Central River House Resort Chiang Rai

... killed at birth - which would have made a big difference to both our families, and that because the Thai government doesn't recognise hill tribes as Thai citizens they are not eligible for education and other social services. The reason for this is that if the Thai govt does recognise them and give them benefits, they fear an influx of tribes people from neighbouring countries. Tricky issues. We bought some handicrafts from the museum shop and then went for lunch at the Cabbages ...

... and weird dancing! We found out why people in this area say Fish and Chip rather than Chips...we had Fish and Chip...see for yourselves....

Back to the hotel to pack our bags for and early-ish start tomorrow morning and the 2 hour bus to Chiang Khong on the Laos border.
This could be the last update for a few days or maybe even weeks...I honestly don’t know...lets hope we make it through the bus journey!!

... to leave the next day) Emma, Katy, Megan and Larissa- one brit, two Aussies and an American; overall, a really good decent bunch of people. Because it was Megan's last night, we allwent out for a drink in downtown Chiang Rai. We road in on peds and taxi, me on the back of Juan's ped; it was a gloious feeling, speeding through the night,windthrough my hair, totally free!Chiang Rai,was really nice, at the commercial centre there was this large open eating food ...

... half of the boat, they weren't laughing then. Arrived in Chiang rai 4 hours later. p.s it's our wedding anniversary today and he hasn't bought me anything (sorry, forgot about the elephant keyring). We're even in twin beds at the hotel, nice to see romance isn't dead. Moving on again tomorrow, we have hired a car and hope to get to the Mekong river and the furthest point north in Thailand (Golden triangle).

... scarce. The corners tilted at slight angles, the rubber didn't have to grip so tough. Fun driving, route 118 around Mae Suai. If only I had my dream car, an Evo that I could heel toe from dawn till dusk. In the light aluminum Vios I drove, swaying about round and round the bends. Like a sampan, for the very first time.

... could get very aggressive so we decided to trek the mountain without the food. Probably a good idea. From the ground we saw some monkeys high in the trees but we didn't see any on our climb up. At the bottom of the mountain there was a pond with carp, which we fed. We passed one group on the way up the stairs that were coming down and they assured us that the cave was close and that it was worth it to continue. It was very pretty inside the cave, I think we ...

From Chiang Rai, Thailand After the last long entry, I planned to just have a photo essay of the week's activities - trekking in the hill tribes near Luang Prabang; meeting new friends; saying goodbye to the Mekong and Laos; and checking out what northern Thailand has to offer. But there's a few things I wanted to mention, which you can skip if you want, and just check out all the photos and captions. The blog may seem too political for a vacation, but ...

... t often careen around the hairpin turns. He played it safe, thank goodness. The scenery was beautiful, heavily forested, small villages, many motorbikes, some with women and children riding in their laps, and several wats or temples. We stopped half way for bathroom break in a small village. They did have a gas station that was out of the stone age, like the Flintstones. There were three clear tanks with different gasoline type fluids and clear hoses to fill ...

... me. when we (half the family came to see us off, and have an afternoon in nong khai as well) got to the border, there was a snaking line consisting of me, pooki and about ten laotian family members breezing through the checkpoints (me chuckling to myself at the bewildered and dirty looks from westerners queued up for stamps). one trainride later, i parted from pooki who flew back to chiang rai, and into a storm at work which ended up with her quitting. i stayed on ...

... them on it when they started using them as food preservatives in export food products, though. The dairy industry anywhere in the world is no better of course. Livestock feed routinely includes antibiotics. Still, Thai conceptions of health are quirky. For some reason, Thais get a form of diabetes that seems to come and go. It's typically a contributory cause of death also, usually one of four for some reason. Maybe they're ...