As it ends up, I’ve spent nearly a week out of my first 5 weeks in Thailand exploring the neighboring city and province of Chiang Rai. A smaller city, it’s very accessible and friendly. As opposed to the nearly half million smiling souls in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai proper has maybe 60,000 or so. The far north of this province is intriguing to me historically and culturally as the confluence of Thailand, Burma and Laos, with the ever-presence of the nearby economic and cultural giant, China. Add to that the pulse of the powerful rivers flowing through the region, and you have a key formula for adventure travel as I see it.

Chiang Rai city is a 3 hour air conditioned bus ride from Chiang Mai – very comfortable and safely operated by an outfit called “Greenbus”. As an example, a First Class bus is full-sized, and has only 3 seats across, with AC and a toilet. An attendant serves water and snacks. The one way fare (first class – other accommodations are cheaper still) totaled $8 from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai. Cab fare from my apartment to the bus station was $2.80 USD each way. (In other words, internal travels in Thailand can be quite economical. My hotel rates for 6 nights in Chiang Rai averaged $16 USD per night, and included AC, clean rooms and breakfast.) From Chiang Rai, there are numerous options for excursions and I’ve now done a few.

[At the time of this post, the substantial amount of video content I’ve comprised of my Chiang Rai adventures is seriously stuck in “pre-production”. As some of you probably know, the details and logistics of building a web blog with significant video content can be a challenge. That is the case here. I will overcome these challenges, but it may take some time to get much of the video content edited, uploaded, linked and posted. Meanwhile, I will post some narratives and photos of these and future trips.]

My first of these excursions in Chiang Rai Province was a trip I took with a close Thai friend (Ratiya) to Chiang Saen, a small town on the northern border of Thailand near the junction of the Mekong and Ruak Rivers, and thus the region where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Burma converge, aka the “Golden Triangle”. Without complete chronological accuracy, I will post on other excursions as well. Chiang Saen, like several other cities in the north of Thailand, was a separate kingdom at one point centuries ago, so the chance to explore and observe can be rewarding, revealing history and culture that can be quite distinct from the Chiang Mai experience, as an example. Frankly, my first trip, I missed that. We drove right through Chiang Saen on the bus to the boat pier a few miles north. I shall return to do just that, slow down the clock, spend a couple of nights and explore more of the history and people of this remote area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Saen_District

Meanwhile, my friend and I did accomplish my primary goal – a boat ride down the Mekong to view the Golden Triangle. The views were fantastic, the river experience was great, and my friend translated the boat captain’s Thai language narrative which helped. From the photos, you can see the shores of Thailand, Laos and Burma (Myanmar) from our little boat on this massive river. The overall ride was 45 minutes or so. After venturing downstream towards Burma, we circled back and headed closer to Chiang Saen which we passed in the bus on the way to the boat pier. (There are actually ferries and even cruise lines serving the Mekong River – those options have yet to be explored!) Video of the boat ride will be posted in the near future. Next up, we walked along the Thai shoreline with the goal of visiting the Hall of Opium Museum outside Chiang Saen. Trouble was, it was going on 100 degrees F, and the Museum was apparently 2km away, though the story was it was half of that. As far as geography, our walking route approached a road near the Ruak River forming the Thai/Burmese border. So we are veering away from the Laos mainland as we walk, but viewing this intense jungle flora along the narrow Ruak River with the ominous vision of Burma to the right. We stopped at a café on the Ruak River across from Burma and hydrated a bit, then headed on. We passed a comedic series of signs stating that we were 500 meters away came in a sequence as we kept walking and I kept melting. Finally we arrived at the guard gate, and you guessed it, we were 500 meters away from the actual Museum. As we approached, the guard looked at us as if to ask “what the hell are you doing out here without an air conditioned transport of some sort?” Obvious to me now, nobody walks that stretch mid-afternoon. (There are no taxis, or other public local transport in these smaller towns – I now understand.) But we did, and just laughed and gasped as we guzzled bottles of water. Further to my great dismay, they were fresh out of opium at the Opium Museum! Imagine that. We toured the Museum in any event. It’s a worthwhile stop if you have an air conditioned van take you there. (This is one of the draw backs to my new travel game plan of avoiding organized tours – but true to my plan, a key lesson learned. Sometimes in remote areas, there are no other forms of transport unless you somehow arrange for them – which I will try to do in the future.) Before we agreed to leave the Museum, we bargained for a ride in a custom van with AC, which helped immensely, and possibly avoided a report on the quality of the local hospital facilities in this post.

http://www.tourismthailand.org/See-and-Do/Sights-and-Attractions-Detail/The-Hall-of-Opium-Golden-Triangle-Park–208

One of my favorite experiences in the Chiang Rai region so far was a 2 hour boat ride on the Mae Kok River, starting from a boat pier near the center of Chiang Rai. Heading west, and traveling alone, I hired a “long tail” boat and driver from an organized business at the pier, then headed up-current for just over an hour. This was a glimpse of a side of Thailand that is not readily accessible. From the center of the river, you get a real feel for what life must have been like decades, or even centuries ago. These boats are essentially oversized canoes with a V-6 or V-8 engine on a stick (or a “long tail”) which projects the propeller 10 feet or more behind the boat. This allows the driver to push completely into shore in very shallow waters. Even up-current, we probably averaged 15-20 knots. The boat did have a tin roof over us, providing shade from the sun. The weather during this trip, and spanning about a 14 day period, was overcast without being rainy. This was quite unusual, and a blessing as the daily high temps during that period were in the low 80’s F, rather than 92-95 F or so degrees as an average. The experience was lively. Within 10 minutes of the journey, the engine quit. The driver (who apparently didn’t speak Thai either – maybe he was Burmese or Cambodian), looked unconcerned, so I was supportive of that approach. We were in a rush of current, but he simply switched over to another gas tank (explained to me by some manner of hand gestures and charades) and we were on our way. Maybe 30 minutes later, when the engine quit again, he seemed more concerned, but he got it going again in just a few minutes. Yeah!

