#notstrandedonnomansland

We took only a day trip to Chiang Rai-- home of the gorgeous White Temple! 

Our day began with a stop at this hot spring near a large market where they charged you to use the toilets: 

There were pumps splashing water out, so I think it was more of a stop to go shopping...not very impressive lol. 

Afterwards we actually went into the White Temple. There was a long path to get to it, and every so often you’d hear people say “Don’t stop keep moving!” so that the flow of people didn’t get too congested.

Leading up to the actual entrance were these hand statues reaching out from under us :O. On the other side someone (rebellious teenager?) had painted a sole middle finger red.

It was so intricate and gorgeous! We tried to ask our tour guide how long it took to build but he said “Oh! Forever!” haha. 

There was a pretty wishing well where you can stand according to your zodiac sign: 

After leaving the White Temple we went by boat to the golden triangle: the point where Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar meet. Our tour guide suggested that Louie leave me in no man’s land.

I was not expecting to add Laos to the list of countries visited on this trip, but why not?

Apparently there is an island here where, a long time ago, you could trade 1 kilo of gold for 1 kilo of opium. Everything was written in Thai, English, and Chinese. The river it’s on goes up all the way to China, and lots of Chinese businessmen did business and such here. 

We also stopped at the Karen long neck tribe, but Ms. Tum didn’t tell us it would cost an additional 300 baht, so we just sat that one out. -___- 

After that we got on an overnight train (with beds!) back to Bangkok to catch our flight to Phuket.