Chang Mai to Chang Rai
Trip Start
Feb 07, 2007
1
6
38
Trip End
Mar 20, 2007
Chang Rai,
Thailand
Monday, February 12, 2007
Thaton is within eye shot of the Myanmar border and a very sensitive area as it's one of the hot spots for drug smuggling. There is an army base just outside of the town and the area is constantly patrolled by helicopters. The whole area is known as the golden triangle as the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos are all very close to one another at this point.
We embarked on our long tail boat for a three hour trip down the river Kok to Chaing Rai
01 Long Tail Boat
. The river is very low at this time of year and it takes a high degree of skill to manoeuvre these very fast flat bottomed boats down the waterway. There are semi submerged rocks everywhere, bits of trees growing in the river and in places the water seemed to boil as it's so shallow over the river bed. An exciting trip and those in GO8 will know exactly what I mean when I say I had the "not that fast" hairstyle again!We stopped en-route to visit the Karon Hill Tribe village - another opportunity to buy local crafts and have your picture taken with a wizened old man playing a flute! What was worse, he took it out of his mouth, wiped the end on his very grubby hands and insisted I had a go at playing it - I have probably caught something awful but I didn't dare offend him by refusing!
Another half hour on the river and we stopped to visit some caves, there are many Buddha's inside and are looked after by some monks. Our guide, like many Thai boys and men, spent 4 years as a novice monk when he was 13 - 17 so he was able to explain quite a bit about the meaning of the various Buddha's we saw.
Next stop - our hotel for the night, The Legend Resort Hotel
02 Bridge over the river
. Very nice but somewhat eclipsed by The Chedi. They had however made a special effort for the "Honeymooners" and we arrived to complimentary fresh fruit and our bed was decorated with two hearts laid out in pink rose petals! Ahh. After a short swim and relax we headed for town and the night market - Like Chang Mai night market and Sunday market this one had much the same on offer so we decided to grab some food at one of the stalls. We started with a little snack which we watched being cooked - no idea what it was called but it was a like a very thin, small oval pancake, cooked on one side, which then had raw beaten egg poured on it, followed by a small spoonful of minced "meat" and a shake of some fish sauce and chill pepper. It was then rolled up like a cigarette - and was delicious. Along side that he made tiny sweet pancakes the size of the top of a small water glass, these had a blob of something white and sweet on top with a little chopped fruit peel. They were also good but a bit sweet for me. We walked past, but decided to give a miss to the Chaing Rai Insects food stall, I kid you not they had a selection of crispy bugs that included Silk Worm Pupae, House Crickets, Mole Crickets and Giant Water Bugs - Yum Yum, we settled instead for Tom Yum hot and sour soup - it was very hot and spicy but good. The food stalls were packed, I am beginning to wonder if Thai's cook food at home at all; they seem to constantly eat at these outdoor market stalls. In the middle of it all some beautiful young Thai dancers appeared on a stage and performed several traditional dances.Out by 6.45 tomorrow - we cross the border to Laos.
