The Golden Triangle Tour

We booked a tour to Chiang Rai, which is the most northern point in Thailand.  The tour was a mixture of disappointment and wow!  The first down fall was the length of the trip, but we knew what to expect...14 hours long...a ton of driving in the mini van!!

Our first stop was what we call ""the gringo trail".  You are driven to a mall of small but numerous outdoor shops full of useless trinkets.  This was where the "hot springs" were.  I was expecting a natural setting!!  But I guess not!  There was a small pool housing a small geyser at the entrance, and the hot springs were cemented troughs that you set your feet into.  The water was hot enough that you gingerly set your toes in and gradually immersed your foot.  Hoss bought some eggs from a hawker and had her dip the eggs into the geyser, and viola...boiled eggs!  They came in handy because we had a very early breakfast, and a very late lunch!

Our next stop was The White Temple.  Its construction began in 1996, and the projected completion date in the next 40-60 years.  It is quite magnificent, and looks like it belongs in a winter setting.

We then headed to the infamous Golden Triangle.  It is the point where Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos meet at the confluence of the broad, slow and silted Mekong and Mae Ruak Rivers.  They create Thailand's northern border, separating it from overgrown jungle patches of Myanmar to the west and the forested, hilly Laos to the east.  The area's appeal as a vantage point over forbidden territories has diminished as there is now a legal border crossing into Laos from nearby Chiang Khong.

It is interesting to get a look at the home of the ethnic hill-tribe people where their legendary opium trade took place.  The poppy plants are now gone(maybe??) and replaced with corn, coffee, rice, and tea.  The appeal of this geopolitical phenomenon has created an entire village called Ban Sob Ruak, which is made of thatch souvenir stalls, river view soda and noodle shops, and fancy hotels.  The most interesting of these is The Hall of Opium, which we disappointingly missed, and would encourage anyone visiting this area to take in.

 The Hall of Opium is a museum sponsored by the late Princess Mother as part of a larger effort to educate and find alternative crops for the hill-tribe people of the north to grow.  I read in my travel book that  it shows displays of the growth of the poppy, and its importance in British and international trade with China, and the conflicts over opium, and the drug's influx into Thailand, and the useful information about efforts to suppress international smuggling and address the ramifications of addiction throughout the area.  People I have spoken to say it is a worthwhile visit, and I am sad that we missed it!!

We continued our trip on a boat that took us a short way down the Mekong River, passing by Myanmar, and delivering us to the country of Laos where we stopped and walked about viewing the river and shopping at more stalls!!  After an hour or so, we hopped back onto the boat and crossed the river to our minivan that whisked us away to a much deserved and delicious lunch waiting for us in the next town.

Our next stop was a tourist constructed version of the hill-tribe people's village.  Northern Thailand is home to the majority of Thailand's tribal people, many of whom have emigrated from Laos, China, Myanmar, and Tibet.  They maintain their traditional costumes, religious beliefs, art, and way of life.  An example of what each tribe looks like is on display with real people selling their handicrafts and cultural items.  One tribe, the long neck people, have moved from Myanmar where they were persecuted many years ago, to Thailand where they are not allowed citizenship.  A catch 22 situation for sure!

Hill-tribes traditionally practised slash and burn agriculture, burning forests to clear land, planting poppies as a cash crop, and then setting up new bamboo and thatch villages whenever their farmland's soil became depleted.  This unsustainable practise has now changed.

All in all it was an interesting tour, but much too long of a day.  If we had to do it again we would stay in Chiang Rai for a couple of days and take in the sites!

                                          The egg cooking geyser!!

                                         The White Temple

              
                                         You can but a key for 30 baht, write your name on it,
                                         and it will be hung up.  I think people do this for good
                                          luck.  It is the same practise at The Great Wall of China.
                                          Luck-smuk, its all for the money!!

                                         Continued construction.

                                         This is the bathroom!

                                          Weird and scary!!