This morning we were collected at our hotel just after 7:00am and we boarded a minibus for our tour to the Golden Triangle which is the point at which the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar (Burma) meet.
After a couple of hours on the bus our first main stop was Wat Rong Khun which is located just outside Chiang Rai in North-Eastern Thailand. It's more commonly known as the 'White Temple' and it was instantly obvious why- its all white and totally different to any other Temples we've seen so far. As Temples go it's pretty young as it was only built 20 years ago and apparently it'll not be completely finished for another 10. The whiteness makes it look more impressive than the others we've seen! The toilets were also probably the most impressive toilets we've ever seen- it's not often we feel we have to take photos of the toilet block! The weather has been more overcast today which was a shame as the pictures probably do it justice against the white sky. Still no rain though so we can't complain.
The next stop on the tour was a visit to the Karen Long Neck village where the Karen Long Neck tribe were based. Their distinctive feature is that the women wear a metal coil around their necks (5kg apparently!) Essentially the village was a series of stalls where the women were making and selling scarves etc. It was difficult to determine how real the whole setup was- it looked like it was genuine and the women themselves seemed happy enough. Although some of the others on the tour were going around photographing them like they were objects which made us feel a bit uncomfortable. We bought a few things from them and asked if we could have a photo so hopefully we came across a bit more respectful than some of the others!
After this we stopped for lunch at a buffet place before making our way to the so-called 'Golden Triangle' area itself. Not only is this the area where the countries of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet but it also used to be one of the largest opium (heroine) producing areas in the world! The three countries are separated by the Mekong River and so the tour included a boat tour along the River followed by a stop-off in Laos. The tour description made it all sound above board but we were starting to worry as the legality of the whole process felt more doubtful...we went with it though as there were hundreds of other tourists doing the same so we boarded the boat. It was quite a cool moment when we were sitting in the middle of the river and to the left of us was Thailand, to the right of us was Laos and straight ahead was Myanmar. There's actually a small island in the middle of the 3 which is apparently classed as no-man's land.
When the boat stopped off at the Laos side we had half a hour to walk around and explore. We were feeling excited at the prospect of seeing a tiny glimpse into life in another country- but in truth it was essentially an area with loads of market stalls selling fake branded goods for tiny prices. I was tempted to replace my newly bought Riy-Dons with some "genuine" Ray-Bans for £2.50 and Ania was eyeing up the designer handbags but the whole place felt kinda wrong so we decided against it. It was a bit weird seeing everyone boarding the boat again carrying their newly purchased "Louis Vuitton" suitcases!
It was fun to say we did it and visited another country but I'm not sure if this visit really merits scratching Laos of the scratch map- or if we do- we'll have to make a vow to go back again sometime and see it properly (and legally!!)
After a surreal boat journey back across the River (which included the guide dragging people up to the front of the boat to sing and then asking the rest of us to decide whether they should be awarded either "money or banana") we boarded the bus again and made our way to our final stop of the tour. This was a visit to the 'Blue Temple' which again was unique in comparison to any other temples we've visited in that it was predominantly blue- no less impressive though!
I think we can now say we are officially templed out so it's probably a good thing we are moving on from Chiang Mai tomorrow morning.
Next stop for us is Phuket via a flight and we're looking forward to a long lazy weekend by the beach (and probably a few more temples...)
We've updated the Chiang Mai photo album with the photos from today.
