Chiang Rai is in the Golden Triangle area where Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet at the Mekong River. This was once the worlds largest and most famous opium growing region. At one time at least 70 percent of the heroine on the streets in the US came from this area. But, production has dropped dramatically in Thailand. The monarchy has been active in promoting alternative crops; such as coffee and strawberries. Trekking has also become quite popular in this area. With the decline in drug trading these beautiful mountains are safely accessible to travelers which also replaces the income.
The coffee grown from here is incredible! There are coffee plantations and coffee huts strewn throughout the mountains. With the cooler climate of the mountains they have been quite successful at promoting this industry. You could spend days touring the bamboo cafes sampling coffee and checking out the different viewpoints. The riding, of course, is more of the twists and turns in between coffee and tobacco plantations.
The city of Chiang Rai is much less touristy than others. This is where the overseas tourist start falling away. There is not as much night life and the translation from Thai into English becomes less common. I ended up spending almost a week here. I needed to unpack for a few days and create a little bit of a routine. Find my favorite food stalls, place to meditate in the morning, ice cream, do laundry…. Moving from place to place can take a lot out of you, and the Wats here are so vibrant and alive with activity; and not the tourist kind. The kind that invite you in to sit and pray; or meditate; or try and chat. Or just smile at each other and receive the thumbs up for just being there. They love to see a farang in their temple taking part.
I take day trips out into the mountains and just randomly pick roads and stop and have coffee or visit some tucked away temple. I found some National parks and took hikes, some mosquito free and others you could hear them collectively buzzing like a swarm of bees. I am not kidding, it is a very unsettling sound. You wonder when the next step is going to put you into the attack zone. But, the Thai jungle juice worked; it was more that they seemed to target your eyeballs and want inside your ears. These places I didn’t stay long; I retreated One of my weird fears is getting a bug stuck in my ear in Thailand.
A lot of the popular attractions that I had read about and planned on seeing I have not been visiting, or have not been staying long. This started back in Bangkok but also here in Chiang Rai. The White temple is a very popular tourist attraction. For good reason, it is beautiful. I went, and stayed for about 20 minutes. I find the majority of the people at these places are here for the pictures. Bless them and their instagram worthy shot, it just makes it difficult to take a minute to enjoy the surroundings. There is plenty of room and places for all our flavors so I will just move on.
When I am riding from destination to destination this is where I seem to find my mojo. It is the in-between spots where their is no public transport. People are usually on a bus or in a van, or on a plane headed from one destination to the next. Again, these destinations are spectacular but the stuff in the middle I feel honored to see. The day excursions when I just randomly explore and find some gem like this. It was in a very green agriculturally rich valley surrounded by lime stone cliffs at the highest point in the village. I ate my lunch here listening to the bells of the water buffalo and the crowing of roosters.
After this days excursion I have decided to hop off the ‘normal’ route from Chiang Rai to Nan and see what I find. The mountains of Chiang Rai are so beautiful and they bleed into Nan province as well. I am going to hug the Laos border on the way down to Nan. Taking a couple days and stopping where I can find accommodations. I google earthed the area and found a route that snakes through the mountains and follows a river most of the way. It is dry season so I find the most lush scenery near water sources.
I stopped at two different villages to spend the night and visit their markets; their eyes were on me with such curiosity. This curiosity is not invasive but genuine. They try really hard to communicate; and when I don’t understand what they are saying they speak faster and with more words. We end up bowing and smiling and I walk away with an orange or a banana; or something wrapped in a banana leaf. Those that do speak some English sit me down and we navigate their English with my little bit of Thai. It makes them so happy! And me too. This usually ends with a picture.
It is so unbelievable to travel in a country where you do not speak their language and you make mistakes learning their culture; and sometimes entering the gas station where you are supposed to be exiting and they just want you to be okay. The only person who got a little uptight with me was a Britt, I didn’t know how to use the water machine and was taking too long. Not one Thai person has ever rolled their eyes, huffed, not given way to me first, bowed, and returned a greeting with a smile. It is absolutely mind blowing to experience this. I am such a jerk when it comes to people coming into ‘My’ town. What an arrogant ass I am, this has really helped me to see some of my less beneficial ways of acting and thinking when in the states. I will make an effort to change this.
Speaking of the states; this is off topic but also kind of not. Arrogance is the topic. When I traveled in South America I got heavily schooled by the South Americans when they asked me where I was from, and I would answer ‘America’. They would say, “So are we.” It was offensive to them. I absolutely got this but it took a couple months to break the habit. So, here in Thailand they recognize ‘America’ rather than the United Sates. They often think I am saying the United Kingdom and tell me they have been to London. I do not correct them but have reverted to saying America and I am very uncomfortable saying this. This awareness has been very profound to me. Who are we to thank we are America? Their is a North, Central, and South America. Just saying…….
Most of the travelers I have met are from the U.K., Germany, France, and Canada. A lot of Canadians; which has been very cool. I have only met one couple from the states and they mistook me for a Canadian. (: New England runs deep in my veins; but, their next guess is Pacific Northwest. It is all a part of me. Thailand too.
