Tour of Northern Thailand

Wasn't feeling well when i jumped on the tour bus at 7am having had just 3 hours sleep, so i put my sun glasses on and fell asleep on the way to the first destination.

Fortunately, the French Canadian guys with their Thai girlfriends sitting next to me, realised i was hungover and left me alone..

First stop was the hot springs in Chiang Rai. This was a bit of a tourist trap..apparently you can boil an egg in the water in a few mintues...but i didnt bother.. it was a good stop to get some breakfast & a coffee though...




The next stop was the 'White temple'. This was a Buddhist temple built by an artist with his own money partly in honour of the king of Thailand and partly to put his town, Chiang Rai on the map. It was absolutely AMAZING...more a work of art than a functioning temple..



In front of the main housing there are sculptures which depict scenes of hell, with the inside of the main building depicting heaven (unfortunately photography was not allowed inside):


The artist had even built a 'golden toilet' where i naturally relieved myself from the previous evening's excesses :




Next we went to the Golden Triangle. This was the former opium producing region in Thailand which was since cleared by the Thai army. They say however, that opium production still happens in the jungles of this region. It is called the Golden Triangle as it is where Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) and Laos meet and the opium produced there was traded using solid gold bars to purchase them ..

The others went on a boat trip on the Mekong for 1 hour, but as i was hung over and was planning on travelling through part of Laos on the Mekong later that week, i declined and hung around taking a few photos..there was a huge Golden Buddha statue on the Thai side :





When everyone returned, we visited the northern most point of Thailand and then a Hill tribe. Both were real tourist traps but the Hill tribe was interesting. Hill tribes in Northern Thailand have fled persecution in neighbouring countries such as China and Burma and so settled in Thailand but have no identity documents so are stuck in their village compounds. The tribe we visited were the 'Karen' tribe also known as the 'long neck and long ear'. The women wear very heavy brass rings around their necks which press down on their collar bones lengthening their necks. This is apparently to make them unattractive to men from other tribes :

Fortunately about 200 THB (GBP 4.30) from everyone on the tour went to the hill tribe & they supplemented their income by weaving cloths and other items ....well the women did, the men just appeared to hang around playing football...




In the left photo you can see the long ears..


I must admit i didn't feel good taking photos of them like animals in a zoo, but they smiled and obliged when i asked...i didn't hang around too long though..

The journey back was a gruelling 3.5 hours and i joked with Mr Kitty, the driver about holidays. He said the only time he got to take a holiday was when he was ill...poor chap..a lot of people in Thailand don't get to take any holidays, which underscores how lucky we are in the west...

The Canadian guys John and Christian and their girlfriends Nook(ie?) and Kat were also trying to persuade me to go boozing with them that night, but i declined as i really needed a rest...so spent a quiet night watching movies in my room...