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Published: July 17th 2018
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Today was our earliest non-travel day in Chiang Mai. We had signed up for a day-long tour of multiple attractions in the area. The tour had planned stops at a hot spring, the White Temple
(Wat Rong Khun),
Golden Triangle, and a
Long-Neck village. The bus showed up at 7:30 for an early start to the day.
The hot spring was not what we had imagined. The spring was a couple of concrete pools where people could soak their feet. Kristy took a brief soak while Brad abstained. Surrounding the pools were many shops and vendors with typical Thai market goods along with some silver jewelry. The hot spring area was more touristy than we liked and proved to be a harbinger of the day.
The drive to the White Temple was long and arduous. Our driver was hyper-aggressive in passing other vehicles and took sharp corners at high speed. We made it to the temple alive, though there would be many close calls throughout the day. Along the way, Julie, our tour guide, explained that the White Temple was not always white. In fact, the temple previously was pretty ordinary until 1997 when a Thai artist started to remodel and make his
hometown temple into a tourist attraction. Learning this was a bit of a disappointment. The temple itself is gorgeous, however. The entrance is a bridge over Hell where hands reaching up are displayed. Over the bridge, Heaven is depicted. Inside is a mural that includes a painting of the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Osama Bin Laden, and various superheroes. The artwork was a bit strange and confusing.
The Golden Triangle is where Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos all share a riparian border. We hopped on a boat for a tour of the area. The guide explained that this area was once a major opium producing and trading hub. The confluence of multiple rivers, mountains, and borders mall make for an environment conducive to illicit activity. Today there are casinos along the Myanmar and Laotian banks along with markets in Laos and Thailand. We made port in Laos to explore a market. The vendors had knock-off merchandise and various “herbal whiskey”. Brad could not turn down the opportunity to sample some snake whiskey. The drink had a dead cobra soaking in it and tasted like cheap vodka with a hint of snake. We purchased a small bottle of
snake and scorpion whiskey and some Ray-Bans before heading back.
We chose not to do the Long-Neck tour at the next stop and instead waited for the group to finish up. At this point, both of us were a bit annoyed because we intentionally booked a shorter tour without the Golden Triangle and Long-Neck stops. Once the group had finished, we had a long and wild ride back to Chiang Mai. We arrived home at about 9:30 displeased with the day which had been more touristy than anticipated.
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Dawn Price
non-member comment
Good Times
I enjoyed reading all your blogs. I am so glad that you are enjoying your trip. Keep blogging!