The day began at the infamous Little Duck Hotel, where breakfast consisted of an array of strange looking dishes, rice, noodles and bread (but the jam was amazing). As we left, we found out that Arthur had conveniently found his ‘so-called’ electronically- etched room key that he had lost the previous day. It was a lucky find as it would have cost him $121 to replace it (Smooth one Arthur).
The bus ride from Chiang Rai to the Golden Triangle was approx one and a half hours. It was a great time to relax and catch up on sleep, or watch Heroes on Matt’s iPhone (According to Cooper).
Hung (our tour guide) gave us some information about himself and his hard upbringing after the Vietnam War with some amusing stories thrown in about putting his wife on his motor bike to rush to the hospital when she went into labour with their first child.
Next came a strenuous trek up a hill to view the famous Golden Triangle. The Golden Triangle is the area where the Mekong River provides a border for three countries; Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. The view provided beautiful scenery of a vast majestic land, which reminded us that the world is made up of so many wonders (wise words from Cooper that were put into a cheesy context by Sabrina). On the other hand, the Golden Triangle was the main producer of opium, transporting millions of the tonnes of opium to places such as India, China and Britain. We learnt a lot about the effect and impact of the Opium trade at the Hall of Opium, which was founded by the Thai Royal Family. It outlined the effects of the illegal use of Opium socially and economically and the struggle to prevent and abolish all Opium trade. After the museum visit we ate a tasty buffet lunch overlooking the Golden Triangle (and Sabrina bought a very nice dress, just saying).
The bus trip from the Golden Triangle to the small northern based river side town called Chiang Khong was a long two hours, but the bus the trip took us past some amazing green scenery. We arrived at the authentic River-side Guest House, where showers literally took up the whole bathroom. It was very nice to sit on the balconies overlooking the Mekong River and into Laos. We were given free time to explore the local main street right outside our Guest House, where many of us stocked up on westernised snacks. The day wound down with a nice Thai-buffet dinner with everything at the same table like one loving family.
Tomorrow we are crossing the border into Laos and saying goodbye to our much loved Thailand guide, Bob. Kob khun krap (thank-you in Thai).
We hope you enjoyed our descriptive analysis of today’s events (Mr. Daniels is laughing at us right now… I think he’s getting tired). We leave you now as we listen to some Thai wedding music from down the street.
Cooper and Sabrina
