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Thailand 2010: Golden Triangle in Mae Sai; Chiang Rai’s White Temple (Wat Rong Khun)

By Mithun Divakaran
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Jul 06, 2011
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Chiang Rai, Thailand, Travel

Date: 24th November 2010

Woke up at around 6am today. I re-packed my bags and checked out of my room as by the time I would have come back, it would have been past 12 noon. I left my bags at the hotel reception and walked to the bus station after having tea from stall serving early morning office goers.

I boarded a bus leaving for Chiang Saen at 6:30am. Mae Sai is the northern most town in Thailand. Located in Chiang Saen (which is in Chiang Rai province), it is from here you reach the Golden Triangle.

What’s the Golden Triangle you ask? It’s the point where three countries – Thailand, Myanmar & Laos – all meet, with only a river separating them.

The journey to Chiang Saen town takes one and half hours.

Small town Chiang Rai school parade Thailand — Passed through a small town

Small town school kids north Thailand — Cute kids were all dressed up and marching somewhere

Bus ride to Mae Sai town Chiang Rai Thailand — Concrete roads gave way to untarred roads. A sign of how remote a place I was heading to.

By around 8:15am, I was in the town of Chiang Saen. Now, I was expecting to see the ‘Golden Triangle’ right as soon as I got down.

Mae Sai town Thailand — But I was told it was still further away

The awaiting moped taxis offered to take me there… for ฿100. I said ‘No way!’ and instead got into a pick-up taxi going to the Golden Triangle. Cost around ฿30.

Mae Sai river road to Golden Triangle — It was still a bit chilly in the morning

Mae Sai river town Chiang Rai Thailand — That’s Mekong river

Road to Golden Triangle Chiang Rai Thailand — It’s a 10 minute drive to the Golden Triangle

Golden Triangle sign Chiang Rai Thailand — And finally, here I was

The Imperial Golden Triangle Resort Chiang Rai Thailand — The Imperial Golden Triangle Resort, the only major hotel facing the Golden Triangle

Golden Triangle entrance Chiang Rai — I kept walking to see where the ‘triangle’ was

And here it was…

Golden Triangle Mae Sai Chiang Rai Thailand panorama — That’s Myanmar to the left and Laos to the right

Hmm, that’s it. That’s what I came all the way for 🙂

Myanmar Burma from Golden Triangle view Chiang Rai — Not sure what this building in Myanmar was

Golden Triangle special economic zone Laos — Across in Laos, this was some special economic zone

Mekong river Myanmar Laos view from Golden Triangle — The Mekong river flows all the way from China

Now, I didn’t come all the way here just to see a river. After all, Myanmar and Laos doesn’t look all that different from here.

There are boat rides that take you along the Mekong river and up to the shores of Myanmar and Laos. I approached one boatman and he told me I’d have to wait a bit for other tourists… or pay ฿1000 for the ride. Needless to say, I told him I will wait.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t waste any time and so, I decided to check out the surroundings.

Golden Traingle temple park Mae Sai Chiang Saen Thailand — There was a temple-slash-park nearby

Golden temple coin rolling buddha statue Mae Sai — This was some contraption where in you roll a coin down to the smiling Buddha statue down there and you can hear the coin roll all the way down into his tummy

Mekong river Golden triangle boat tour — I could see one group boat tour on their way

Temple entrance near Golden Triangle — Checked this place out next

Wat Phra That Ku Phao temple Mae Sai Thailand — Wat Phra That Ku Phao temple

Golden Triangle view Mekong river from hill Mae Sai Chiang Rai — You get a better view from up here

Wat Phra That Pu Khao old temple Mae Sai Chiang Rai — Checked out what looked like an even older temple

Wat Phra That Pu Khao tourist Chiang Rai — Got back down

Once out, I went back to the river banks to see if there were enough tourists in a boat ready to embark on the river tour, but there still wasn’t any.

I waited a little bit.

But the heat was getting to me, and time wasn’t on my side. There was one attraction I just had to see before I left Chiang Rai. My Orient Thai Airlines flight was at 4:25pm, which meant I had to be at the airport at least by 2:30pm. Given that the journey back to Chiang Rai town was going to take one and half hours (now considering traffic), I couldn’t hang around much longer.

