Day 43 - Chiang Mai (Golden Triangle)
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Monday 19th September
Up at 6:15am to shower and pack my bag before the early morning tour pick-up. Despite breakfast not officially starting until 7am, I managed to score some toast at 6:45am to line my stomach. I shouldn't have bothered getting up so early though because the mini-van didn't arrive until 7:50am - I was starting to think I'd been forgotten!
The tour was made up of 10 people from Indonesia, the USA, France and myself, as well as our driver and tour guide. The tour guide was called 'Kuah' but he told us to call him by his nickname, 'Banana', as 'Kuah' can be pronounced with 5 different emphases in Thai, each with a different meaning! He was hysterical too, and really made the trip a lot of fun (which was good because at times it involved a lot of driving).
Our first stop was at some hot springs about an hour out of Chiang Mai, which was a big waste of time. It was a tiny hot spring that had been transformed into a tourist attraction by adding a carpark with 100s of tourist shops and cafes. I think the tour company must get a kick-back from the centre as there was really no reason for us to spend half an hour here (especially given the length of the day, and that we'd only get half an hour at the 'real' sights!)
Another hour and a quarter of driving and we arrived at the 'White Temple'. Now this was a cool temple! It was actually an independently owned temple (not built by the Church or the Government) that had been built in 1997, purely funded and designed by a famous Thai artist. It looked like something out of 'The Chronicles of Narnia', with its pure white frosting. As I had shorts on I had to adorn a white sarong to enter the temple. Unfortunately photos were prevented from being taken inside, but I wish I could show you - the murals consisted of various modern images, including Keanu Reeves from The Matrix, Batman, and even an image of the Twin Towers on September 11! If all temples were like this I'm sure a lot more people would be religious ...
Another hours drive and we arrived at a pier to board a boat which would take us on a tour of the Golden Triangle - the point at which Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. All the way to the Golden Triangle, 'Banana' had told us to 'Just say no' to drugs, as this area was well-known for its production of opium. The river was basically shaped as a Y and is where the Ruak and Mekong rivers meet. The area is designed as a 'Special Economic Zone', so there are a number of on-shore oil platforms and casinos on both the Burmese and Laos sides. It was very cool to be gliding along thinking, "On my left is Burma ... on my right is Laos ... behind me is Thailand ... and if I go up the right hand side of this river, I'll end up in China!'
We made a special stop at an island that was officially part of Laos, although it didn't require visas for us to enter. It was mainly though so tourists like us could claim to have visited Laos - we even received a little stamp with a Laos mark on it; and could send a postcard home so it could be marked with the Laos postmark. Like most tourist hotspots, the markets consisted of the usual trinkets - t-shirts, bags, magnets - with one exception: animal wines.
For demonstration purposes, there were six large vats of wine located at the market stall closest to the pier, and our guide talked us through the contents of each vat. Using a ladle, he reached into the first vat and pulled out ... a gecko! Yep, the Laos(?) ferment their wine/whiskey with animal parts, as each animal is known for its special abilities as in Chinese medicine.. For example, tigers are supposed to 'give you stamina' (wink wink), which is why the second vat contained a very large piece of a tiger's anatomy ... given its size, it's little wonder why the Chinese thought it was a good aphrodisiac! The other vats contained a turtle, snake, and even an armadillo. A number of the markets had bottles of wine for sale, each with the snake/gecko etc still inside it. Not sure if you could slip that past Customs ...
It was 2pm by now which meant time for a buffet lunch by the water. For a 'tour buffet', the food was actually quite good, a real mix of Thai, Chinese, Laos and Burmese food. I was adventurous and went for pumpkin soup (that tasted nothing like pumpkin) and bread rolls (which tasted like scones), finishing up with Thai pancakes (which could possibly have been quail eggs).
45 minutes later we were in Mae Sai, which is the overland border from Thailand to Burma. Eveytime I have entered a new country, it's been in one of two ways: either through an airport, transiting through customs; or by land, being stamped out of one country, entering no man's land for several kilometres, and then being stamped into the next country. The Thai/Burmese border consisted of a bridge - line up on foot or with your motorbike at the entrance; get stamped out; and 50m later get stamped into the new country. Underneath the bridge though there were walkways flanked with shops, which allowed tourists to get as close as they could to the official entrance of Burma. I snapped a photo of the 'Northern most point of Thailand' and 'Welcome to the Union of Myanmar signs', feeling very ... off the beaten track? Although it was well-beaten, Burma to me is somewhat of an unknown, and I felt very adventurous - and although it was only 50 metres away, there seemed to be a huge contrast between the countries. It makes you think ... the Asian continent connects with Russia, Europe, the Middle East .. from here I could on to China; or over to Bangladesh and onto Iraq; or up to Russia - it was an exciting thought! One random fact of the day: The Burmese drive on the right hand side of the road, so as soon as the Thai cross the border they also have to change the side of the road!
