TrongpaiExpat
March 23rd, 2009, 15:46
After reading Rush's post several months ago on his trip to The Golden Triangle, I was was inspired and checked RT airfare on Air Asia and found an excellent deal for two RT tickets from Bangkok, 4000B total. I had last been to Chiang Saen over 10 years ago on a one day trip from Chiang Rai. My Bf had never been there. I wanted to spend some more time on this trip and really explore the region. Then Boygeenyus and Dodger got into it over a boarding crossing in Northern Chiang Mai and I was looking at a map and began wondering what's up there to see, so planed out a few routes to see if there really is a boarder crossing to Myanmar (also spelled Mirimar).I planed out a 5 day easy going self drive trip with a Budget Rental , Honda City, for 680B per day, a Bangkok Travel fair price. The usual Budget internet rate is about 1,200, and there's several good independent car rentals like Ruby and Northern Wheels.
As usual, my travels to Northern Thailand started out in Chiang Mai and a two night stay at PJ Place. We went to the new Aquarium at the Chiang Mai Zoo. It's only 200B, a lot cheaper than Paragon and in my opinion better. Not as showy and more of the displays are fresh water rather than salt, more of a personal interest to me. Some of the placards were written in some strange mangled English, always an amusement.
I booked a hotel in Chiang Saen with Sawatdee.com at the Imperial Golden Triangle and used it as a base for 3 days of the trip. We left Chiang Mai on Rt. 118 which connects with Rt. 1, just south of Chiang Rai. Off to the left of Rt 1, south of Chiang Rai, is the White Temple ( Wat Rong Khun) that Rush mentioned in his post. Quite an impressive Wat. It's open for viewing but there's still a lot of construction on going. Also, check out the adjacent art and gift shops, not your usual tourist trinkets.
We continued on Rt 1 through Chiang Rai and on to Rt 1016 direct to Chiang Saen. The Imperial Gollden Triange is actually just a little north of Chiang Saen on the Mekhong at the juncture of Lao and Myanmar. I did not realize it at first but this new hotel was built on the site of a vantage view point that I visited 10 years ago. The hotel is an excellent value and everything was good. There are two other hotels on the river that are under construction and some guest houses but Chiang Sean is not on the usual tour circuit and does not seem to attract many overnight tourist. The huge tour buses one after the other barrow down the narrow roads but just for a quick stop, lunch or a the package obligatory boat trip on the Mekong.
Chian Saen has changed a lot in ten years. There's several good riverside restaurants and we found one called The Thai Kitchen to be the best, a few lady-for-rent karaoke bars and lots of tourist trinket shops. There was nothing but vacant riverside property there 10 years ago. There's a huge Buddha image on the river and that's the focal point/drop off point for the tour buses.
I was very hesitant in taking a tourist package boat tour of the Mekong but for only 400B I went ahead and agreed to it. We boarded a fast 3 man small long tail boat. There are many boat operators along the river, they will find you, but don't get stuck in some of the slow boats. We went up river to view the new casino/hotel in Myanmar but non-Thais can't enter Myanmar via Chiang Saen without a prearranged visa. The boat tour included a stop at Lao Island where you do not need a Lao visa. I had been to these Lao on the river tourist towns, set up and packaged for tourists. There's even a desk with some guy in some sort of Lao uniform collecting 20B as an admission fee. I was quite surprised, it's still sort of what I expected, a fake tour est packaged Lao village but this was different from those that I have been before up and down river. There were some of the usual mass produced tourist trinkets that you see everywhere but also some authentic (?) Lao products at very good prices. I expected not buying anything but ended up buying so much, I had to buy another suit case.
From Chiang Sean there's a road that follows the Mekong a short trip to the boarder town of Mai Sai. I first went to Mai Sai 20 years ago when it was a bridge, sometimes closed, to Myanmar and a few shops and very basic guest houses. Even in just 4 years there more changes, none for the better. It's a big tourist town with lots of shops, restaurants and a few hotels. I would not stay in town, there's a few nicer resorts just outside of town. The place was packed with people, more Thai than Farang. The reason so many people go seem to be shopping. Cheap goods from China flood the markets and many cross the border to buy Chinese cell phones at half the Thai price with no warantee and no guarantee that it's going to actually last long.
