Thailand - Mae Sai Border Town and Golden Triangle (Wednesday, November 11th, 2015)

As we sat on our balcony at the Le Meridian, Chiang Rai, last night, we realized that you never see stars in Thailand.  Were not sure if it is the humidity or pollution or lack of altitude, but there are no stars visible at all.  This is very strange for us as living in Colorado we have so, so many stars in the night sky!

We got up this morning and walked around the grounds of the hotel.  It is truly beautiful!

Standing on the bridge that we can see from our room

The pool area

Another view of the pool area.  It is a three tier infinity pool

Looking from on of the ponds, out to the fire pit, and then the river

From the fire pit looking back toward our room

A beautiful wooden boat on the river

Looking back toward our room

Walking to breakfast through the ponds, the dining room is straight ahead

Steve enjoying his coffee on our morning walk through the hotel grounds

The gorgeous infinity pool

This is the tree that we could see from our room.  It's huge!

The reception area

We learned that Chiang Rai is a city that remained completely isolated from the world until the 1920s. It is about an hour drive from the border with Burma (now known as Myanmar)  We traveled to the border town of Mae Sai, at the northern tip of Thailand where we had the option to enter Myanmar. Crossing into Myanmar requires a visa that can be obtained at the local border crossing. For those that chose to cross into Burma, it cost a total of 1400 baht (~$40 US) per person which included our visa, transportation and a local guide to keep an eye out for us.  Burma is a very poor country whose borders have been closed for many years.  The border town that we visited is actually quite prosperous compared to the rest of the country.  

There is a bridge over the river between Thailand and Myanmar, and this bridge is known as "No Man's Land" because it really doesn't belong to either country.  The interesting thing is that Burmese people drive on the right side of the road and Thai people drive on the left side of the road, so as cars go over the crowded bridge, they have to switch lanes at some point before entering the other country.

Workers crossing the border to go to work for the day

The immigration building on the Thai side of the border

Approaching immigrations from the Thailand side

A vendor crossing the border to sell goods in Thailand

Leaving Myanmar

It was quite a job for Mike getting everyone through the checkpoint so Steve took over for a minute to make sure we didn't lose anyone...we are glad Mike does this!

No Man's Land between Thailand and Myanmar. Notice the lack car and the white van coming head on as they attempt to switch the side of the road that they are driving on

Entering Myanmar

Traffic everywhere

We're almost there!

The traffic crossing the border is crazy!

Our tuk tuk transportation in Myanmar

Our first stop in Myanmar was a monastery for girls.  Many of these girls are dropped off by their families who can't afford to feed them, because they know they will be cared for here.  Others choose monk-hood on their own.

The female monks have to shave their heads just like the male monks

A monastery for girls

The monastery enjoys having visitors because of the donations we bring with us

The country of Myanmar is larger than Thailand but there are not as many people.  Thailand has about 66 million people and Myanmar has about 40 million. Myanmar opened it's borders in 2010 so the ability to visit the country is very new.  The border is about 30-40 miles from Chiang Rai, but it takes about 1 -1/14 hours to get there as the roads are relatively small between the towns. 

We traveled around the town of Mae Sai in tuk tuks.

Motorcycle tuk tuks, none the less!

And we're off to the races!

A man in Myanmar delivering ice

Our walk through the streets of Myanmar

Our very nice took took driver

Clothes washing day

More pictures of wash day in Myanmar

A view from the hill top

Traffic in Myanmar

Downtown Mae sai

Parking looks a little different than in the U.S.

Tuktuk craziness!

Steve waves to a cute family, and they are waving back

Looks like a produce vendor is making a delivery

Typical housing in Myanmar.  Notice the barbed wire gate they close at night

Extra security is needed if you have a nicer than normal house

And just like in Thailand, chickens are everywhere, even on the grill

More chickens

And more chickens

A snack store, and our Myanmar security escort

Aren't these kids adorable?

A school in Mae Sai

If you look closely in the school window you can see the kids hard at work

Walking through the streets of Myanmar

Another building with high security

More traffic

Cute kids playing in their front yard

More cute kids.  I have a soft spot for cute kids!

Tachileik Shwedagon Pagoda

A man juicing sugar cane

Interesting fact about Myanmar;  the woman that was elected as the leader of the country can not actually be their leader because she is married to a foreigner, and they passed a law that anyone who is married to a foreigner can not lead the country.  Therefore, she appointed one of her people to lead the country.

Myanmar was a very interesting country, but probably the most impressive thing we did there was visit a daycare.  The children of the daycare sang a song to us in english, then we sang "You are my Sunshine" to them, then together we all sang "Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes".  These children were so cute, and so advanced in their english for living in such a under developed country.  We then had the opportunity to provide some support to the daycare, which was a true honor for all of us.

These kids speak English amazingly well

Such sweet kids!