I boarded a passing by pickup taxi (which itself aren’t that frequent on this stretch) and made my way back to Chiang Saen town.

Laos across Mekong river Chiang Rai — Was I disappointed I couldn’t do the boat ride? A little bit

My friend Sawmteii (whom I would meet up with in a few days) did the Golden Triangle boat tour from Chiang Mai, which cost them around ฿2000 per person. They told me the boat tour basically takes you to the shores of Myanmar and Laos for a few minutes. Doesn’t sound that exciting I know, but if I had managed to get a spot on a boat from here for a reasonable rate, I would have done it just so I can check off the ‘Golden Triangle tour’ from my list of things-to-do in Thailand.

Chiang Saen town bus stop — I got into a bus heading for Chiang Rai

Bus Chiang Saen to Chiang Rai — Bus ticket cost ฿74 (Taken on the Nokia E72)

Leaving Chiang Saen for Chiang Rai Thailand — The bus left at around 10:30am

Chiang Saen outskirts farmland Thailand — Since I woke up early, with the sun hitting my eyes, I quickly dozed off

But I woke up to see the bus stopped and a police officer inspecting the passengers. He approached me and asked me where I was coming from. I quickly realized it was a check for illegal immigration, in case somebody from Myanmar or Laos just waltzed right into Thailand. I had a copy of my passport and showed him my driver’s license. That was it, the officer got down from the bus and we were on our way again.

Chiang Rai new bus terminal Thailand — This is the new bus terminal, which is a bit far from the main town

I got back to town just past 12 noon, so I was good on time. I decided to have lunch from The Pizza Company, which is Thailand largest and most popular pizza chain. They have a lot of value for money meals and their pizza was quite good too (my meal cost ฿179).

Soon after lunch, I decided to quickly head to Wat Rong Khun, also nicknamed the White Temple. I approached a tuk-tuk and told him I needed to quickly visit the White Temple and then be back in town to head to the airport. He offered to drive me to the White Temple, wait for me there, and then drive me to the airport — all for ฿250. Figuring it sounded like a time saver, I considered it a good deal and we first went back to Ruangnakorn Hotel to collect my bags.

Chiang Rai tuk tuk driver Thailand — The journey takes around 10 minutes from the city

Once I reached the White Temple, I left my bags in the tuk tuk and entered the premises. There isn’t an entrance fee for Wat Rong Khun.

Wat Rong Khun white temple Chiang Rai Thailand — It’s an art masterpiece for which construction began in 1998

White temple Wat Rong Khun tree heads Chiang Rai — The temple is designed with a theme of passing through hell during rebirth, a chance to purify oneself. Thus the colour white.

Wat Rong Khun White Temple hands from hell sculpture — Wat Rong Khun is easily one of the coolest works of art I’ve seen!

Wat Rong Khun White Temple buddhist hindu temple — The temple was designed by the same man behind the Golden Clock Tower in the city, artist Chalermchai Kositpipat

White temple Wat Rong Khun Chiang Rai Thailand — Photography inside the main hall, which houses the Buddha statue, is prohibited

White Temple Wat Rong Khun no alcohol Thai cut out — No alcohol allowed inside Wat Rong Khun… so says this cut out

White Temple Wat Rong Khun Chiang Rai panorama — Panorama comprised of 6 shots

White Temple Wat Rong Khun white fish pond Chiang Rai — Even the fish are white!

White temple Wat Rong Khun front Chiang Rai Thailand — It was time for me to leave

I went back to my waiting tuk tuk and we headed back into the city, because the airport was in the other direction.

While in the city, I saw a sign pointing to Chiang Rai beach… which made me wonder how there is a ‘beach’ in a land-locked district. Turns out it’s just on the shores of a river.

On the way to Chiang Rai airport — The drive to the airport takes around 30 minutes

Chiang Rai international airport Thailand — I arrived by 2:10pm, early enough

Chiang Rai International Airport is enough to serve the district and offers nothing fancy. I got my window seat and sat in the departures lounge.

Orient Thai one-two-go airlines Chiang Rai to Bangkok — My Orient Thai flight was on time as well

The ticket was cheap and the time suited me fine. Initially I was reluctant to fly Orient Thai, because they don’t seem to go by One-Two-Go Airlines anymore, because the airline apparently had a poor safety record in the past.