South of Mai Sai is the town of Doi Tung. The major attraction at Doi Tung is the Royal Residence and Doi Tung Aboritum. Plan on half a day or more to take in all the sites of Doi Tung. The aboritum is a huge display of plants, flower, waterfalls and landscaped grounds adjacent to the Royal Residence. The residence is a separate admission and further up the mountain. It was the primary residence of the Kings mother and is set up more of less as a tribute to her. It has not seen any other Royals in residence since her death other than some short visits by Royal family members when in the area but still has a Military contingent standing guard. You get to enter most of the residence and view the most impressive structure as well as some personal Royal memorabilia of the Kings mother.
The town of Doi Ang Klang is in northern Chiang Mai province near the Myanmar boarder. It's off Rt 107 just south of Fang. There's a nice resort there, Doi Ang Khlang Nature Resort. The road to Doi Ang from Rt 107 is only 25km but takes a few hours since it's one of the steepest and winding hair pin road that Thailand has to offer but the scenery is beautiful and well worth the time. It's too far if your based at Chiang Sean but maybe if you staying at Chiang Rai or Mai Sai for a day trip but if you really want to take in all that Doi Ang has, the only place to stay is the Nature resort or the home stay program. You also probably don't want to try to drive these roads in the night time. There's a new Royal Patronage museum and another quite large flower and plant park that you can see in a few hours or spend all day there. If you fit, there are many well marked nature trails of varying difficulty and you will not see another person all day. Doi Ang Klang was the highlight of the trip for me.
Exploring along Northern Chiang Mai is not the time constrained traveler , the road are in excellent condition but not level and curve and very consuming. There is a boarder corssing at the dead end of Fa Wang Rt 1322, near Wiang Haeng not a farang border entry port. Nothing to see on the Myanmar side. So, there is a border crossing, Dodger was right! The northern border area along Chiang Mai Provence is an area of very scenic mountains with small villages and scenery more reminiscent of Lao that Thailand. It's well off the tour circuit, those huge tour buses could never make the climb. We saw a lot of Army check points but was waived though all but one who only asked where we were going and then he made some suggestions for places to visit. I thought that 5 full days would have been enough to really explore this area but I found out that there still more to see and do.
Links for reference:
The Original Post by Rush (http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum/trip-report-part-iii-the-golden-triangle-turns-pink-t16997.html)
PJ's Place (http://pjs-place.com/)
Imperial Golden Triangle Hotel (http://www.sawadee.com/hotel/chiangrai/goldentriangle/)
Wat Rong Khun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Rong_Khun)Doi Tung (http://thailandforvisitors.com/north/chiangrai/doitung.html)
Ang Khang (http://www.amari.com/angkhang/)
Doi Tung (http://thailandforvisitors.com/north/chiangrai/doitung.html)
As usual, my travels to Northern Thailand started out in Chiang Mai and a two night stay at PJ Place. We went to the new Aquarium at the Chiang Mai Zoo. It's only 200B, a lot cheaper than Paragon and in my opinion better. Not as showy and more of the displays are fresh water rather than salt, more of a personal interest to me. Some of the placards were written in some strange mangled English, always an amusement.
I booked a hotel in Chiang Saen with Sawatdee.com at the Imperial Golden Triangle and used it as a base for 3 days of the trip. We left Chiang Mai on Rt. 118 which connects with Rt. 1, just south of Chiang Rai. Off to the left of Rt 1, south of Chiang Rai, is the White Temple ( Wat Rong Khun) that Rush mentioned in his post. Quite an impressive Wat. It's open for viewing but there's still a lot of construction on going. Also, check out the adjacent art and gift shops, not your usual tourist trinkets.
We continued on Rt 1 through Chiang Rai and on to Rt 1016 direct to Chiang Saen. The Imperial Gollden Triange is actually just a little north of Chiang Saen on the Mekhong at the juncture of Lao and Myanmar. I did not realize it at first but this new hotel was built on the site of a vantage view point that I visited 10 years ago. The hotel is an excellent value and everything was good. There are two other hotels on the river that are under construction and some guest houses but Chiang Sean is not on the usual tour circuit and does not seem to attract many overnight tourist. The huge tour buses one after the other barrow down the narrow roads but just for a quick stop, lunch or a the package obligatory boat trip on the Mekong.
Chian Saen has changed a lot in ten years. There's several good riverside restaurants and we found one called The Thai Kitchen to be the best, a few lady-for-rent karaoke bars and lots of tourist trinket shops. There was nothing but vacant riverside property there 10 years ago. There's a huge Buddha image on the river and that's the focal point/drop off point for the tour buses.
