him, and off we went. Or so we thought... Another bike broke down, we all stopped, they got it started again... another bike broke down, we all stopped, they got it started again... another bike broke down.... over and over and over and over. I am not exagerating. We had six of us in the group, and every single one of our bikes broke at least once during the ride - some more than others definately. A bike that one of our friends was riding died about half way through the day, and the guides could not get it started again, so we actually had to leave it out in the jungle! He had to ride with his wife the whole rest of the day. We were stopped more than we were moving! We started with six tourists and 4 guides. We ended up with 5 tourist bikes and 1 guide - even the guide's bikes were breaking down! It was almost comical how much this was happening! The whole time, the guides were saying that this "never happens"... ummm, one bike continually breaking down, maybe... but SIX bikes continually breaking down?? Something is wrong with this company - they definately do not maintain these bikes. At one point, a guide picked up a rock on the ground and started hitting one of our friend's bikes with it to "fix it"! What??!? Yes. I also didn't appreciate that there was hardly any off-roading involved. They advertise more than 80% off-road - it is truely more like less than 20% off-road, and everyone on the tour was very confused. We had a little bit of off-roading near the end, but pretty much the whole time we were on paved roads with pot-holes... does this count as off-roading to them?? I don't think its considered "off-roading" when you are driving ATV's on the same road that the bus took you to get there! Also, they advertise that you will see Lisu and another Hill Tribe... if we saw any tribes at all, it was lost on me! They definately didn't point them out, and we must have driven by them, not THROUGH them. I hardly saw any people at all, and even if there were, I don't remember them because we were going so darn fast! That's another thing that really disappointed me - the guides really seemed to be on a deadline, and the whole ride was really rushed. We were going super fast the whole time, which at times can be fun, but we were actually SCOLDED by the tour guide for being too slow and stopping to take photos! I kept doing it, because I paid money to do this tour, and I didn't want to be rushed and not have any photos to remember it by - as I was saying, the scenery really WAS beautiful! I thought that was annoying and rude for them to yell at us like that. My last issue with this ATV tour is that they don't take you in a loop, you basically drive and drive and get to a random point in the trail. The guide stopped us and told us to turn around and go back now - we were at the turn-around point! This was a random place in the middle of the jungle - nothing around, just trees. It seemed like they just rushed us until a certain time, and then just had us turn around. It was pointless! I feel like our tour was actually only half of the time, because we spent the second half of the tour back-tracking and seeing stuff we had already seen. The lunch at the end was really not that good - just some chicken and flavorless rice. Everyone on the tour wanted money back. After much arguing and pleading our case, we got the tour guide to admit it was a really bad day, and he even said he would not pay what we did for that tour! He had to call the owner of "Buddy Tours" - a woman who was obnoxious, and we tried talking to her on the phone. She first wasn't going to give us anything because she said, "5 of you made it back!" WHAT??!? Anyway, she ended up giving us all our money back, but only because we threatened to write about her company on TripAdvisor. I still am writing about our experience, because I don't think its fair for them to charge people that kind of money and not maintain their bikes or offer a quality experience. Other tourists deserve to know! This was a sketchy company. Unfortunately, many people won't read this review probably, because "Buddy Tours" masquerades under the website called "Window to Chiang Mai", and there aren't any reviews written on "Window to Chiang Mai". Our trip to Chiang Mai was incredible, and we had such amazing experiences at so many other tours, but this was definately a disapointing one. Any other ATV Tour company would probably be better than this!
Written November 18, 2011
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
SFSam415
San Francisco, CA2 contributions
May 2015 • Couples
If you're dealing with this person, stop! Immediately! When I went on the buddy tours website, this is who I was connected to:
Miss Pornpimon Sumpradit (Ooy)
Licenced Tourist Guide
LicenceNr. 21-2373
Buddy Tours Chiang Mai
Mobile Phone Nr. +66 8 94334061
First of all, don't book anything in Thailand on the internet. Everything is twice the price. Especially this experience. We paid 5600 Baht for a 3 day trek. She asked us to pay with a bank transfer. My bank charged me $35 for the transfer. Her bank charged her $16. She wanted me to cover her cost of doing business. After being annoyed, I agreed.