Aerial view Chiang Rai Thailand — But the flight was just fine

Clouds Thailand aerial photography from plane — The scenery gave way to the clouds

Thailand bangkok at night from flight — By the time I was over Bangkok, the sun had set

My next stop was Pattaya but in the flight, I was contemplating whether I should stay on Khao San road tonight and leave for Pattaya early morning tomorrow. But after I got out of Don Mueang Airport (the old airport), I decided to try and get to Pattaya tonight itself so that it’ll save me the trouble of waking up early again. I took a taxi and headed to Mo Chit bus terminal. En route the taxi driver asked me where I was headed, and when I said “Pattaya,” he told me “Oh, you won’t get bus now!”. Which I didn’t pay much attention to as I figured it was his way of making me consider taking a taxi ride all the way. Once at Mo Chit, I easily got a bus ticket — though most bus companies were on their final trip for the evening. This was around 6:30-7pm.

Sukhumvit Bangkok MRT pillars at night — The bus set off past 7pm, passing Sukhumvit

Rama highway to Pattaya at night — We mostly rode on the elevated highway, the longest in the world

Bangkok port on way to Pattaya — The journey took more than 2 hours

I arrived in Pattaya, not knowing where in the city I was. This was my first visit to Pattaya, as I had zero interest in visiting the place last year on my first trip to Thailand. I only had a hotel reservation for tomorrow, so I still needed to find a bed for tonight. I got into a pickup taxi and asked the driver to just take me to a “cheap room” for tonight. It was already past 10pm and I was eager to crash, as I have been up and about since 6am today. The driver took me to a place called Little Court. A single room cost ฿250 and I checked in. After freshening up, I went out to pick up some dinner and to buy some credit for my local SIM. After updating my father, I called it a night. Well, I tried to… but the room, despite being on a higher floor was still open to the bars outside playing loud music. I guess this was to be expected with Pattaya.

Next posts in this series:

Thailand 2010: Pattaya — Beach road, Viewpoint, Jomtien Beach, Walking Street

Thailand 2010: Back to Bangkok — Chinatown, Patpong, Platinum Mall and Chatuchak Market

Thailand 2010: Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha, Sampeng Market, JJ market (again)

Thailand 2010: Damnoen Saduak Floating Market tour, Cobra show… and leaving Bangkok

Previous posts in this series:

Thailand 2010: Heading to Chiang Rai by bus, Wat Jedyod and Golden Clock Tower

Thailand 2010: Last day of Loi Krathong; Sunday Grand Parade (Day 4, Part 2)

Thailand 2010: Chiang Mai Zoo (Day 4, Part 1)

Thailand 2010: Chiang Mai Loi Krathong celebrations; first Grand Parade

Thailand 2010: Chiang Mai cooking class; Loi Krathong celebrations in Mae Jo, Sansai

Thailand 2010: First day in Chiang Mai for Loi Krathong; driving up Doi Suthep

Thailand 2010: Arriving in Bangkok and preparing for Loi Krathong in Chiang Mai

Malaysia 2010: Leaving Kuala Lumpur… and about going back

By Mithun Divakaran
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Apr 15, 2011
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Malaysia

Date: 4th October 2010

Today was the last day of our trip, and what a trip it has been: 3 whirlwind days in Singapore, 6 full days in Malaysia (1 day in Penang, 2 in Langkawi, and 3 in the capital city)

We woke up at a reasonable time and since I was done with all my packing yesterday itself, after breakfast I headed to Times Square just to roam about and see if there was anything I could pick up for the last time.

Berjaya Times Square shops morning closed — Unfortunately most shops were still yet to open

Berjaya Times Square shopping mall floors — Most shops only post 11am

Exclusive Nikon centre Berjaya Times Square Kuala Lumpur — There’s a fairly big exclusive Nikon store on the ground floor

I did go around looking for camera tripods but as mentioned earlier, most shops were closed.

Once all three of us were packed and ready, we checked out of Irsia and hailed a taxi. We initially asked him to take us to KL Sentral, from where we thought of taking the monorail to the airport. Then the taxi driver offered to drive us to the airport for RM60 (Rs. 875/$20/€14). The three of us looked at each other and wondered about all the luggage we had, sighed… and then said “fine” to the taxi driver.

