Bangkok, Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle

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Thailand

After Africa, we headed back to the UK for a few weeks so that we could go to Stu and Karen's wedding. We had a great day and are so pleased that we didn't miss it. It was also great to catch up with people again, even if it was a bit of a fleeting visit! A huge thanks to everyone for looking after us and putting us up now that we are homeless in the UK!

Our next leg is South East Asia. Starting with Bangkok. This would be interesting as we have been here before. Would we be as excited about it as last time or would we be desperate for new challenges like Africa?

Bangkok has changed a lot! Huge, shiny shopping centres full of uber-luxury goods and a super efficient sky train to whizz you around the city. A big improvement to travelling on the grid locked roads in a tuk-tuk! We soaked up the atmosphere of this new Bangkok and watched the stylish Thai youth hang out in their designer gear and the skateboarders perform tricks on the ramps at the bottom of the shopping centre.

We have both seen most of the main sights that Bangkok has to offer - the Royal Palace etc. So we headed on a river boat to Wat Arun, an older Khmer style temple which is very tall with very steep steps and a great view of the river and the City. It's covered in pieces of porcelein and is very colourful. We also took a trip down memory lane and headed to the Ko San Road, the backpackers mecca. All those who have been can be reassured that it hasn't really changed, yes, it's now pedestrianised and the fake cds have been replaced with i-pod downloads, but you can still get cheap beer, a banana pancake and a bed for a couple of quid!

We also headed to Jim Thompson's House. Jim Thompson was an American who realised that money could be made exporting Thai Silk. He established a very successful company, that is still in operation today, and he made his home in Bangkok by adapting traditional Thai houses for his western needs - making them bigger by putting several together and adding internal staircases and setting them in a beautiful garden. He also collected art works. His house is a now a peaceful museum.

In the evening we decided to embrace this new super cool Bangkok and head out to the SkyBar for a drink. The SkyBar is an open air bar at the top of a tower (about 56 stories up) overlooking the city. It's a great place for cocktail or two so we toasted our return to the travelling life - hard life eh!

Next we took a flight up to Chiang Rai. This is a small city the far North East of the country. It's quite a sleepy place but good for visiting the tribes people that live in the area. We took a tour taking a boat to a Karen people village where we got to ride an elephant. You could feed them bananas and sugar cane but they were really cheeky and kept trying to grab it! We then headed in the the hills to visit the different hills tribes. We visited Akha, Long Neck, Lahu and Yao people. The Long Necks are probably the most famous and come from Burma. The girls wear brass rings around their necks as long necks are considered beautiful. The first rings are added at about the age of 3 and then more are added each year. They are really heavy but it's a apparently a misconception that the rings make the necks long, they push the shoulders down. Some of the older ladies also wear small rings at the back looped on the large rings as these were traditionally used by husbands to tie up their wives if they left the village!!!

Next stop was Chiang Saen on the border with Laos and Burma, the so called Golden Triangle. It's here that the opium trade was rife, it used to account for 90% of the worlds opium but this has reduced massively recently due to crack downs and the increased production of Afghanistan. It's a beautiful area and we spent a relaxed couple of days taking in the scenery.

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