Day trip to the Golden Triangle

At the Golden Triangle

We signed up for a day trip to the Golden Triangle, a point in northern Thailand which borders with both Laos and Myanmar.

The schedule of this day trip was hardcore, considering the distance covered! In addition to the Golden Triangle we got to see several other places of interest, such as the hot springs, the White Temple, and the Long Neck Tribe Village.

The schedule for the day was as follows:

7.30am Leave Hotel

9.00am Hot Springs

10.30am White Temple

1.00pm Boat to No Man's Land and Laos

2.30pm Lunch

5.00pm Long Neck Village

9.00pm Arrive back at hotel

Hot Springs

We were picked up from our hostel at 7.30am sharp by an air conditioned minibus with our driver, guide, and the rest of our tour group on-board. Our first stop was the hot springs, just over an hour into our morning drive. Now this site I found hilarious, as these so called 'hot springs' were a tiny ponds of a sorry excuse for yet another tourist money trap, trying to induce my kind to buy more and more junk. Now, I shouldn't be too harsh; not everything could be classified as junk. In addition to the knockoff Barbie dolls and fake Rolexes you can make real finds. Sterling silver and semiprecious stone jewellery are bargains waiting to be picked up! I happened to glance at a pair of sapphire earrings and before I had the chance to blink a sales lady had swooshed over and was offering them to me for a very special price of 1,500 baht (£30) which in all fairness is already less than I would pay anywhere in Europe. With no intention of purchasing them in the first place I politely declined, which to her was a cue to lower the price - just for me, naturally - to 1,200 baht. This went on until the price had dropped to 500 baht (£10) at which point I think she understood I wasn't going to show her the money.

White Temple - Wat Rong Khun

Back in the car and on the road again, after about an hour and a half we arrived at the White Temple.

Our guide explained it had been built in 1996 by Thailand's most famous artist, and that it wasn't quite ready yet but was to be finished 60 years after the death of this artist.

My vocabulary doesn't contain the words necessary to accurately describe this spectacular and unconventional building, all I can say is the sensation of awe at first sight was overwhelming . It is difficult to find a description that would make it justice and help someone else to visualise it.

I'll have a go anyway. The temple is white - shocking, huh? Admiring it from afar the temple seems to glimmer in the same way water does when the sun is reflected off the surface. It is only once you get closer that you see that the walls and the statues are decorated with tiny pieces or mirror that reflect the sunlight, and this is what gives the temple it's fantasy-like glimmer.

The temple is surrounded by shallow water (home to beautiful goldfish of all sizes) and there is a bridge connecting the outside garden with the path leading to the entrance. Beneath this bridge on both sides are hands and arms reaching up towards the bridge, some holding human skulls, as if they were begging to be saved - from what that I don't know. The devil? Death? These obscure hands and skulls are made in a noticeably darker shade, which stands out against the whiteness of the bridge and the rest of the temple. Apparently crossing the bridge to the path leading to the temple is the walkway to heaven.

The White Temple

As always when entering a temple we removed our shoes and stepped in to explore the inside. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it sure wasn't this. There was only this one room in the temple, and it was about 8x5 meters in size. Directly at the far end was a big golden statue of Buddha, and in front of the statue was a waxwork of Gautama Buddha the monk itself wearing a very traditional orange robe, sitting down in prayer. As I turned 180 degrees to face the door again to see what the Buddha was directing his prayer at, there was a huge painted face of the devil or demon covering most of the wall. Above the demon was a skull and scattered around sporadically all over the wall little reminders of everything evil in our world. So far so good. This is where it gets weird. Each of the devil's eyes has a person painted in the pupil; on the right is the face of Osama bin Laden and on the left is - guessed it yet? George W Bush.

When I said the wall has images of everything evil in this world here are a few of the images I remember: Goku, twin towers on fire, superman, Michael Jackson, a bottle of alcohol, the red bird from Angry Birds, Darth Vader, Spider-Man, man and woman having sex, Kung-Fu Panda, Freddy Krueger, Keanu Reeves in Matrix...you get the idea. Unfortunately pictures were not allowed so I can't show you the artwork in images.

The Golden Triangle

Again back in the van, we travelled for another hour and a half or so and arrived at the Mekong river. Here we climbed into a slow boat as they are called, an set off to explore this historic site.

The Golden Triangle, the place where Thailand borders with both Myanmar and Laos, was once upon a time the main trading place for opium and heroine. Our guide tells us that the main factory was in Myanmar (Burma), from where a private army then helped transfer the drug to the border or rather the no-man's-land of the river crossing between Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos. Here there was no police and no law to prevent trade, and easy access to China (3 days up the river), Vietnam and Cambodia. The opium traded here was the best and purest quality, and price was extremely high- 1kg opium for 1kg gold- and this is where the Golden Triangle gets its name.

On our way to Laos

Thailand banned opium 60 years ago but a lot of illegal trafficking still goes on.

Laos

After a tour of the no-man's-land we got off the boat in Laos. As we stepped out we were greeted by a number of orphans, age wise anywhere from nearly newborn to early teens, begging for money. We were advised not to give them money upon entry as they will then single you out as 'the generous one' and will surround you until you get back on the boat. Rather, if you wish to give them anything we were advised to do so when leaving. I was torn trying to decide whether or not to give these children anything - on the one hand it is usually not encouraged but at the same time it is heart breaking to look into their eyes and just walk away. I couldn't help myself and ended up handing out my change between them.

Orphan holding his sibling, Laos

Lao-Lao

The village we visited in Laos was nothing more than a market for tourists - yet again. The one thing you could try if anyone dared to were the animal rice whiskies, called Lao-Lao. These are animals such as snakes, scorpions, armadillos, or tiger penises sunk in rice whiskey and meant to give you strength and cure illnesses. I thought I was strong and healthy enough so didn't feel the need to try - just looking at them close up gave me an enormous burst of strength to make my way out of there.

Long Neck Tribe

After the triangle business and lunch we headed to visit the Long Neck Tribe. These are the people you have seen in National Geographic magazines where the women wear gold or brass rings around their necks. Apparently they get their first six rings when they are 5 years old, and then a ring per year until they are 25 or get married. The rings are worn their whole lives and according to our guide the women are not bothered about them at all but can do everything wearing these. Originally they were worn as protection from tiger attacks. Tigers attack by sinking their teeth into their prey's throat, and the reason only women wore them was because men were seen as strong enough to fight the tiger. Also originally they used to be made of gold but these days it's brass. I held one in my hand and let me tell ya, I wouldn't want to be wearing one of those everyday! It weighs about one and a half kilograms I'd say. Originally based in Burma/Myanmar, due to political conflict many of these tribes fled to Thailand and are very happy here.

The village itself was like a page straight out of a National Geographic book; the most rural village you can imagine with the most basic living conditions possible. Everyone was incredibly happy and friendly and more than willing to take pictures with the tourists. I presume tourism is their main source of income, selling handcrafted scarves and jewellery to visitors.

There, that was our VERY long day and now I am siting at a chill out bar relaxing with a beer in my hand, waiting for tomorrow's jungle adventure :)