On this day we headed to the Golden Triangle. After checking out of our hotel in Mae Sai, we made our way back to the markets near the border crossing. We’d promised the owner of Cowboy Coffee (I’ve forgotten his name now) that we would go for coffee there.
We found our way back to Cowboy Coffee, and the owner was happy to see us. We found a seat deep in the back of the cafe. Crystal sat and surfed while I explored. There are so many interesting details to this place, it is worth visiting just to see it. The coffee is good, and the friendly, eccentric owner is more than willing to show you around, pointing out various details, including the direction of Myanmar.
Unfortunately we didn’t have time to wait for his other restaurant to open, as we wanted to get on the road to the Golden Triangle, and to the Hall of Opium.
We made our way out of the market and into the street, where Crystal decided she wanted a coffee for the road, so we went to Above Coffee.
We also got some street food near the entrance. The food is quite different than what we often see, and we bought some vegetarian samosas, what seemed like corn fritters (maybe made from chickpeas?), as well as a couple of round, crispy, deep fried fry bread of some sort.
My favourites were the samosas, which is not a surprise, and the fritters were good too. The round bread wasn’t my favourite, but it was okay.
We got on the road to the Golden Triangle, which wasn’t too far away; only 25 kilometres.
Our first stop was at the Hall of Opium. I will do that as a separate post, just because there are so many photos from today that Facebook won’t allow more than 80 photos per post.
Is that too many? I don’t know. Would you rather see more photos and flip through them, or just have me pick what I think are the best ones? I am often surprised by which photos get the most likes and comments, so I figure I should let you decide the ones you like, and just post more.
As an aside, we don’t just post everything for friends, family, and fans. We post things for our own benefit too. We’ve already had many of our adventures come up in memories, and it’s nice to look back on the things we’ve done. Sometimes we forget just how much we have done!
Golden Triangle
After the Hall of Opium, (which is a great museum, by the way) we made our way to the Golden Triangle. It’s a spot at the confluence of the Mekhong and Ruak River, where Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar share a border. The area is notorious for drug smuggling, with the main product having been opium.
It’s interesting, but it has the air of a tourist trap, honestly. It is worth seeing, not worth much more than an hour of your time. The whole place seems to be built for selfies.
The nearby Phra That Doi Pu Khao: Temple of the Ancient Buddha of Chiang Saen, is supposed to be worth visiting, so you can extend your time in the area, if you like. We wanted to make it to Chiang Rai at a reasonable time, which was still a couple hours away and it was already mid-afternoon.
For me, temples of most kinds aren’t just a quick walk around, a comment “that was neat” and we’re on our way. No, I seem to have this urge to document every fascinating little detail I find. Buddhist temples are full of fascinating details, I can assure you! I can spend hours and hours in them!
The trip to Chiang Rai was uneventful, but we saw the countryside. No doubt there are many more things to do in the area, but it just means we have to come back.
Chiang Rai
We easily found the Hi ChiangRai Hotel, and it turned out to be a really nice place, located close to the bar district and famous clock tower, which has a music and light show every night at 7, 8, and 9 p.m.
We did a quick walk around this district to check it out, and also to find a place to eat. There is a good pizza place I had been to before, but we struck out there because it was too busy and had no seats for us. We contemplated Accha, Indian restaurant beside it, and after our walk, ended up there. It was some of the best Indian food we’ve had in Thailand.
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