Golden Triangle: Meeting point of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar
Golden Triangle – Before leaving Thailand, we had a few days to waste in Chiang Rai so we traveled north to the Golden Triangle where Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand converge along the Mekong River. It had once been a popular trade route for opium and a romanticized area full of fields of purple poppies. Now it is somewhat of a tourist trap. I don’t quite know what I was expecting. There was simply a river and a sign that said, “The Golden Triangle.”
We actually planned to cross the border of Myanmar in order to get some fun stamps on our passports but it was much too expensive. I settled for throwing a rock over the river and said that would have to do. We also visited the opium museum and played with the opium pipes! Mom always said that I should learn something new everyday.
An air conditioned Thailand post office is always an excuse for a nap.
Post office trip – We had to find a post office to mail our souvenirs home. Although we knew it would cost an arm and a leg to mail our parcels home, they were much too big to carry with us for an extended amount of time. Our boxes had to be specially designed to accommodate our fans and silk umbrellas so we hung around the air conditioned post office for several hours and napped on the floor. Our bus didn’t leave until the early afternoon and I wasn’t about to sit in the hot bus station when I had the pleasure of air conditioning. Enjoy it while you can!
