* I will add pics as I can to this, but the app problem persists, and before anyone says anything, it's a Google app; Blogger. :) *
So.... Chiang Rai is interesting because it's actually bordering Laos and Myanmar (Burma) - and up the river about 260 km is China. The place is unique from Chiang Mai in that ancient Siam once had a capital here, and some of the settlements and temples are well over 1,000 years old, like our canteen coffee.
But that aside, apart from the myriad temples to see, crossing the border into Myanmar was a highlight - if only because it is one of the most difficult places to enter... The border crossing was 500 baht and they hold your passport - while issuing a temporary card for use in Myanmar. We were not really there that long, and being a border town, Mae Sae on the Thai side, it was a capitalist's dream. We took a tuk tuk to a temple, then some hill tribe people, Karen, with the neck rings, and we waded our way through the stalls in the town itself. Withought any regulation, and you can see immediately crossing the border that Myanmar people are very poor, they are eager to sell and you are surrounded by beggars and people walking round selling cigarettes, pornography and Viagra/Cialis pills.... And shops with Myanmar rubies, sapphires, all kinds of knock-offs from China (they say they are from Taiwan to make the quality sound better). After trying out some knock off iphones and ipods and Tag Heuer glass frames, we bought Farlouk a Sony PSP, and I have to say in terms of market intensity, and the region is stuffed with markets, this had to be one of the best.
If I can get some pictures loaded up I will, but as I say, we seem to be having issues.
Laos we kind of entered, by boat across the Mekong River. I say kind of, because the government there has built a 'special economic zone' along the river facing Thailand, which basically means locals cannot enter and it is full of vendors and even a giant casino. Boats run from China, 260km up the river to this casino. Despite the communist ideology, Myanmar too apparently has casinos. I think I would like to go to Mandalay in Myanmar one day, now the government there is changing, I think there will be massive changes coming. So Laos was Laos, but not really Laos if you get my meaning...
There is a large visitor centre on the Thai side, and it explains all the facets of the opium industry and the attempts to block it. Massive, expensive visitor centre, interesting stories they had to tell too...
In the mean time, I intend to write to the head Monk in Myanmar, because they have vendors outside,as most temples do, but they were catching wild birds putting them in little baskets then selling them to people to set free. Since Buddhists cannot harm anything, this seems wrong, these tiny birds were panicked and terrified and I am sure in the sizzling heat, some of them end up dead.
That said, Myanmar was a little bizarre, with various signs all over pointing out what the government has done to save the people. Think of Stephen Harper's Action Plan ads, and you get the same idea, it is propaganda at its finest.
Farlouk was well entertained with his psp and the Chiang Rai hotel was pretty nice too.
All in all it was fun, the locals thought it got cool at night 22 degrees, but it hits 34 in the day, so not bad for winter....
- BlogPressed from my iPad. Click on pictures for larger version and gallery. Copyright 2012 TinyFrontalLobeOnVacation Inc.
No comments:
Post a Comment