Taxi driving to LCCT airport highway — The journey was nice — and long

Onwards KLCC Sepang circuit Malaysia — Sepang Circuit, home to the Malaysian F1 and MotoGP events, is close to the airport

We arrived at the LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) an hour later, and were among the first to check-in for our 3:30pm flight.

LCCT plastic baggage wrapping service — First, we had to shrink wrap our IKEA boxes; cost RM30

We had pre-booked for 20kg luggage (per person) and fortunately all our luggage came just under 60kgs!

Relieved everything worked out alright, we went through customs and made our way towards the departures lounge. There is a Duty Free at the LCCT but liquor prices weren’t that great (read: cost more than Bangalore Duty Free) but you get good enough selection of international brands and chocolates. I instead went to a store selling traditional Malay sweets and snacks, and picked up tea biscuits, chips, etc. Something different for a change I thought.

We had to sit a bit longer in the boring departures lounge because our Air Asia flight was delayed by 45minutes. By the way, there is a new LCCT set to open by the end of the year.

Once it was time, we made our way in. We pre-selected our seats as myself and Ramesh were keen on window seats.

Air Asia LCCT baggage handling laptops — Even laptop makers want to cut costs on flying

Petronas stations KLIA — Kuala Lumpur International Airport is all the way there

Petronas station KLIA take off runway — In case you wanted to fill up before taking off, there’s a Petronas station here 🙂

Palm trees new LCCT construction Malaysia — We took off…

Palm tree farms near airport Malaysia from sky — … and flew over lot of palm trees

New LCCT airport construction site from sky — Guess that’s the site of the new LCCT

Port Klang Malaysia from sky plane — Port Klang

Pulau Selat Kering island Malaysia from sky — Selat Kering island

Ships Malacca Strait Malaysia aerial view — Container ships making their way to Malaysia

I took a break from taking photographs to reminisce about the last few days. I guess its always sad when a holiday comes to an end, especially when you think how fast time flies by.

We began planning for this trip as early as March. Booked our flight tickets in April. Made arrangements for stay in Singapore first, since we were going during F1 weekend. We made most of our booking via Hostels.com and Hostelworld.com, with only our Langkawi booking done via Agoda.com.

We flew Tiger Airways (one way) to Singapore (which cost Rs. 4500 per person) and our Air Asia one way journey from KL to Bangalore (with 20kgs luggage and pre-booked meals) cost us Rs. 3600 per person. All in all, this 9 day trip (10, if you include today) cost us around Rs. 36,000 ($810/€560) — that’s flight, stay, food, commuting fares, and sightseeing expenses! 🙂

I didn’t do a whole lot of shopping, so I spent the least among the three of us.

If we had gone via a packaged tour, it would have easily cost us more than Rs. 50,000 per person and I doubt we would seen all that we saw the past 9 days. Sure, we didn’t check out Sentosa Island (and Universal Studios) but that’s due to lack of time in Singapore. It was either Sentosa or the Zoo — we chose the Zoo. In Malaysia, we skipped Genting Highlands as well because it was another theme park and casino — places subsidized package tours include so that they bring in droves of tourists in hopes the tourists will spend some money.

Indonesia shores from Malaysia aerial view — Looking at the world map, I believe this was Indonesia we were flying over

The long wait at the airport made me quite hungry and I was looking forward to the meal I had pre-booked. Not that I had high expectations, I was just hungry.

So would I go back?

To Singapore, that’s a definite ‘yes‘! Mostly because the experience of being in Singapore during F1 weekend is just too good. The whole city really comes alive during the Grand Prix. The main lesson learnt from this Singapore visit is that 3 days isn’t enough, even for such a small city state. You can spend an entire day at the Zoo itself — go see the animals in the morning and then the Night Safari once it gets dark. You can spend an entire day at Sentosa, for which they have activities from daylight to sunset. Next time, I’m definitely going to Universal Studios Singapore.

Also, next time, I’m going to carry a lot more money. SGD$250 is enough to get by for 3 whole days in Singapore (which is what we spent on getting around, eating, some shopping, and the attractions we visited). But next time, I’ll probably triple my budget and stay for minimum 5 days. I want to have fun in Singapore!

