Chiang Rai

1/18/09 Today I'm back in Chiang Mai after spending 2 days in Chiang Rai, about a 3 hour bus ride north of here. This is a small town located up in the area known as the Golden Triangle, about an hour from the borders of Burma and Laos. I could have gone up to Mae Sai, a town on the border, but I really didn't feel like going up there on the local bus which was very crowded. Thai people in general are pretty small in stature, so the seats on these buses tend to be much tighter than we are used to in the western world. These are NOT comfortable buses to travel on. More like a cattle car. The best bet would have been to take a VIP bus there from Chiang Mai - these buses are huge, very plush, and have lots or room. I went to Chiang Rai on a first class bus which wasn't bad but not as nice as a VIP bus. Another option was to pay a driver with a car for the day for around $100 - a LOT more than I wanted to spend. So, I rented a motorbike for $4 a day and pretty much stuck around Chiang Rai. The weather there was much cooler than Chiang Mai, night time temps dropped down to the high 40's - low 50's as opposed to the 60's in Chiang Mai and the 70's in Bangkok. I thought about taking my motorbike to Mae Sai but it was too cold in the morning with just a sweater and windbreaker. Not much to see in Chiang Rai - a few temples, a little local color - that's about it. This isn't a very big tourist town. Most people stop there on their way to Mae Sai. Not many signs are in English. My hotel was mostly Thai-centric - when I asked for a map, all they had were maps in Thai. The TV in my room had one channel in English - the Fashion Channel(??). But everyone was very nice, the service was fine, and the breakfast buffet was good. After walking around for a day, I found a map in English, and things got much easier. The people in Chiang Rai were incredibly friendly, always smiling and saying hello. It was a nice place to hang out, although there was absolutely nothing to do there. After 2 days it was time to go..... Here in my hotel in Chiang Mai I have 5 English Language stations on the TV - CNN, BBC World, The Bloomberg Network(?), Australia Network, and Al Jazeera. It's been interesting to watch Al Jazeera's coverage of the Gaza situation as they are the only ones in Gaza. It's also been quite exciting to watch the Obama train ride from Philadelphia to DC here in Thailand on CNN. This world is a lot smaller than it used to be....... Some pictures from Chiang Rai - Day One Day Two stay tuned..........