Sadly, it was this area where poverty was really noticeable. You know how you see the World Vision ads where the 8 year olds walk around with their baby brothers strapped on their backs, just begging for money? The border scene was very much like that. We were warned to hold tight to our bags and be very safety conscious. As soon as I alighted, a young girl tried the oldest trick in the book - thrusting a baby at me so she could, in the confusion, try to pickpocket me. Luckily I was ready for this and steered clear of her, but the time we had here was soured by these scenes. You do feel sorry for the people but if you do give them money I think it encourages a practice of begging by others and you make them reliant on it, so I never give money to beggars.
We took the bumpy road back down to Chiang Rai for our last stop at the Karen Hill Tribe village. The village consisted of about 2000 Burmese, who had fled Burma due to the fighting and turmoil, and had been helped to re-settle in Thailand. The scene was very picturesque, with young naked boys swimming in muddy lakes and running after chickens. At the back of the village, the women were set-up in their own 'bunks', crafting shawls using traditional Burmese techniques. We spoke with one lady who had about 22 rings on her neck - she was 50 and absolutely gorgeous. We learnt that they started with their first ring at 5 and had one added each year or three years until no more could fit. Some of the women also had the rings fitted to their legs (just below their knees) which I found distressing, as their legs had become deformed around it. They had a 'half-piece' which they allowed the (female) tourists to try on - it only had 16 rings but 10 seconds of it was enough for me (some of them have up to 26, weighing up to 6kg!) Several of the women also had the large earlobes, with huge circular objects placed in the lobe for which heavy 'necklaces' ('earlaces?') were attached. (It seems unfair that there is no equivalent for men - apparently, they just join the army).
I felt bad staring at them and tried instead to engage in conversation and treat them as 'normal' - conversation was difficult as they spoke their own dialect but a smile and hand gestures goes a long way! The shawls they produced were very beautiful and I ended up buying a pink one from a beautiful young girl - only $7 and I know it will come in handy in India.
A three hour drive saw us back in Chiang Mai - a long day of 13 hours in and out of the car. Not wanting to go far from the hostel, I had dinner at the night market nearby (egg and corn roti ... they put condensed milk on it before I realised, but I objected to the sugar!) and then turned in for the night.
Up at 6:15am to shower and pack my bag before the early morning tour pick-up. Despite breakfast not officially starting until 7am, I managed to score some toast at 6:45am to line my stomach. I shouldn't have bothered getting up so early though because the mini-van didn't arrive until 7:50am - I was starting to think I'd been forgotten!
The tour was made up of 10 people from Indonesia, the USA, France and myself, as well as our driver and tour guide. The tour guide was called 'Kuah' but he told us to call him by his nickname, 'Banana', as 'Kuah' can be pronounced with 5 different emphases in Thai, each with a different meaning! He was hysterical too, and really made the trip a lot of fun (which was good because at times it involved a lot of driving).
Our first stop was at some hot springs about an hour out of Chiang Mai, which was a big waste of time. It was a tiny hot spring that had been transformed into a tourist attraction by adding a carpark with 100s of tourist shops and cafes. I think the tour company must get a kick-back from the centre as there was really no reason for us to spend half an hour here (especially given the length of the day, and that we'd only get half an hour at the 'real' sights!)
Another hour and a quarter of driving and we arrived at the 'White Temple'. Now this was a cool temple! It was actually an independently owned temple (not built by the Church or the Government) that had been built in 1997, purely funded and designed by a famous Thai artist. It looked like something out of 'The Chronicles of Narnia', with its pure white frosting. As I had shorts on I had to adorn a white sarong to enter the temple. Unfortunately photos were prevented from being taken inside, but I wish I could show you - the murals consisted of various modern images, including Keanu Reeves from The Matrix, Batman, and even an image of the Twin Towers on September 11! If all temples were like this I'm sure a lot more people would be religious ...
Another hours drive and we arrived at a pier to board a boat which would take us on a tour of the Golden Triangle - the point at which Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. All the way to the Golden Triangle, 'Banana' had told us to 'Just say no' to drugs, as this area was well-known for its production of opium. The river was basically shaped as a Y and is where the Ruak and Mekong rivers meet. The area is designed as a 'Special Economic Zone', so there are a number of on-shore oil platforms and casinos on both the Burmese and Laos sides. It was very cool to be gliding along thinking, "On my left is Burma ... on my right is Laos ... behind me is Thailand ... and if I go up the right hand side of this river, I'll end up in China!'