I was very hesitant in taking a tourist package boat tour of the Mekong but for only 400B I went ahead and agreed to it. We boarded a fast 3 man small long tail boat. There are many boat operators along the river, they will find you, but don't get stuck in some of the slow boats. We went up river to view the new casino/hotel in Myanmar but non-Thais can't enter Myanmar via Chiang Saen without a prearranged visa. The boat tour included a stop at Lao Island where you do not need a Lao visa. I had been to these Lao on the river tourist towns, set up and packaged for tourists. There's even a desk with some guy in some sort of Lao uniform collecting 20B as an admission fee. I was quite surprised, it's still sort of what I expected, a fake tour est packaged Lao village but this was different from those that I have been before up and down river. There were some of the usual mass produced tourist trinkets that you see everywhere but also some authentic (?) Lao products at very good prices. I expected not buying anything but ended up buying so much, I had to buy another suit case.
From Chiang Sean there's a road that follows the Mekong a short trip to the boarder town of Mai Sai. I first went to Mai Sai 20 years ago when it was a bridge, sometimes closed, to Myanmar and a few shops and very basic guest houses. Even in just 4 years there more changes, none for the better. It's a big tourist town with lots of shops, restaurants and a few hotels. I would not stay in town, there's a few nicer resorts just outside of town. The place was packed with people, more Thai than Farang. The reason so many people go seem to be shopping. Cheap goods from China flood the markets and many cross the border to buy Chinese cell phones at half the Thai price with no warantee and no guarantee that it's going to actually last long.
South of Mai Sai is the town of Doi Tung. The major attraction at Doi Tung is the Royal Residence and Doi Tung Aboritum. Plan on half a day or more to take in all the sites of Doi Tung. The aboritum is a huge display of plants, flower, waterfalls and landscaped grounds adjacent to the Royal Residence. The residence is a separate admission and further up the mountain. It was the primary residence of the Kings mother and is set up more of less as a tribute to her. It has not seen any other Royals in residence since her death other than some short visits by Royal family members when in the area but still has a Military contingent standing guard. You get to enter most of the residence and view the most impressive structure as well as some personal Royal memorabilia of the Kings mother.
The town of Doi Ang Klang is in northern Chiang Mai province near the Myanmar boarder. It's off Rt 107 just south of Fang. There's a nice resort there, Doi Ang Khlang Nature Resort. The road to Doi Ang from Rt 107 is only 25km but takes a few hours since it's one of the steepest and winding hair pin road that Thailand has to offer but the scenery is beautiful and well worth the time. It's too far if your based at Chiang Sean but maybe if you staying at Chiang Rai or Mai Sai for a day trip but if you really want to take in all that Doi Ang has, the only place to stay is the Nature resort or the home stay program. You also probably don't want to try to drive these roads in the night time. There's a new Royal Patronage museum and another quite large flower and plant park that you can see in a few hours or spend all day there. If you fit, there are many well marked nature trails of varying difficulty and you will not see another person all day. Doi Ang Klang was the highlight of the trip for me.
Exploring along Northern Chiang Mai is not the time constrained traveler , the road are in excellent condition but not level and curve and very consuming. There is a boarder corssing at the dead end of Fa Wang Rt 1322, near Wiang Haeng not a farang border entry port. Nothing to see on the Myanmar side. So, there is a border crossing, Dodger was right! The northern border area along Chiang Mai Provence is an area of very scenic mountains with small villages and scenery more reminiscent of Lao that Thailand. It's well off the tour circuit, those huge tour buses could never make the climb. We saw a lot of Army check points but was waived though all but one who only asked where we were going and then he made some suggestions for places to visit. I thought that 5 full days would have been enough to really explore this area but I found out that there still more to see and do.
Links for reference:
The Original Post by Rush (http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum/trip-report-part-iii-the-golden-triangle-turns-pink-t16997.html)
PJ's Place (http://pjs-place.com/)
Imperial Golden Triangle Hotel (http://www.sawadee.com/hotel/chiangrai/goldentriangle/)
Wat Rong Khun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Rong_Khun)Doi Tung (http://thailandforvisitors.com/north/chiangrai/doitung.html)
Ang Khang (http://www.amari.com/angkhang/)
Doi Tung (http://thailandforvisitors.com/north/chiangrai/doitung.html)