The yellow on this girls face is commonly worn in Myanmar.  It is thought to make your skin very beautiful

Crossing back into Thailand

As we have driven around the last few days, we have noticed how different road construction is here.  If they need to close one side of the road for construction, they just move the cars over to the other side using cones, and then the drivers just drive on the other side without any barriers or cones between the lanes.  It is such a cheap and easy way to do it.  It requires people to pay close attention which all appear to do.

We then got back in our bus and ascended to the hilltop viewpoint to see the famous “Golden Triangle” of Southeast Asia, which is the meeting point of the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. The locals call it “Sop Ruak”, since this is also where the Mekong meets the Ruak River.   

We took four farm trucks about 10 miles into the farm country near the Golden Triangle, there we enjoyed a locally prepared lunch in a nearby farming village. Just a wonderful basic meal!

A fun ride in a farm truck!

Farm workers on the way to our lunch venue

We arrive at our lunch venue in our farm trucks

And of course Steve has to check out the engine, which was single cylinder diesel. 

Everywhere we went, we were greeting by vendors selling their goods

Hot towels to wash our hands before lunch

Wow, Steve and all of the beautiful ladies.  How did he get so lucky?

Dinner on the grill

What a fabulous, traditionally prepared meal!

Mike says their mango dessert is better than the banana, but I thought the banana was really good!

The happy house (or some people might call it the restroom)

Aren't these sinks great?

Back in the tuk tuk for our ride back to the bus

The farm lands in the northern region are so beautiful!

Rice fields

On our way down the mountain we stopped at a rice field for a farming lesson

Rice on the stalk

Rice plants are pretty tall

These little huts are everywhere in farmland.  The farmers use them for taking breaks and eating lunch

The huts are right in the rice fields

Look at the construction

Lunch plates, ready for the next meal

A grill, a pan and a hat as well

This rooster has the prettiest colors

When we returned from our lunch, we visited the House of Opium Museum while Mike got our passports stamped for our entry into Laos.  

Once we finished in the museum, we took a water taxi from Thailand over to a market in Laos, on the small island of Don Sao. On our way, we saw the houses of the river gypsys.  These are people who move up and down the river hunting the giant catfish. These catfish can reach in excess of 1000 pounds.  

This huge Buddha stands right in the Golden Triangle

Our water taxi awaits

Getting on the water taxi to go to Laos

It was a boatful

Life vests are required!  We're ready to go

Look at the temple shining on the hill

So pretty

The water gypsys move around on the shores in search of the giant catfish

More water gypsys

On the shore of Laos

Once we were in Laos, Mike took a group of us to try some local whiskey with all kinds of weird stuff in it including gensing, snake, scorpions, tiger organs and gecko.  Of course, Steve and I had to try it.  We both chose to try the one with the snake in it. It was fine, but nothing we needed any more of!   We then enjoyed some leisure time at the lively markets before returning to Thailand. 

We're in the Laos market

Whiskey with gecko

Whiskey with snake

Cheers!

And down the hatch.  Steve tried it too, but I didn't get a picture

Scorpion whiskey

Of course we had to try the local beer of Laos while we were there.  I was really pretty good!

The marketplace in Laos

Handbag Anyone?

Gambling is illegal in Thailand, but there are casinos available in Laos

Another water taxi

Back in Thailand

Our passport stamp for Laos and the Golden Triangle

Our passport stamp for Myanmar

This is the national flower of Thailand, it is called the Golden Shower.  It is a beautiful tree.

On our way back to the hotel, Mike had the bus driver stop at the night market and let some of us out.  About 8 of us got off at the night market to look around and have some dinner.   We were all on our own for dinner tonight, so this seemed like a perfect option.  

The night market in Chiang Rai

Parking at the night market

Every kind of food you could want....  Very fresh

Or very fried

We chose very fresh. It was delicious!  Chris and Helen joined us, but I didn't get a picture of them.

As we were eating, the electricity went out in most of the food stalls

They slowly started lighting candles

Soon they were back to business as usual, only by candle light

The ice cream man!  You can have your ice cream in a cone, or in a half of a melon.  We elected  to get the melon.

Our melon bowl for 45 baht or $1.25 US.  It was really delicious! 

When we finished our shopping and dinner we grabbed a tuk-tuk back to the hotel.  Mike said that we should be able to get one for between 80 and 120 baht back to Le Meridien.  We got ours for 100 baht after a bit of negotiating, which Steve enjoyed.

Our tuk tuk driver

Steve pays for our ride.  100 baht for two or about $3 US for a 20 minute ride!

As we walked through the grounds of our hotel making our way back to our wonderful room, we talked about the incredible day we had. In short, we visited three countries, went back in the very rural parts of Thailand and did lots of other crazy stuff!  Mike, our tour director, told us during our orientation meeting at the beginning of the trip that he would make sleeping easy as we would be exhausted......and man is that the case today!  

Just an incredible day that we will remember for a lifetime.....especially given this blog!