It’s not a question but a purpose to us. Everything Smiling Albino does comes from the Why. Our Why is what quantifies and aligns us, both as a company and as individuals. The Why is our purpose, our cause, our belief. The cool things we get to do are the results. Happy and repeat clients are the proof.
Our purpose is to enrich the lives of everyone we interact with – “everyone” being our guests, our team members, partners and stakeholders, and people we meet along our travels… and equally important, to be enriched by them. The adventures we design for clients reflect our belief in learning from the world around us to make us all better people.
Knowing and conveying why we do what we do ensures we create great adventures. We work with people that believe what we believe. Our teams can do what we do much better because we all share the same belief. It’s awesome to discover these inspired individuals across borders and cultures sharing a mutual need to constantly find the perfect hidden pathway, secret lake or sunset surprise beer location!
A great example of this is illustrated by Smiling Albino’s close relationship with a remote hill tribe in the Mae Ai district of Chiang Rai. A pair of our northern Thailand guides grew up in the area so they understand local needs and challenges well. They identified a Lahu hill tribe village near a riverside resort where Smiling Albino hosts cycling, trekking and kayaking adventures.
With the villager’s input, Smiling Albino initiated community projects financed and physically built by both us and our clients. We constructed a road up to their hilltop temple that was difficult for their elders to access in the wet season. The next year we built a community platform that is now used for sports and trading produce. A valuable dividend is that the village welcomes our guests into their homes for rare insight into an authentic tribal community. Everybody comes away with something beneficial, but mostly a better understanding of each other and a feeling of making a difference, and a lot of broad smiles along the way.
This is why we do what we do, and do it so well!