That's not the worst part. We got on the tuk tuk and the nice couple next to us only paid 2600 baht. So now I knew I got ripped off and she wanted more money for her cost of doing business.
And that is still not the worst part. On the day of the trek, I was suffering from food poisoning. I couldn't stop vomiting. I couldn't even keep water down. I was visibly sick to all the people on the tour. I asked to go back. As I was throwing up, I was given the phone by this travel agent and she said "you can only go back if you don't take your money back." Are you serious?! She didn't care at all that no one wanted to be around me. She didn't care that I was sick I asked her to give me a refund of half because I already knew that she ripped us off. She refused and then had the nerve to tell me I already saved $16 (her bank fees).
This is probably one of the most selfish and worst human being I've ever encountered. If you do this trip, please don't use this travel agent. She doesn't deserve our business.
I'm not crazy. I'm just really upset about how she did business and I even waited over a month to write this review w/ a bit of a more rational mindset.
Miss Pornpimon Sumpradit (Ooy)
Licenced Tourist Guide
LicenceNr. 21-2373
Buddy Tours Chiang Mai
Mobile Phone Nr. +66 8 94334061
First of all, don't book anything in Thailand on the internet. Everything is twice the price. Especially this experience. We paid 5600 Baht for a 3 day trek. She asked us to pay with a bank transfer. My bank charged me $35 for the transfer. Her bank charged her $16. She wanted me to cover her cost of doing business. After being annoyed, I agreed.
That's not the worst part. We got on the tuk tuk and the nice couple next to us only paid 2600 baht. So now I knew I got ripped off and she wanted more money for her cost of doing business.
And that is still not the worst part. On the day of the trek, I was suffering from food poisoning. I couldn't stop vomiting. I couldn't even keep water down. I was visibly sick to all the people on the tour. I asked to go back. As I was throwing up, I was given the phone by this travel agent and she said "you can only go back if you don't take your money back." Are you serious?! She didn't care at all that no one wanted to be around me. She didn't care that I was sick I asked her to give me a refund of half because I already knew that she ripped us off. She refused and then had the nerve to tell me I already saved $16 (her bank fees).
This is probably one of the most selfish and worst human being I've ever encountered. If you do this trip, please don't use this travel agent. She doesn't deserve our business.
I'm not crazy. I'm just really upset about how she did business and I even waited over a month to write this review w/ a bit of a more rational mindset.
Written June 23, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
robyn h
Collaroy Beach, Australia209 contributions
Sep 2016 • Family
After the initial booking, every subsequent interaction with this operator was extremely difficult as she cannot be trusted, she lies and pleads innocence due to bad communication.
I would never recommend her tours and she needs to be stopped so she cannot ruin her customers holidays.
The tour guide we had was equally untrustworthy. A very unbalanced individual wielding his machete at every opportunity to cut down non existent growth. His decisions were very questionable eg leaving a tired 20 year old female on the side of the road to await pick up as she was injured.
Please take my advice, do not use this company.
We booked in for a two day adventure trek. The bamboo rafting and river rafting were both canceled. No refund.
The elephant camp is one of the most inhumane places you can visit.
The hike is extremely challenging.
The Karen Hill Tribe Village is just a tourist attraction
15 minutes is spent at the Butterly and Orchid Farm
There was no interaction with the villagers where we stayed
The final night accommodation had bedding for 3, we clearly booked for 5
I could go on, I am sure you get the picture not to use Buddy Tours Adventure and Jungle Trekking, Chiangmai.
I would never recommend her tours and she needs to be stopped so she cannot ruin her customers holidays.
The tour guide we had was equally untrustworthy. A very unbalanced individual wielding his machete at every opportunity to cut down non existent growth. His decisions were very questionable eg leaving a tired 20 year old female on the side of the road to await pick up as she was injured.
Please take my advice, do not use this company.
We booked in for a two day adventure trek. The bamboo rafting and river rafting were both canceled. No refund.