Aerial photograph Tamil Nadu India — By now, we were flying over Mother India

Would I go back to Malaysia? Well, depends really. I felt I saw all that I needed to see and do in Langkawi. I also saw quite a bit of what I sought in Kuala Lumpur. The one place I do feel ‘incomplete’ about is Penang. Just one day in Penang was a bit of a stretch, plus I didn’t get to see what was on the other side of the bridge, which apparently has its fair share of attractions.

Funny thing though, until last year, I didn’t even know there are two ‘sides’ that make the nation of Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Langkawi are all on one ‘side’ — but there is more to Malaysia, on the Borneo side.

Malaysia territories map — (Map image taken from Wikipedia)

Sabah and Sarawak are famous for its wildlife, lush forests and serene coast line — offering an experience quite different from that of the ‘main land,’ so to speak.

But because they are far apart, and not as developed, most tourists to Malaysia are often oblivious to Sabah and Sarawak’s existence.

Air Asia has flights to Sabah and Sarawak, so if I do go back to Malaysia, I would probably hop over to ‘the other side’.

Nandi Hills Bangalore aerial photograph view — Not sure if these are Nandi Hills

Bangalore outskirts aerial view from plane — The outskirts of Bangalore, from up above

As we descended, the nice and sunny outside suddenly turned dark and rainy.

Dark rain clouds from plane Bangalore — Rain

BIAL airport Bangalore rainy day — Landed at 5:30pm

After picking up some stuff at the BIAL Duty Free, we were out in half-an-hours time. We hired a cab who agreed to take us to Srajapur Road (near Total Mall) for Rs. 650. We opted not to take the airport bus due to the luggage we had.

If felt nice to return to the post-rain, fresh air and experience Bangalore’s greatest asset — its weather. But 30 minutes into our journey, and into peak hour traffic, it didn’t take long for all three of us to get frustrated and say the same thing:

“Man, I wanna go back!”

P.S: I also didn’t get to have bread ice cream in Singapore!

Other posts in this series:

Singapore & Malaysia 2010: Planning and preparing for the trip

Singapore 2010: Day 1 – Little India, CBD, Clarke Quay, China Town… and a lot of walking

Singapore 2010: Day 2 – Orchard Road, mall-hopping… and already shopping

Singapore 2010: Day 3 – Singapore Zoo, Marina Bay Sands; leaving Singapore for Penang

Malaysia 2010: Day 5 — Langkawi (Ferry ride from Penang, Cable car & Sky Bridge)

Malaysia 2010: Day 6 — Langkawi (Island hopping tour, Pantai Tengah beach, Night market)

Malaysia 2010: Day 7 — Kuala Lumpur (Low Yat Plaza, Petronas Towers, Jalan Alor)

Malaysia 2010: Day 8 — Kuala Lumpur (Batu Caves, Petaling Street/China Town)

Malaysia 2010: Day 9 — Kuala Lumpur (KLCC Aquaria, Merdeka Square, KL Tower observation deck)

Getting ready for my first Thailand trip

By Mithun Divakaran
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Dec 28, 2009
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Thailand, Travel

The travel bug bit me when I first went to Rajasthan in 2005. Since then, I’ve been to Rajasthan once more, Goa twice, Pondicherry twice, New Delhi, Agra, Mysore (I lost count), Kerala (a bunch), Coorg twice and few other places from where Bangalore isn’t too far.

All there is left for me to explore in India is the North-Eastern stretch — from Kashmir all the way through Nepal or Darjeeling. But I need to plan a heck lot for that given the logistics and the weather conditions. So when it came to thinking about traveling abroad, South-East Asia seemed like a logical first choice. After all, budget flights were aplenty and it wasn’t too far. The places I was initially planning on going were Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore.

After much research, I scratched Singapore of my list. I realized how well marketed that place was. If you have never seen a world-class city before, I can see the appeal to some Indians but to me, it really didn’t offer me anything compelling. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure its an awesome place to live, but as a tourist destination, I wasn’t impressed.

Now, Hong Kong is yet another ‘city’ destination (like Singapore) but what a city it is!

I would go just for that view at night.

