Wake to the smells of Northern Thailand; local coffee beans getting roasted, fresh pineapple being sliced, incense flickering across from ancient temples. Senses elevated, you explore Chiang Rai, spending the morning touring the indelible sights and sounds. Admire the King Meng Rai monument and ride into the old market area. Traders’ shouts float across stalls of fresh fruit and colorful cotton, every angle appearing like a photo from the front cover of National Geographic. Continue the local immersion at Wat Phra Kaew, barefooted red robed monks guiding you through rooms of evocative spirituality. Wat Rong Khun offers a very different temple experience, the unique kanok architecture bringing an aesthetic charm, before the city adventure culminates at the fascinating Hilltribe Museum. Here you get a great overview of the intricacy and complexity of hill tribes in Northern Thailand. Tomorrow you’ll be visiting one.
Leave Chiang Rai and head toward the Golden Triangle, your driver always willing to stop for some glorious mountain photos. Three countries convene at this picturesque destination along the Mekong. Gaze out at Myanmar. Turn around and you’re looking into Laos. Look down below and you find the remains of the ancient Kingdom of Chiang Saen, standing in a beguiling state of ruin, half consumed by the river. Crumbling brick is coated in yellow ribbons, Buddha statues are resplendent against the red rock, and moss creeps around the archways of intact temples. Then a long-tail boat picks you up from the Mekong River bank, taking you on a cruise between three different countries. Before heading to your elegant hotel there’s time for a quick stop at the Hall of Opium, a museum dedicated to the eradication of opium trading and opium addiction.