The elephant camp is one of the most inhumane places you can visit.
The hike is extremely challenging.
The Karen Hill Tribe Village is just a tourist attraction
15 minutes is spent at the Butterly and Orchid Farm
There was no interaction with the villagers where we stayed
The final night accommodation had bedding for 3, we clearly booked for 5
I could go on, I am sure you get the picture not to use Buddy Tours Adventure and Jungle Trekking, Chiangmai.
Written September 22, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
elizab36
Singapore, Singapore14 contributions
May 2016 • Solo
The term "trek" is misleading- there was not much walking, maybe 25mins to the small waterfall. Although the tour was not exorbitant and the tour guide was very friendly, the tour felt very touristy with them trying to sell us something (such as photos from each activity) at each point, and the guide had limited English and it seemed also general knowledge about Chiang mai.
Written May 4, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Tara B
Melbourne, Australia7 contributions
Aug 2014 • Couples
I have used buddy tours on two different occasions in Chiang Mai for over 10 tours which were fantastic, unfortunately this occasions in Chiang Mai was so disappointing I definitely would not trust to use them again. I think the issue is that Buddy tours have now out sourced to different tour companies and because we went on the off peak season we were sent with several different companies. On our first tour we were told it was a 12 hour day which ending up being nearly 17 hours in total, 14 of them were on a bus, the next tours for rafting was meant to pick us up at 7:30 and called at 9:30 to tell us our pick would be at 11am (was Furious) and the last tour was a private car taking us to the elephants, tigers and temples which ended up being in the back of a ute which I don't usually mind but not happy when your paying high prices for private tours in Thailand. I don't usual complain but each tour had some big issues.
Written September 30, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
nessaballard
Oxford, UK7 contributions
Dec 2017 • Couples
Half day washing and hugging elephants. It was the most memorable, happy, fun, muddy, dirty experience we have had and we would highly recommend doing this. Ing looked after us, took photos of us and was very informative. Don’t miss this trip.
Written December 7, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
George A
Deddington, UK32 contributions
Mar 2017 • Solo
I took part in the 3 day 2 night trek and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was travelling alone and took part in the group tour instead of a private tour which was great as I got to meet some awesome people. I was picked up from my hostel and taken to buddy tours where I met the group and our guide jungle Joe. Joe was straight away charismatic and I knew it was going to be a great trip. After a 45 minute drive and stop off at a local market for refreshments we got to an elephant camp. Not all of us wanted to participate in riding which was accommodated for and we could feed some of the other elephants and this was not the main focus of the trip. After 30 minutes to an hour we left, had lunch and began our trek to the waterfall. The trek is easy going and not too strenuous but the waterfall was a welcome sight as it was hot at this time of the year. We then trekked to the local Karen village where we stayed the night. Our guide jungle Joe was great fun and he had many great stories and games. Then next day was when the more serious trekking began. If I'm honest I thought it was going to be easy walking and while we are always walking on a track it does get quite steep in places and can be a good challenge even for the fitter more experienced trekkers. However our guides catered for all paces with a guide at the front and a guide at the back. We trekked to another village for lunch where we were allowed to explore before trekking to another waterfall where we would stay for the night. All accomodation provided had mosquito nets and sleeping bags and was very pleasant camping/glamping in the mountains. At this point jungle Joe had to leave to take people who were on a 2day 1 night trip home so we had pattie and his brother (both local Karen villagers) keeping us entertained for the night. We had a great evening and it was great for everyone as we could help teach them some English. The final day trek was another trek that allowed you to push yourself and we reached a top height of around 1800m. This was before heading back down for the bamboo rafting which was great fun although I feel it would be better in the wet season (July-October). The only downside I had for this trip was that I didn't see a huge array of wildlife but this could be down to the time of year I went, the group making noise while we travel and just missing it as we walk past and beyond buddy tours control. Our guides showed us wildlife and plants when the could and explained the uses in Karen villages. I would definitely do it again and would recommend to anyone who is thinking of trekking.
Written April 4, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
No questions have been asked about this experience