About Us

The Maekok River Village Resort is a privately-owned resort located in the far north of Thailand on the Burmese border. It opened for business in 2000 and due to the growth in demand for both resort-tourist business and as an outdoor education centre, a new site was purchased in early 2007 and after a year's building, opened in October 2008.

The MRVR now comprises a high quality resort with an adjacent, but separate outdoor education centre for visiting students

The managers and part owners are Bryan and Rosie Massingham. They were teachers in Hong Kong for 20 years before changing location, occupation and lifestyles in 2002.

It is said that northern Thai people are amongst the most hospitable in Thailand and given that the staff are predominantly local people this makes for a family-oriented and friendly environment. Most staff left school when they were 14 or 15 and very few have travelled further than the local town. This presents a challenge when it comes to training and maintaining standards, but we are impressed by their willingness to learn and hope you will be impressed by the level of service, care and attention that you will receive whilst staying with us.

Our recruitment policy remains one of giving local people (and particularly school leavers) a chance to work in a quality resort and to develop their potential. For most school leavers there are few opportunities in the region, and for many, their status as 'ethnic minorities' does not allow them to live and work outside the area. We are delighted to offer an alternative form of employment for these bright young people who otherwise would have little hope of a real career, bringing benefits to themselves and their families.

Bryan Massingham Manager & Part Owner Bryan Massingham is the Director of Studies, and a partner in the Maekok River Village Resort project. He took over the additional role of General Manager of Maekok River Village Resort in October 2002. He taught in the U.K. before arriving as Head of Geography at Island School in Hong Kong in 1982. In his latter years at the school, he was one of the Deputy Principals. An Oxford graduate with a degree in geography, he has also studied at the University College, London and the University of Hong Kong.

Rosie Massingham Manager & Part Owner Rosie Massingham has particular responsibility for overseeing the Maekok River Village Community Project, a community development project established at the resort. She has a degree in Humanities and has an interest in the history of the region, from the early La Na period to more recent events. Rosie is particularly interested in the Nationalist Chinese who settled in the area after fleeing China following the 1949 revolution success of Mao. Before coming to Thailand, she taught history at Shatin College Hong Kong where she was responsible for developing various schemes of work, as well as organising history fieldtrips to Vietnam.