We made a special stop at an island that was officially part of Laos, although it didn't require visas for us to enter. It was mainly though so tourists like us could claim to have visited Laos - we even received a little stamp with a Laos mark on it; and could send a postcard home so it could be marked with the Laos postmark. Like most tourist hotspots, the markets consisted of the usual trinkets - t-shirts, bags, magnets - with one exception: animal wines.
For demonstration purposes, there were six large vats of wine located at the market stall closest to the pier, and our guide talked us through the contents of each vat. Using a ladle, he reached into the first vat and pulled out ... a gecko! Yep, the Laos(?) ferment their wine/whiskey with animal parts, as each animal is known for its special abilities as in Chinese medicine.. For example, tigers are supposed to 'give you stamina' (wink wink), which is why the second vat contained a very large piece of a tiger's anatomy ... given its size, it's little wonder why the Chinese thought it was a good aphrodisiac! The other vats contained a turtle, snake, and even an armadillo. A number of the markets had bottles of wine for sale, each with the snake/gecko etc still inside it. Not sure if you could slip that past Customs ...
It was 2pm by now which meant time for a buffet lunch by the water. For a 'tour buffet', the food was actually quite good, a real mix of Thai, Chinese, Laos and Burmese food. I was adventurous and went for pumpkin soup (that tasted nothing like pumpkin) and bread rolls (which tasted like scones), finishing up with Thai pancakes (which could possibly have been quail eggs).
45 minutes later we were in Mae Sai, which is the overland border from Thailand to Burma. Eveytime I have entered a new country, it's been in one of two ways: either through an airport, transiting through customs; or by land, being stamped out of one country, entering no man's land for several kilometres, and then being stamped into the next country. The Thai/Burmese border consisted of a bridge - line up on foot or with your motorbike at the entrance; get stamped out; and 50m later get stamped into the new country. Underneath the bridge though there were walkways flanked with shops, which allowed tourists to get as close as they could to the official entrance of Burma. I snapped a photo of the 'Northern most point of Thailand' and 'Welcome to the Union of Myanmar signs', feeling very ... off the beaten track? Although it was well-beaten, Burma to me is somewhat of an unknown, and I felt very adventurous - and although it was only 50 metres away, there seemed to be a huge contrast between the countries. It makes you think ... the Asian continent connects with Russia, Europe, the Middle East .. from here I could on to China; or over to Bangladesh and onto Iraq; or up to Russia - it was an exciting thought! One random fact of the day: The Burmese drive on the right hand side of the road, so as soon as the Thai cross the border they also have to change the side of the road!
Sadly, it was this area where poverty was really noticeable. You know how you see the World Vision ads where the 8 year olds walk around with their baby brothers strapped on their backs, just begging for money? The border scene was very much like that. We were warned to hold tight to our bags and be very safety conscious. As soon as I alighted, a young girl tried the oldest trick in the book - thrusting a baby at me so she could, in the confusion, try to pickpocket me. Luckily I was ready for this and steered clear of her, but the time we had here was soured by these scenes. You do feel sorry for the people but if you do give them money I think it encourages a practice of begging by others and you make them reliant on it, so I never give money to beggars.
We took the bumpy road back down to Chiang Rai for our last stop at the Karen Hill Tribe village. The village consisted of about 2000 Burmese, who had fled Burma due to the fighting and turmoil, and had been helped to re-settle in Thailand. The scene was very picturesque, with young naked boys swimming in muddy lakes and running after chickens. At the back of the village, the women were set-up in their own 'bunks', crafting shawls using traditional Burmese techniques. We spoke with one lady who had about 22 rings on her neck - she was 50 and absolutely gorgeous. We learnt that they started with their first ring at 5 and had one added each year or three years until no more could fit. Some of the women also had the rings fitted to their legs (just below their knees) which I found distressing, as their legs had become deformed around it. They had a 'half-piece' which they allowed the (female) tourists to try on - it only had 16 rings but 10 seconds of it was enough for me (some of them have up to 26, weighing up to 6kg!) Several of the women also had the large earlobes, with huge circular objects placed in the lobe for which heavy 'necklaces' ('earlaces?') were attached. (It seems unfair that there is no equivalent for men - apparently, they just join the army).
I felt bad staring at them and tried instead to engage in conversation and treat them as 'normal' - conversation was difficult as they spoke their own dialect but a smile and hand gestures goes a long way! The shawls they produced were very beautiful and I ended up buying a pink one from a beautiful young girl - only $7 and I know it will come in handy in India.
A three hour drive saw us back in Chiang Mai - a long day of 13 hours in and out of the car. Not wanting to go far from the hostel, I had dinner at the night market nearby (egg and corn roti ... they put condensed milk on it before I realised, but I objected to the sugar!) and then turned in for the night.
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