Smuggler's Blues

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  Golden Triangle, Thailand
Monday, February 6, 2006

I don't usually do the package tour thing. It's typically expensive, inflexible in time and destination, and usually involves stops at junk-filled tourist traps. Well today I went on one. I realized that I don't have enough time to see all the places in Northern Thailand that I want to see on my own, so I book a trip that takes me to 3 of the places in 1 day. I am very clear with the tour operator on what I want to see and that has to include a trip over the border into Myanmar (Burma), which is guaranteed in the itinerary. The trip I took today, in a semi-airconditioned van, went to Chiang Rai, "the Golden Triangle", and Mae Sai.
To start off the day, the van picks me up at 7:30. The guide asks if I need to update my visa and go to Myanmar. I say yes. She says, well we might not be able to go, there's not enough time, and it's up to the group if they want to go to Myanmar. Well, I may be relaxed and on vacation, but I am not indifferent. I say, I'm not getting in that van unless we're going to Myanmar and I'll take my money back, thank you very much. Well, then there's a different story that we'll go, but we won't have alot of time and so on. Well it turns out, EVERYONE in the van wants to go to Myanmar and so we go. It turns out that the guide doesn't like going there, so in a manner typical of this part of the world, she has tried to persuade us with other reasons not to go without revealing her true intentions, but it doesn't work with the western will.
In Chiang Rai we visited a Wat and that's it.( I think I am finished with Wats). Next, at a town called Sop Ruak, the physical center of The Golden Triangle is located. This is really just a place at the Border of Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos where these 3 countries are separated only by a river and is called golden because it was the center of trade in opium between these countries, paid for in gold. Here, I took a boat ride across the river into Laos and visited a small village, seemingly set up to sell junk to tourists, but interesting nevertheless. One thing I hadn't seen before, but tourists were scooping it up is Snake Whiskey. It is a bottle of whiskey with a giant snake inside, dead of course from alcohol poisoning. I wonder how it tastes, but not strongly enough to buy one.
Mae Sai is a border town at the north where Thailand meets Myanmar and there is an open border crossing. We crossed over for a bit to browse in the market. The sellers were very aggressive, grabbing you by the arm and trying to peddle all sorts of stuff- sunglasses for 10 baht, fake watches, pirated music and movies, etc.. Stuff here is really cheap, but then do I really need any of it? I also update my visa so I don't have to pay a fine when I overstay by 2 days. Also climbed 200 steps to a temple with an amazing view of the town and of the Myanmar side. The steps were very deep, like 3 feet and are the only stairway that I've ever climbed where the trip down was as hard as the trip up.
As expected, we stopped at 3 different markets of the tour company's choosing, all with high prices for food and tourist junk. Why can't we just stop at a supermarket? Because the tour company wouldn't get a kickback.
All in all, my initial prejudice about the group tour experience proved to be true. I should have picked just one town and gone on my own. I spent 8 hours in a van and 3 hours seeing things. Saw some interesting things, but overall not a good day.

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#2 My Boat	#2 Shops in Laos	#2 View from Boat	#2 View of Mae Sai
#3 Shops in Laos	200 steps to the top	Buddha on his boat	Giant Scorpion
Golden Triangle	Laos Welcome	Me at Golden Triangle	Moving Fast
My Boat	Myanmar Welcome	Shops in Laos	View from Boat
View of Golden Triangle	View of Mae Sai	View of Myanmar Town

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