Over a 15-20 miles or so outbound journey, we only passed under 1 bridge. There were a number of locals fishing in various forms, mostly wading in from the shore with handheld fishing nets in a bamboo circular frame. There were some very modest homes, but also some upper crust abodes along the river. Sprinkle in a number of restaurants and bars along the river, in all shapes and sizes, a few villages, a Buddha statue placed on a rock jutting into the river, and dredging operation with pipes shaped in a loop to form a bridge, allowing the small boat traffic to pass, and you have all the ingredients of a lively morning on the Mae Kok river in Thailand. Like many of my positive experiences here, I calculate some adjustments for my next trip to roughly the same spot, and determine when and how I can improve on that adventure. In this case, this 2 hour roundtrip boat ride ends up as a test run for my next trip here. After returning to my room that evening, I researched where I’d been and some of the options – next time I will go to the same Chiang Rai pier, and arrange for a 4-5 hour boat ride up river (alone again since I don’t seem to have others nearby with my open itinerary) all the way along the Mae Kok (river – Mae means river) to the Thai border town of Thaton on the border with Burma (aka Myanmar). Thaton is a popular spot, but only for the purpose of taking the 4 hour boat ride (in boats packed with tourists I suppose) downstream into Chiang Rai. Thus I will proudly be waving at the downstream boats as I ply towards Thaton solo with my driver. Thaton is actually back in Chiang Mai province as the Mae Kok meanders to the north and east from Chiang Rai. I figure I can stay there a couple of nights, explore that sleepy area, then afterwards, I’ll take a 15 seat van (scheduled) back to Chiang Mai to my “base camp”. I’m studying that potential trip now.  By definition, any 4-5 hour boat ride up-river in a large canoe with an automobile engine driving a single propeller will have some surprises built in. Are poppies in season? (Thaton is on the Burmese border.)

http://www.travelfish.org/location/thailand/northern_thailand/chiang_mai/tha_ton

I’ve posted some maps to give you a frame of reference for this region and my travels.

Credit and thanks to Anantara Resort and Maekok River Village Resort for these map inserts. They are both highly rated accommodations in this region.

Southeast Asian Map source: learnnc.org

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Finally for this post, I want to share my experience on another recent trip in Chiang Rai Province – to Mae Sai, the northern-most point in Thailand, with an infamous border crossing into Burma. I did not cross due to a lack of my complete understanding of Thai immigration concerns that might arise with my re-entry (I’m very protective of my immigration status in Thailand). Jumping off the taxi, I headed off the beaten path, this time with little benefit. I did manage to walk past a new temple being constructed, but turned around and made my way around and under the Burmese border bridge. That’s where everything seems to be happening here. There’s a vibrant marketplace of stalls, cafés and coffee shops along the river. This was reminiscent of the markets of Nong Khai on the Mekong across from Laos. A ton of cheap Chinese “stuff”, like binoculars, electronics, umbrellas, etc., along with some Thai and Burmese stuff no doubt. But nothing currently on my list. I did head out of the market, trying to stay close to the Sai River, and got a few nice photos of the Mae Sai waterfront. It’s an exotic and very cool place which I feel I still know very little about. It’s on my list for an early repeat journey. One very cool thing about these ancient places like Chiang Saen and Mae Sai, when there is very little travel material available for an area with recorded history for 800 years or more (in recent history – certainly much longer for local inhabitants overall), that probably means these are great places to linger and learn more about when you can. I plan to do just that over time.

http://www.travelfish.org/location/thailand/northern_thailand/chiang_rai/mae_sai

I did hike to the top of a small mountain/large hill to visit a Buddhist monument I had spotted from the riverfront along the Mae Sai River. That video’s coming as well – sadly, I did not take a lot of stills on that climbing adventure, but did take a number of pics of the town. I believe that the Mae Sai video, when published, will make up for that omission. I’ll hold off on the narrative of that climb up Buddha hill until that post. Meanwhile, the trip from Chiang Rai to Mae Sai involves another 15 seat van. This time the AC worked fine. Again, the cost was about $1.50 USD, and the ride was less than 90 minutes. As the bus station was 4 miles or so short of the river/border, we had to jump in a waiting taxi to get to the river – another 30 cents. That taxi’s first stop was next door to the bus station – the local Tesco/Lotus superstore. For experienced Thailand travelers, the existence of such a superstore suggests there’s some substance to the commercial marketplace value in this region. With only 30,000 or so population in Mae Sai proper, that means this must be (and is) a regional financial and commercial hub, not only for this part of Thailand, but probably for the neighboring region in Burma as well.

Thanks all. A quick note – you can now access this site with a simpler URL –  www.lieningout.com

Jeff Rogers