Day 7This morning the familiar alarm sound rang at early hour, We began the morning with a yummy buffet breakfast, consisting of both western and Thai style food. We all enjoyed our favourite fruit – pineapple, and a welcome change to the breakfast – waffles. The wheels started rolling, with minimal forgotten items at 9:45am, as we were departing from the luxurious hotel of Chiang Rai. From the bustling city of Chiang Rai we then headed north up to the Black Temple. This temple is a important aspect of the Thai culture, and exposed many amazing artwork around the walls, crafted by a revered Thai artist, Thawan Duchanee. Not only was there paintings and roof decorations, this was also a temple that symbolised death. This was represented with the horns, skin and skulls left of dead animals. This according to the wonderful tour guide Chan, is a way of leaving your knowledge behind. After this temple, we headed towards another temple, which was indeed for praying and reflection. This was a very old and holy temple, and clashed with what we saw in the Black temple from one hour previous. There was a giant spiral in the grounds that was damaged from an earthquake from only two years ago. From there we continued in the direction of north for a buffet lunch. We enjoyed the delicious food, beside the world renowned Mekong River. Not far from the location of lunch was our next stop of ‘The Golden Triangle.’ This was a beautiful location, and was something that could definitely be ticked off from the bucket list. Standing 242, (yes, we counted) steps from ground level this allowed us to see three countries, Thailand, Laos and Burma/Myanmar. This is something beyond what we could experience within the so far extremely different country of Australia. With amazing scenic views the options for photos were borderless.
We arrived at the crowded Opium Museum to find hand painted maps of the region and delicate sculptures of the named narcotic. We learnt about the dangerous affects of the drug and the harsh penalties of the current Thai government as opposed to the globally relaxed stance of Australia. Featured at the museum were artifacts dating back 3000 years as well as information about the long neck Karen tribe we had gone to see earlier in the trip. The negative effects of the drug clashed with the intricate and beautiful designs of the paraphernalia that have come out of this time in this regions culture. From there we headed to Chiang Khong – the most northerly major city in Thailand. We ate at a restaurant which was directed at western tourists and was enjoyed by all, which was a change of culture for us as we listen to our choices of music and played various casual games. After an amazing night of relaxation at the restaurant we settled down back at the Chiang Khong Palace and released fire lanterns into the sky to celebrate the full moon festival which was perfectly timed for the end of our journey of Thailand.
James U and Anna N
