Chiang Rai - G. Triangle
Chiang Rai. The old opium crossroads of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar. Northern Thailand is spectacular. Leave time to explore.
Chang rai can be reached two ways: make a slight detour to the south to Lampang and take the eastern super-highway. 4 lanes of concrete to eat up as you make your way over hill sides covered in forests that make for seriously amazing scenery. Stop at cliff gate (you'll know it when you see it) and visit the neolithic rock art and spice markets. Then drive down to the lake at Phayao and you'll swear you think you are back in NZ. The only real difference is the amazing green provided by the rice paddies.
From Chang rai, you can go trekking, or to the borders. The golden triangle itself is just a meetings of borders on the Mekong. Check out the news item on the new visa details for Burma/Myanmar. Myanmar blew my mind - it's seriously beautiful, and well deserving of a few days. You can play the political card and make a decision not to support an oppressive regime (and there are signs of this in scaring on people) but you hurt the people through lost opportunity for income and cross-cultural exchange, rather than hurting the government. And if you're lucky, the border guards will practice their chat up lines on you and tell you that you're beautiful.
Any drive around this area is great as it takes you through the middle of villages into the heart of rural Thailand - a truly special place. We fully recommend Mae Salong. It's called a tourist village, but there were only 4 of us there. It's set at 1800m, on the spine of a hill. The drive is treacherously steep and winding, but really beautiful. Mae Salong is 12km from the Burmese border. It actually home to 4 different peoples - Yuannan chinese, Muslim, Akhar (Tibetan refugees from Myanmar) Lasu and another hill-tribe. Development programmes in the surrounding areas appear to have been really successful - opium has been swapped for tea and coffee plantations, intermixed with corn, rice, limes and the melony-cucumber yummies.
We took a 1/2 day trek with horses (I think Yuanaese) to the villages - they all have schools, water pumps at each house, power, and roads (although they're in varying states of dis-repair). Oh, and the people are really healthy, really friendly and really lovely. The tarmac turned into dirt road which turned into rain sodden dirt track. We had tea and fruit with an elder couple and their great grandson. In between rain showers, we passed villages nestled into hillsides covered in rice, coffee, tea, bamboo, corn and other vegetables. This has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. I'd happily move here at the drop of a hat. My favorite place to be since we left NZ. Oh, and the tea is great!!
The main western highway south is awful - they've cut the margins out and there's no lights at night (not even cats eyes) and the locals drive like they're on drugs. The 100km from the turn-off to Pai actually akes 2- 21/2 hours for 100km. The road condition aints flash either. We decided to rest a little and pulled in at Mushroom Barn. AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS. The 1st room we checked into had an ants nest in the waldrobe - they came out when we sprayed for mossies. The room we changed to also had a nest, so they moved us to the posh suite and asked for extra money. NOT Likely, as it was over priced to start with. The guy who does the talking is also rather sleazy. We shot off at 6.30 the next morning and got to Pai.
Pai is set on the valley bottom and nestled among hills. Again, its a meaty road in, but hippy-ville is just gorgeous. It's a little pricey, but there's all the comforts from home (burgers and chips, real coffee and cafes, croissants) and probably more westerners than thai in this little village of just 3000. It also has about the highest computer/person ratio in the whole of Thailand. A good place to get info on the coup and just relax. Oh, and the elephant rides and trekking opportunities. Unlike m'sia, locals are friendly to tourists. We basically just laxed out and ate - great thai food at Na's House, oh, and the fruit-ice smoothies. Yummm!. We also tried the elephant rides which are a lot more glamorous sounding than in reality. Our elephant was really big, and it was hard to get up even when you were yanking on his ear. They're not really stinky, and the ride is comfier than a wooden horse saddle, but you get the feeling that they really can't be bothered. They're such big animals, when they get grumpy they just stop, when they want food they eat. So our guide had a job on his hands. Pretty cool to be that high up and you can feel the animal's muscles move under you. Our 'phant wasn't too keen on the water. I got splashed a lot, but then the trainer had the phant going side to side and up and down etc. - not sure if was intentional or not, but both he and Al fell off. I was left with my legs around the beast's neck. Quite scary really - I was pleased to get off. It was obvious that the elephant didn't want to be there and that the guide was loosing control.
If we had more time, I'd spend it in the little villages like Mae Salong as opposed to Pai - each has their strengths, but rural Thailand at its best is really quite surreal. Next trip we'll also take in the eastern hills of northern Thailand.
