Yeah I know, we said we wouldn't do the tourist thing, but now it's done. And as expected it was mostly crap. The original plan was to hire a scooter and do the Chiang Mai-Chiang Rai-Lampang loop over a few days, but the smoke haze has been pretty bad so instead we opted for the one-day-14 hours tourist van experience. Here's how it went:
Stop 1: The Chiang Rai Hot Springs.
This was the most interesting thing at the springs. It was mostly cheap jewellery stores.
Stop 2: The White Temple.
This is something we wanted to see and it didn't disappoint. It was very beautiful, very strange and very dark. It was a photographic challenge for me as well. Really needed a tripod and manual fiddling.
No photography allowed inside, but on the walls were images of Harry Potter, Star Wars and just about every other popular characters you can think of. This temple was the highlight.
Stop 3: The Golden Triangle. Three countries obscured by smoke haze. And lots of talk about opium.
We took a slow boat ride on the Mekong River.
I did finally get to try some Beerloa. 10:30am on an empty stomach, it was still pretty good.
Wanna buy a suitcase?
Some things I didn't want to see. Gecko, Scorpion, Ginseng, Snake and Tiger Penis whiskey.
Stop 4: Karen Hill Tribe - Longnecks
Personally, I hated this. These people are treated like circus freaks and have been reduced to posing for photos and begging you to buy one of their souveneirs to make a living. They looked really uncomfortable. There has to be a better way.
So this is all you get and only because her music was very good.
The Karen village.
You call that a bong?? Our guide, Mr Banana, telling us this is not a bong....
Not a chook-chaser.
It was a long hot day.....
Stop 1: The Chiang Rai Hot Springs.
This was the most interesting thing at the springs. It was mostly cheap jewellery stores.
Stop 2: The White Temple.
This is something we wanted to see and it didn't disappoint. It was very beautiful, very strange and very dark. It was a photographic challenge for me as well. Really needed a tripod and manual fiddling.
No photography allowed inside, but on the walls were images of Harry Potter, Star Wars and just about every other popular characters you can think of. This temple was the highlight.
Stop 3: The Golden Triangle. Three countries obscured by smoke haze. And lots of talk about opium.
We took a slow boat ride on the Mekong River.
I did finally get to try some Beerloa. 10:30am on an empty stomach, it was still pretty good.
Some things I didn't want to see. Gecko, Scorpion, Ginseng, Snake and Tiger Penis whiskey.
Stop 4: Karen Hill Tribe - Longnecks
Personally, I hated this. These people are treated like circus freaks and have been reduced to posing for photos and begging you to buy one of their souveneirs to make a living. They looked really uncomfortable. There has to be a better way.
So this is all you get and only because her music was very good.
The Karen village.
You call that a bong?? Our guide, Mr Banana, telling us this is not a bong....
Not a chook-chaser.
It was a long hot day.....
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