Sawat dee Ka....... after the Chiang Mai mountain adventures, which included trekking throught king cobra, black widow and venom-spitting cobra territory (and surprisingly close to tiger and elephant land too, just a couple of mountains away), under diluvial rains, sleeping in a village somewhere in those mountains, drinking countless cans of be...

Chiang Rai lies on the Mae Kok River, we know, we've been over it at least twice; once when we left for the north and the other time when we made our first Cash and Carry trip in years and believe it or not it was to Makro. If you must visit wats this is not likely to be your first choice of destination but then some of us have more imagination....

I aboot to leave Thailand as I'm in Chiang Khong, on the border of Laos. Just have to catch a boat apparently to cross the river and then i'm in Laos...yeehaw! Will be making my way back to southern Thailand though, the islands, in a few weeks..after i make my way through Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. I spent a couple days in Chiang Rai...had a l...

I got an email from a friend I haven't heard from for a year or so asking how we are. Here is part of the answer I sent him: My family - mainly good. Kanchana (wife) is pregnant and we'll have a baby in another few weeks. Vava (daughter, 11 years old) is good and about to start High School. She has just done some tests and we hope she can get in...

Went on an amazing trek for a few days into the hills to visit some hilltribe people of the Lisu and Akha people. Everyone smiles and waves at you in Northern Thailand. It just goes to show that you don't need lots of material things to be happy. Leeches were a problem in some places but I would recomend this place in a heart beat. I now know 4 ...

I got off the ferry in Chiang Khong and walked up to the window at the little border station by the river. The visa was free, but the guy hassled me a little before he gave it to me because I didn't have any onward tickets out of the country. That could prove to be a problem when I try to re-enter the country from Cambodia later, but I'll cross ...

Just a quick overnight in Chiang Rai to restock on travel food, clean off the jungle grunge and buy more prescriptions. You gotta love the "over the counter" availability of drugs outside of the U.S! We restocked all our antibiotics and picked up anti-parasite drugs for less than the cost of a co-payment back home! We even spent the extra money ...

Next move it to the Laos border... but our lazy couple decide that rather than face the long and arduous journey to the border in 1 day... they would split it into two legs. This necessitated a stop in the city of Chiang Rai. The guide books did not have anything special to say about Chiang Rai... but perhaps our couple can eek out a little fun ...

We spent the holidays in Chiang Rai, about 3 hours north of Chiang Mai. It is a smaller city in a more rural setting. The countryside was even more stunning. We had decided it would be nice to stay in a homier setting than a stark hotel room for Christmas so Dane found a rental home online. We were given a daily rate so we could stay for as litt...

After a quick goodbye to Laos and a short ferry ride across the Mekong River, we took our first steps into Thailand. Another privilege for being American, we didn't have to buy visas to stay in the country. We had a quick breakfast and decided to hop on the bus to Chiang Rai. It was much more urban than we imagined, lots of concrete and cars. Ou...