Day 14 - Monday July 12, 2010 - Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai (Myanmar and Laos)

Top: The White Temple

Middle: The golden Buddha at the Golden Triangle

Bottom: Standing by the marker showing the Golden Triangle - where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar (Burma) meet.

What a great day - I learned so much and saw so many things I never thought I would see. And so many more things to see and learn . . .

Up early - had my morning coffee - and met "Mr. Lemon Tree", my tour guide for the day in the lobby at 7 am. So where does that name come from? His name is Montree, and his boss Mr. Bird (who was my guide on the last visit 2 years ago) turned it into Mr. Lemon Tree so English speakers would remember it! Interesting twist!

We headed out of Chiang Mai on the "super highway" - actually pretty nice - and headed north. We were out of the morning traffic quickly and the scenery turned into beautiful countryside. Lots of rice fields everywhere and orchards. Mr. L.T (Lemon Tree) talked about Thai life. LT was very good with details and his explanations and his English was excellent. It wasn't long before we started climbing up into the hills and it was heavily vegetated. I called it "forest" but LT referred to it as "the jungle". There are some wild elephants that live around here but not many any more.

After an hour we stopped at a hot spring in Mae Ka Chan. A natural spring spewing out of the ground in many places. A woman was cooking eggs and bamboo (for bamboo shoots) in one of the pool. We went to a "foot soaking" pool and LT had me put my feet in. I thought I would be scalded - it was SO hot. He wanted me to put them in for 5 minutes but there was no way - I put only he soles of my feet and didn't make it that long. Don't know how anyone endures that hot water.

We then travelled further "up" and stopped at the Rong Khun Temple - White Temple designed by a famous Thai artist. I even got to meet him and have my picture taken with him. The White Temple was spectacular - gleaming white and decorated with fragments of mirrors and reflected the light. The sculptures and are were very interpretative. Of note - hands reached out of the ground in somewhat grotesque positions representing people in hell. The interior of the temple is not finished yet and an artist was painting while I visited. The back wall of the temple represents "bad and evit" with a huge dragon. Inside 1 eye of the dragon is Osama bin Laden and inside the other eye is . . . none other than George W. Bush. The entire property is spectacular and stunning. I bought one of his prints and a book on the White Temple that shows the art.

We drove through Chiang Rai - much smaller than Chiang Mai but Chiang Rai used to be the capital of the kingdom when there were multiple kingdoms in Thailand. This was the Lanna Kingdom and we visited the archelogical remains at Chiang Sean which date from the 12th centure. There was a lot of restoration work going on as it was in bad shape.

We then headed to Chiang Sean where there is a beautiful lookout of the Golden Triangle. The delta with the Mekong River (they call is Mae Khong). Across is Laos and to the left is Myanmar. The other countries are not as developed as Thailand and there was a lot of "jungle" across the rivers. We had a wonderful Thai buffet lunch at a beautiful hotel that overlooked the Mae Khong River.

There is a huge golden Buddha overlooking the Golden Triangle, elephants, and other statues. We went to the Opium Museum and I learned about the "illegal" opium trade in Thailand and Burma. I had no idea.

We then drove to Mae Sai at the Thailand-Myanmar border. This is also the northernmost point of Thailand. There was LOTS of shopping here, but all of it was like the extensive markets in Chiang Mai.

We experienced a downpour which made driving difficult but headed south and we were out of the rain soon headed back to Chiang Mai. More beautiful scenery and "Thai life discussions" with LT.

The tour was over 12 hours and I was a bit stiff from riding so I went across the street and had a wonderful Thai massage. Nothing like a Thai massage - highly recommend.

Have finished packing and off to bed as it is after midnight. Up at 7 to head to the airport to fly back to Bangkok - then to Munich - then to Krakow. What a transition - from southeast Asia to eastern Europe. A diverse and interesting trip.