The Golden Triangle

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Sunday Morning- Happy 26th Birthday to me! Woke up to a birthday card written on toliet paper from Ev (how sweet! and a very good representative of our lifestyle at the moment) a few cards and gifts from Mom and Ev and a plan for the day. For a birthday treat we decided to go out and see a movie - in English! We scoped out the theatres and decided Hancock was the best choice. So headed down to the Airport Plaza Shopping Centre and bought our tickets for the honeymoon seats! Big (which is important in SE Asia as everyone is so small here), reclining, leather, heavenly seats.

Had a healthy breakie of KFC and headed up to watch our movie in style. The film was entertaining and the first I have seen in 6 months or so- so justifiably a treat! Then headed for Sizzler steakhouse. We ate to our hearts content and had beef that actually tasted like it came from a cow- finally! Still wondering what kind of "beef" I ate in Kathmandu. Afterwards headed back to recover before our Mae Ping River Cruise that evening. Got picked up and headed for the river in yet another dreaded red taxi/truck, this time sitting in the front to avoid being ill. We arrived and had a dinner of Thai food, which we could barely stomach, and a relaxing cruise down the river. A really nice end to the day.

Up early the next morning to catch our bus to Chiang Rai. Having caught the dreaded travellers sickness (again!) we set off to the bus station by tuk tuk. We waited for our bus to arrive and in the mean time checked out the state of the others... we were preparing ourselves for the worst.. and then our bus appeared as if out of the heavens! We did purchase the VIP tickets but we had no idea that a bus could be this nice. It was like stepping into first class seats on a transatlantic flight. AC, reclining seats that resembled a lazyboy, footrests, free food and drinks, TV, a stewardess and an onboard toliet. Such joy! Our 3 hour bus journey was lovely! The road between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai is very very curvy but the roads are good.

We arrived and in Chiang Rai and headed to our guesthouse after some hassling with the local red taxis. Arrived to find our luxury continued. The room was very modern and a step up from our Chiang Mai accommodation. We booked our day tour to the Golden Triangle for the next day and headed into town. Chiang Rai is very different from Chiang Mai in the fact that it is very Thai. Not many signs are in Roman script-which you find is a bit important when looking for anything from a distance. It also seemed we were the only tourists in sight. Not a bad thing but different from Chiang Mai. We enjoyed the city and headed back to the room for some R&R.

Awoke early to join our nearly private tour to the Golden Triangle. We were alone save one other traveller who was on her own in Thailand. We set out first to take in the White Temple. This temple has been built by an artist who is very famous in Thailand. The idea for this temple came into being during a conversation between the current king and the artist. You see temples in Thailand are spoken about in terms of the reign during which they were built. You find many built during the reigns of the Ranas. The current king was a bit concerned that no temple would be built during his reign so he asked this artist to build him one. The temple that has since been built is quite a sight. Much like his art work the temple is very beautiful and wispy (for lack of a better word). The complex is still being built with the intention that the more he builds the more people will visit time and time again. Inside the temple artwork covers the walls (the likes of Star Wars and the Matrix make an appearance) and a wax sculpture of a monk who many swear "is real". It is quite different than any temple I have ever seen and more a work of art than a place of worship.

After visiting it we got some fresh coconut ice cream (with real chunks of coconut..mmm) and continued to our next destination, The Golden Triangle. The Golden Triangle is where Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) and Laos meet. The countries are divided here only by the Mekong River. We went to a view point for a clear view and a better understanding of this area. And only 266km straight north of us was China. Quite a cool place. The Golden Triangle got its name due to the opium once grown here. Back in those days opium was as good as gold thus the name. That and I guess they couldn't well call it the Opium triangle due to the damage the drug caused in Asia and worldwide. Opium has since been outlawed in these three countries but only for the last 30-40 years. There are still plantations in Burma and it still presents a problem in this area of the world.

We headed down the hill and to the Opium Museum to learn about the myths of how the poppy, the source of opium, came to be. From there we headed out to the Mekong for a "cruise" on the river. The river is quite fast moving here and I was starting to wonder how we would make it across in good time (and without getting flushed downstream in a hurry) when the motor started and off we went. Part jet boat part long boat took us past Burma, the local casino there and then to Laos to the market on Laos Island. We went ashore, paid our land tax (10 baht- about 30 US cents- 15 UK pence) and had a look round the market before getting back in the boat for our trip back to Thailand. Had lunch on the way to Mae Sai and the border with Burma. Got a great view from the Scorpion Temple before heading to the local Jade Factory.

The factory allowed us to see the sculptors at work carving jade that ranged in quality from the best, Imperial jade (dark green color) to the lesser qualities (purple, white, yellow, light greens, etc). The best jade in the world they say comes from Myanmar. Last stop was the Monkey Cave before heading back to Chiang Rai. The Monkey Cave was esentially monkeys running around a temple next to a cave that was submerged under water. After a long day driving around we headed into town to enjoy the night bazaar.

The next day we headed back to Chiang Mai on another VIP bus. Ev and I booked onto a cooking course for the next day to buff up (or create) some Thai cooking skills. A full day course we were sure would make us pros.. or at least fill our stomachs with lovely Thai food. Well we were right about one of the two. We had a funny instructor called Perm who took us on a tour of the local market. He talked us through all the ingredients you could buy there, identified all the strange fruits and veg and generally entertained us. After our tour we headed back to his house (in the suburbs of the city) to start our cooking course.

We made red and green curry paste, sticky rice with mango (best dish of the day), papaya salad (the hottest dish of the day-by mistake), curries, spring rolls, pad thai (my favorite), soups and more. It was fantastic fun. We even had a go at some "adventure cooking" which entailed lighting our woks (and nearly ourselves!) on fire. By the end of the day we had had loads of fun and we were absolutely stuffed! Highly recommended if you ever get to Thailand.

The next day (our last day with mom) was spent chilling out and enjoying our last day in the North. Saturday we flew to Bangkok (without having to pay for our excess luggage- thank goodness) and mom caught her flight back to KL to embark on an overnight train journey to Singapore.

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Photos

Beautiful building
that is until we found out it was the toliets! A little joke on tourists by the artist/architect.

To use the toliet
you must wear someone elses shoes to wee. Luckily i wore socks that day!

The Golden Triangle
Thailand is where the photo is taken from, Myanmar(Burma) is to the left and Laos is to the right... and China is only 266 kms straight ahead.

Opium Pipes
at the Opium Museum

Comments

[janelle]

Are you templed out yet?