Thailand (continued)
Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle
20.01.2009 - 21.01.2009
20 °C
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HT and Tez's Amazing Race
on HT's travel map.
Our second day in Chiang Mai started with a tourist trap package tour that we were sucked into in Bangkok on only our first day...so far we are not the most hardened backpackers, but we are learning quickly how to spot something that sounds too good to be true!
Anyway, it was still interesting and we managed to squeeze in 30 mins at a hot spring (conveniently located in the middle of market - or was it the other way around?), a modern buddhist temple, a quick boat trip up to the golden triangle where there is a massive casino/resort complex on the Burmese side now, the northern most tip of Thailand bordering Burma and three villages of minority groups (Akha Hill Tribe - Thai, Akha - Chinese, Pa Dong Longneck Tribe).
Hot spring - too hot for a dip, but perfect for boiling eggs!
Inspired by the Snow Queen's castle in Narnia...?
Re-living the glory days of the Golden Triangle - that's Burma over our shoulder
We crossed into Laos a day early (without visas) to visit another market conveniently located across the Mekong - guess anything goes in the Golden Triangle!
Is that an armadillo...in whiskey??!
"The Northern Most of Thailand" - Guess they ran out of room!
We finished up at Chiang Rai, where we crashed in an upmarket backpacker hostel at about HK$100 (US$12), which even had it's own bathroom - seems we are getting into the lifestyle pretty quickly...
Posted by HT 22.01.2009 07:10 Archived in Thailand Tagged backpacking
