On Sunday we got back from our last big vacation of the school year. We had a week off work which came at a great time! This time, we were travelling with a big group of people (7) but everyone got on well and we had a blast!
After leaving HCMC and hitting up the Subway at the Bangkok Airport, we flew to Chiang Rai in northern Thailand. This was the first time we'd ever been there. Chiang Rai is pretty small, but is not without the delicious Thai food that I've come to love. If I ever moved to Thailand, I'm pretty confident that I would eat pad thai every day and not get sick of it.
On our first full day in Chiang Rai, we rented motorbikes to drive to the Golden Triangle area (the region where Thailand, Laos, and Burma all converge into an imaginary "golden" triangle). It took almost 2 hours to drive there, but the road was great... straight, not much traffic, and lovely scenery. The actual place where the 3 countries meet is somewhere in the water accessible by boat. We didn't end up seeing that, but we decided to drive to Mae Sai, at the border of Thailand/Burma instead.
Upon arrival in Mae Sai, we parked the bikes and proceeded to walk across this concrete bridge over to Myanmar, aka Burma. We got stamped out of Thailand, brought our passports to the Myanmar immigration office, took photos, and paid some money to receive a Myanmar entry permit in exchange for our Canadian passports (which were held at the office, ready for pick up when we departed the country). The whole process was easy and pretty cool because we got to officially visit Burma (country #26)! We could have stayed within the specified geographic region of Burma for 14 days but we only stayed for the afternoon. If you want to travel to other parts of Burma, you need a proper entry visa which you must arrange in advance.
The Burmese border town of Tachileik was interesting. There is a decent market right near the border entrance where we went shopping. After spending some Thai baht in the market, we decided to hire tuk tuks to bring us on a touristy trek around the city.
The first stop on our tuk tuk ride was a Burmese restaurant. Actually, it wasn't officially part of the tour, but we were so hungry that we asked the drivers to bring us to somewhere good to eat! We were the only people in the restaurant, and were served an interesting and delicious meal. We got a complimentary plate of vegetables, as well as dill soup. At our table, we ordered papaya salad which was vinegary and much better than the papaya salad in Vietnam in my opinion.
The next stops on the tour were a temple (not too exciting), and then the Wat Phra That Doi - a golden stupa on a big hill overlooking the town. Around it were statues for every day of the week. Some people at the temple showed us how to do the water ritual at the Sunday statue (it was Sunday). You make a wish 3 times, then pour water 3 times over various parts of the statue. It was interesting!
We also opted to visit the Karen long-necked women tribe, which was a total tourist trap. It was interesting to see the women wearing gold rings around their necks. The rings weigh their shoulders down so that they appear to have really long necks (a symbol of beauty). I felt kind of awkward at the village since it was pretty obvious that they were just trying to get money from tourists!
The afternoon in Burma was a unique experience that none of us expected. I still think it was pretty neat that we got to visit a new country! Only 4 more to go before reaching 30, and only less than a year to do it. Do you think I can do it?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On our final day in Chiang Rai we drove the motorbikes to the White Temple. This is a temple unlike any I've seen before. It has a very modern design, as it was built in 1997 and still under construction. Inside the temple is a mural with characters like Spiderman, Batman, Neo from the Matrix, etc. On the outside it is totally white, and leading up to the entrance are sculptures of hands reaching up along the pathway... kind of creepy!
After visiting the White Temple, we hopped on a local bus for the 2.5 hour ride to Chiang Khong, the city on the border of Thailand and Laos. You visit immigration, go through, and buy a ticket for a boat that will lead you across the river to Laos, where you disembark and apply for a visa on arrival.
Keep reading for part 2 of the trip... Laos!
After leaving HCMC and hitting up the Subway at the Bangkok Airport, we flew to Chiang Rai in northern Thailand. This was the first time we'd ever been there. Chiang Rai is pretty small, but is not without the delicious Thai food that I've come to love. If I ever moved to Thailand, I'm pretty confident that I would eat pad thai every day and not get sick of it.
On our first full day in Chiang Rai, we rented motorbikes to drive to the Golden Triangle area (the region where Thailand, Laos, and Burma all converge into an imaginary "golden" triangle). It took almost 2 hours to drive there, but the road was great... straight, not much traffic, and lovely scenery. The actual place where the 3 countries meet is somewhere in the water accessible by boat. We didn't end up seeing that, but we decided to drive to Mae Sai, at the border of Thailand/Burma instead.
Upon arrival in Mae Sai, we parked the bikes and proceeded to walk across this concrete bridge over to Myanmar, aka Burma. We got stamped out of Thailand, brought our passports to the Myanmar immigration office, took photos, and paid some money to receive a Myanmar entry permit in exchange for our Canadian passports (which were held at the office, ready for pick up when we departed the country). The whole process was easy and pretty cool because we got to officially visit Burma (country #26)! We could have stayed within the specified geographic region of Burma for 14 days but we only stayed for the afternoon. If you want to travel to other parts of Burma, you need a proper entry visa which you must arrange in advance.
The Burmese border town of Tachileik was interesting. There is a decent market right near the border entrance where we went shopping. After spending some Thai baht in the market, we decided to hire tuk tuks to bring us on a touristy trek around the city.
The first stop on our tuk tuk ride was a Burmese restaurant. Actually, it wasn't officially part of the tour, but we were so hungry that we asked the drivers to bring us to somewhere good to eat! We were the only people in the restaurant, and were served an interesting and delicious meal. We got a complimentary plate of vegetables, as well as dill soup. At our table, we ordered papaya salad which was vinegary and much better than the papaya salad in Vietnam in my opinion.
The next stops on the tour were a temple (not too exciting), and then the Wat Phra That Doi - a golden stupa on a big hill overlooking the town. Around it were statues for every day of the week. Some people at the temple showed us how to do the water ritual at the Sunday statue (it was Sunday). You make a wish 3 times, then pour water 3 times over various parts of the statue. It was interesting!
 |
| Wat Phra That Doi |
 |
| Karen long-necked tribe village |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On our final day in Chiang Rai we drove the motorbikes to the White Temple. This is a temple unlike any I've seen before. It has a very modern design, as it was built in 1997 and still under construction. Inside the temple is a mural with characters like Spiderman, Batman, Neo from the Matrix, etc. On the outside it is totally white, and leading up to the entrance are sculptures of hands reaching up along the pathway... kind of creepy!
 |
| White Temple |
Keep reading for part 2 of the trip... Laos!
I"m betting that you will find a way to reach your goal of 30 countries before the end of the year. You go girl!
ReplyDeleteAgain, wonderful detail and descriptions...I think you should write for Conde naste travel magazine!!! :-))
ReplyDeleteThanks, family. I don't know if I can make 30 before 30 though. Time is running out and I think we're interested in going to Korea on one of the next vacations, plus maybe Australia or NZ. That's only 1 new country... we've been to pretty much all of them around this area so if I want to get to 30 I need to start stretching out further.
ReplyDelete