Robin & Karen Living the Dream: Seeing the sights of Chiang Rai

We pre-booked a full day tour to see all the sites to see in Chiang Rai and area for a delightful cost of only $75 Canadian each which included entry fees. We started the day early at 8:15 already 19°C, minivan full with couples from Germany, Columbia & France.

Our first stop was the White temple or Wat Rong Khun. Absolutely stunning! Built in1997, so many amazing photogenic spots and the fanciest bathrooms ever.

Pretty fancy!!

Next stop the Blue Temple or Wat Rong Suea Ten, also breathtaking but not as splendid.

Our next stop was the Baandam Museum also called the Black House. It consisted of many structures, all painted black and quite creepy - decked out in animal skins, including lots of crocodiles, horns,antlers, even some moose antlers. A bit dark and unsettling, but an interesting walkabout, even got to see two water buffalo grazing.

A very long snakeskin

We continued on our journey to a tribal village of the Long Neck Karen tribe not far from Chiang Rai. Upon entering we saw women at vendor stalls, selling traditional clothing & handicrafts from a different village.

After a short walk into the village, seeing bamboo houses all close together up on stilts, we arrived to an open area with vendor stalls, lining both sides with women and kids in all of them - the Long Neck Karen tribe. Wearing of the rings began as a protection from tigers, and now it is tradition for girls starting at the age of five to start wearing the brass rings and more are added every year until the age of 25 or marriage. The rings stay on for life, 24 hours a day. They can weigh up to 4 kg which was very heavy. They don’t actually stretch the neck, but they push down the shoulders and the rib cage, causing the look of an elongated neck. It felt rather intrusive to be looking at them and taking photos (as they had agreed to), but it was quite unique. They do some beautiful silk weaving, and they sell that as well as many souvenirs depicting the long neck.

We were treated to a delicious buffet Thai lunch and then onto our next stop.

Having never seen a tea plantation, we found the Choi Fong tea plantation an interesting sight. Tea plants on every hillside, many being handpicked. There was a rooftop observation deck to see into the fields, a tea tasting, videos explaining the growing & harvesting of tea and the option to buy some rather expensive tea.

Tea picking, only the top 3-4 leaves

Pineapples growing

We continued north for an hour drive into the Golden Triangle. There is actually a town there with an overlook where you are standing in Thailand, looking down on the Ruak River, across which is a triangle shaped piece of land that is Myanmar and across the Mekong River into a city in Laos. We could see many, many construction cranes in the city in Laos - all Chinese investment and casinos. The Golden Triangle area became famous for growing opium, but apparently the farmers are now encouraged to grow other crops, including coffee. We did stop at the opium museum, which outlined the growing, harvesting, trade and smoking of opium - quite interesting.

Golden Triangle, in Thailand, river on left - Ruak - pointy land Myranmar, big river - Mekong, across is Laos

Opium pipes

Weights for weighing opium

There was also a statue of a huge golden Buddha, which made for some great photos. And then the long journey back to Chiang Rai and onto another day.

Countryside

We only had two full days in Chiang Rai and on our second day we wandered around town, found the golden Clocktower, even found a dentist for a dental cleaning - $36 CAD and had some delicious khoi soi soup at a “hole in the wall” restaurant that was recommended in our guidebook (for 40 B, $1.63). We are faithfully using our handy app TravelSpend to keep track of all of our expenses for future reference.

Chiang Rai Clocktower

Khoi Soi soup

The next day we were picked up by a shared minivan for a 2 hr drive north to the town of Chiang Khong, near the Thailand Laos border. We were picked up in town by the owner of our next accommodation called Panna Kalong, an adorable bungalow in the countryside - probably one of our nicest accommodation for $18 CAD! Only five bungalows with a lovely place for morning breakfast and coffee overlooking his orchard and a restaurant nearby where we had some excellent food prepared by the owner sister.