Big day trip

Starting off

After a day of rest, massage and organising yesterday, we have a full day sightseeing today.  We had arranged a car for an excursion mirroring a typical tour by minivan.  The minivan price was THB900 pp (THB1800 total) whereas we got the car for two of us for THB1000 + driver THB400 + fuel ending up at THB400 (same total of THB1800).  A private car tour covering half the destinations excluding the further ones would have cost THB1000 pp (THB2000 total).  I reckon we did well.

After breakfast, we walked to the nearby shop where the driver was based, for an 0815 start.  My idea was for us to go to the faraway places first and the nearby places last, so that we could do the latter ourselves tomorrow by Grab car if the day became too long.

 

The driver agreed but suggested that we take a stop at Choui Fong tea plantation as we leave town rather than on the way back.  I agreed as I didn’t think it would take long.  It made a nice break on the one hour trip to Mae Sai.  We didn’t need any food so soon after breakfast but thought a cake would go nicely with the tea at the plantation.  It was a beautiful setting with both the tea bushes and the modern boxy teahouse.

 

Border views

Mae Sai is a border town with a crossing to Tachileik in Myanmar.  We saw the tall building at the checkpoint from afar and then drove through a covered bazaar (!!) and uphill to a viewpoint.  The country’s border follows the Mae Sai river below us.  Tachileik seems modern and developed compared to a lot of Myanmar a few years ago.

We had been here some 17 years on a similar day trip but from Chiang Mai; it was long and unenjoyable partially due to horribly wet weather.  It is possible to cross into Myanmar here but it didn’t matter as I had already been to Myanmar twice and to more interesting places than just a border town.

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From Mae Sai, we continued a little south-east to the Golden Triangle area at Sop Ruak.  The area was infamous as an opium growing region spread across three countries:  Thailand, Myanmar and Laos.  From the hillside viewpoint and the waterfront, we could see the three countries.  Both the Myanmar and Laos side have casinos coming up built by the Thai and China respectively.  Actually make that a mega-casino development on the Laos side, supposedly with an airport in progress as well.  So it looks like a new vice has superseded opium.

Quite appropriately, Sop Ruak has an opium museum.  It explains the seasonal cycles, tapping of the latex, smoking paraphernalia and derivates (morphine and heroin).  It was a highly informative museum.

As it was around midday, we took lunch nearby before driving back to the Chiang Rai area to continue our sightseeing.

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Long-neck Karen

First up was a village comprising of four tribes.  To be honest, I think people only go to see the Karen tribe whose women have brass coils around their necks.  They’re commonly known as the Long Neck people.  There’s also the Akha who are quite distinctive with their costumes.

The village looked and felt like a real village that had been open up for show, but putting together four tribes which probably wouldn’t be together.  There were wild pigs and chickens running around.  The villagers were making and selling souvenirs.

Back in the evening when I compared the scene with photos from 17 years ago, I realised how unkempt and dirty the place was back then.  The THB300 fee that we paid to come in seems to be utilised to some good effect, perhaps.

I didn’t get the feel that it was a human zoo where the Karen women were being put on show.  While I don’t agree with their practice of putting heavy coils (over 2kg sometimes) on their neck, it appears to be their norm even for some children.  As with practices like these (eg. Chinese foot binding), people may accept it as their norm through their upbringing … or from our point of view, brainwashed into thinking it is normal?

I noticed that homes in the surrounding area all had crosses and there was a church too.  I suspect that the area is inhabited by ethnic minorities who weren’t Buddhists and were more open to missionaries converting them.

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Black, Blue and White

At Black House (Baan Dam), we had a taste of Chiang Rai’s mass tourism.  It seemed like all of China was there.  Despite the crowds, we enjoyed walking through the complex of largely black wooden buildings filled with buffalo horns, crocodile hides, cow hides, bear hides, phallic representations etc.  It was a strange place but a worthwhile visit.

Next up was the Blue Temple (Wat Rong Suea Ten).  It looked gorgeous from the outside but the sun was wrong for photos of its facade and the large statues at the gate.  The inside was gorgeous too; it had a very serene feel to it being in blue.

As the White Temple (Wat Rong Khun) closes at 1700, we made our way to the other side of Chiang Rai promptly.  Unfortunately due to a monthly staff meeting we had just missed the special closing time of 1500 today.

It looked stunning from the outside.  Coming back next morning, we realised that the inside wasn’t as special; no photos were permitted inside either.

We returned back to our accommodation around 1615, eight hours after setting off.  The day had gone quickly and it didn’t feel arduous at all.  We never had to rush but didn’t dilly-dally.  It was so much better than doing a seat-in-van tour and was in fact a little cheaper.  The only sight we had missed out on was a temple that was joined to a cave, with monkeys around.  I’ve seen a few of those temples in my lifetime.

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New experiences

In the evening, we had two new experiences.

• First up was Khao Soi, a northern Thai / Lao / Myanmar version of Laksa.  It was a noodles in a curry soup, topped with crispy noodles with some pickled greens.  Super delicious.
• Thailand has a reputation for being the place where people fall into temptation and become unfaithful to their loved ones at home.  We witnessed it first hand after dinner as we stumbled on a cat cafe with many beautiful cats. They weren’t Asian cats (too small and skinny) but a mix of Western regular and pedigree felines.  We ended up having a cuppa there next day.