Chiang Rai & Golden Triangle (February 11-12)

This morning I wanted to rent a motor scooter in the guest house. They told me that the price is 150 Baht per day and then they said something I didn’t understand! I chose the Honda click 110cc automatic (the standard motor scooter in Thailand) and then waited for the bike rental guy while having breakfast. The guy turned out to be a woman, she came 10 minutes later and said the price was 300 Baht. I protested because in the guest house they said 150 Baht. They told me that 150 Baht was the price for a gear bike and 300 Baht for automatic. I really thought that they wanted to rip me off because that this is 3 times the price I paid in other towns (such as Pai) and that it is not logical that automatic is double the price of a 4 gear bike. Anyway, it didn’t help and so I had to look in town for a better deal. I then found out that 300 Baht is the standard price everywhere so it didn’t really matter where to rent. I went to a bike rental shop where they were about to give me a brand new Yamaha bike, it had like only 300 km on the tachometer. The guy asked me where I wanted to go and I said Chiang Saen. Suddenly the brand new Yamaha bike disappeared in the garage. Obviously he didn’t want to give me the bike for this trip (strange behaviour!). He called someone by phone and 5 minutes later the woman who wanted to rent the scooter at my guest house showed up! It was a little embarrassing for me because I finally accepted the 300 Baht and it was obvious that she didn’t want to rip me off. She was laughing when she saw me. It seems as if they all work together here and that they are not so stupid to distort prices as in other places. I finally got the Honda click, quite new with good tyres, so it was ok!

The way to Chiang Saen was not very nice. There were settlements all along the way (around 60km), so I had to concentrate a lot with the traffic. The road was like a highway with sometimes even 3 lanes per direction, totally oversized! This must be the famous Thai corruption. Someone told me that they build roads where it’s not necessary just to support a buddy’s construction company. Due to all the road construction there was a lot of dust and I breathed quite a lot of it when buses or trucks overtook me. I finally arrived at Chiang Saen and spotted the Mekong River for the first time. The water level was quite low; don’t know if because of the dry season or because the Chinese have closed their dams upriver. I drove another 10 km in northern direction and arrived at the “official” Golden Triangle. There were loads and loads of busses with package tourists, really unbelievable. At the end it’s not so exciting, you see a small river (Nam Ruak) flowing into a big river (Mekong). If mankind hadn’t decided some day that these two rivers separate three different countries (Thailand, Laos and Myanmar), the sight would probably still consist of unspoiled nature.

After that I decided to go back to Chiang Rai via an alternative route in order to avoid the horrible construction areas along the road I have taken before. I had to drive first in the direction of Mae Sai and then turn left somewhere. I didn’t really find the turn and when I asked for the way it was already 10 km behind me. As I was only like 15 km away from Mae Sai, I decided to go there before going back to Chiang Rai.

Mae Sai is the northernmost city in Thailand and also a legal entry point to Myanmar (crossing the “Friendship” bridge). Many people go to Mae Sai when their visa for Thailand expires. They cross the border, go back and get another 15 days for Thailand (you only get 30 days when you arrive by air). To be honest, I don’t think that many tourists go to Mae Sai for something else than extending the visa. It’s only a chaotic border town with a market full of Chinese plastic articles. You can now think that entering into Myanmar is easy but if you cross the border in Mae Sai, you can only visit Tachileik, the town on the opposite side of the Nam Ruak River. You are not allowed to continue from there. The only way to regularly enter Myanmar as a tourist is via air to Yangon or Mandalay.

At the end of my trip today I visited the White Temple (main highlight in and around Chiang Rai), situated 13 km south of the town. It took me like 90 minutes to go there from Mae Sai so at the end of the day I really made use of the motor bike! The White Temple is white (what a surprise) and has a lot of adornments. It’s really nice but also a bit cheesy. It will not surprise you that the tourists were mainly Thai and other Asians.

Today was my last day in Thailand. I have a feeling that I will go back to Thailand during my trip. I like this country, the people are very kind and there is a friendly and relaxed atmosphere! Also it is very easy to meet people, an important factor if you are travelling alone!

I will finally go to Chiang Khong tomorrow and cross border to Laos. I hope that the visa on arrival procedure will be smooth. I have some extra dollars just in case there is “delays”.