It has been great fun to do because I have learnt a lot of neat tricks on Blogspot and Google maps. I would specially like to thank the master himself Andy for his great tips about geotagging i Blogger. But also found a lot of interesting stuff about my journey that I didn’t know.
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| Golden Triangle Sign |
After a some what quiet evening in Chiang Rai (where I unfortunately got a cold because I forgot to turn the aircon off when I slept) the mini bus took us on a tour in the golden triangle.
We first stopped at the border town Mae Sai. It was a busy border town but we didn't cross the border even if we could for a small fee, it seemed that the majority of vendors were on the Thai side.
Next we went to see and very old temple. I don't know where is is but at least I have a picture. The guide rambled on about relic off buddha like he did at Doi Suthep he was a very nice guy.
The next stop was a small hill overlooking the mighty
Mekong River where you can see both Burma and Laos.
There was a sign proclaiming Golden Triangle and some children in traditional cloth was hanging around so to supply photo opportunities for the tourists. My father’s girlfriend preached to the children that they should not to bee there but should bee in school. I don’t think they quite understood it because the also got money from the strange Falang so the equation education=money did not add up.
After that we began the journey back to Chiang Mai, but the Mini Bus broke down so we had to stop in Chiang Rai to get it fixed. It was a dusty warm afternoon and when the mini bus was fixed the horror race began. For some reason the Thai chauffeur and the guide was in a big hurry to get home to Chiang Mai (properly to get home for dinner) because the driver drove that poor mini bus up that mountain road like a bat out off hell but as it got dark and the mountain road was quite busy with big trucks that we had to overtake it got real real scary. The thing about overtaking a truck on a dark mountain road where you can't see what is coming against you around the next corner is only for Thai drivers to look at. I decided that to look out of the front windshield was too scary for me and I looked out the side window hoping for the best. The next event had such a surreal and eerie a texture (visual, sound and smell) that I discarded the memory as something from a night mare but when I read about warm springs in the Chiang Mai area I looked for a possible match with my route and found the place maybe its calles Wiang Pa Pao. (I think I will revisit this spot next time I come this way)Wiang Pa Pao
We pulled in to some hot springs; I stumbled out of the mini wan my legs were shaky because of the scary trip. There was a lot off food vendors and Thai eating here in the middle of the mountains. The smell off sulfur made this dark place with the usual loud music from some off the vendors gave the scene an eerie feel.
We ate some eggs that had been boiled in the springs and headed for Chaing Mai so more scary mountain road.
I was so happy when we reached Chaing Mai for one more relaxing day there before a night train to Bangkok. My cold was not over so the air condition in the train was hard on me. But I had loved the trip up north and knew that I would return another time.
to Golden Triangel
The other chapters in this serie.
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