Then, there is Malaysia. Interesting mix of races, a nice city in Kuala Lampur and coastal destinations like Langkawi. Then there is Thailand, which was a ‘must-go’ after watching ‘The Beach‘ (mediocre movie, awesome soundtrack!). Of course, if I had the money, there isn’t a place on earth I wouldn’t want to visit (okay, maybe not Saudi Arabia and some countries in sub-Saharan Africa).

Back in the South-East of Asia, the other destinations I’d love to visit are Vietnam (all thanks to the Top Gear special from 2008), Bali and Cambodia. But the problem with destinations such as those are the cost of flights to get there. Because there are so many Indians visiting Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, flights are aplenty and the competition keeps prices reasonable. But no so for the other countries.

Anyway, back to my trip. My initial plan was to go on holiday for 2 weeks since I had 11 days of leave I had to use up before year end. I decided not to go to Hong Kong right now as it isn’t a cheap destination (read: getting there and hotel room rates) so I just thought I’d do Malaysia and Thailand first.

Then, something came up in Goa. I wasn’t really keen on Sunburn 2009 … until they announced Armin Van Buuren was going to be there! I LOVE AVB’s music. So I thought I’d keep a few leaves for that because I knew some friends who were interested in going for that as well.

I then cut my trip down to 10 days and started budgeting the cost of flights to Malaysia and Thailand. I started off with Tiger Airways as Air Asia had no direct flights from Bangalore. There was a flight from Bangalore to Kuala Lampur via Singapore (6 hour stop over) available for Rs. 13k (return, incl. taxes). I thought it was a good deal since I felt I could use the stop over time to use the Singapore Airport bus tour to see Singapore city instead of simply wasting time at Changi. But I later learnt that, even though that tour is free, regular Indian passport holders need to have a transit visa just to enter Singapore airport. So when I factored in the cost of Singapore visa, Malaysian Visa, the flight to KL and then from there to Thailand, it was coming to a bit much for just 10 days (the Thai Visa-on-arrival is free).

So instead, I decided I’d just focus on Thailand for now.

I went to all the popular online ticketing sites but ended up with a good deal from Yatra.com. A return ticket from Thai Airways for the dates I picked cost me around Rs. 17k. But at the time of booking, I saw a field for ‘Yatra Promotion Code’. So, I googled for ‘Yatra coupon codes’ and found a few sites that listed them. Some worked, most didn’t — but I eventually got one that saved me a good 5-10% off the ticket price. The final cost was Rs. 15,740 (incl. taxes). There was a cheaper flight from Sri Lankan Airlines but that included a very long stop over at Colombo airport which made the total duration of the flight 9 hours. The Thai Airways flight is a direct flight from Bangalore to Bangkok and back (3 hr 45 mins journey time).

The places I wanted to visit in Thailand were Krabi, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Kanchaburi and then Bangkok. I decided not to got to Koh Samui because the Full Moon party for December had already gotten over on Dec 2nd and I really didn’t want to stay for the one on Dec 25th & the New Year party. Plus, it can be dangerous if one is alone, which I was going to be. So I decided to keep Koh Phangan and Koh Tao for next time.

I paid for my Canon 7D on Nov 25th and booked my flight for Dec 13th, thinking 2 and 1/2 weeks was a long enough time for it come and for me to get the hang of it. I wanted to spend a few days in Krabi province — mostly Railay and Ao Nang. In Krabi I wanted see the Tiger Cave Temple, which 1200 stairs up on a hill is where, they say one can see the Andaman sea. Railay was pretty much a backpacker’s haven, also popular for rock climbing. Ao Nang is the sea side tourist town of Krabi and a base from where I would take the tours to Phi Phi island and the many other islands (like ‘James Bond’ island) . After spending at least 3 to 4 days in Krabi, I would head to Phuket, which was 2 hrs by road. After spending a day there, I would head to Chiang Mai (for the temples, the ‘Long Neck’ tribe) and then Kanchanaburi (for the Tiger Temple) and then finally back to Bangkok (for the Weekend market, the Grand Palace, Wat Pho and then shopping).

Well, that was the plan. But as you’ll see in the next few posts, things didn’t really go according to plan. And that sucked.

Other Thailand posts in this series:

The day I left for Thailand

Day 1 – Suvarnabhumi, Pantip Plaza, Fotofile & MBK

Day 2 – Bridge over the River Kwai and Tiger Temple (Wat Pa Luangta Bua) in Kanchanaburi

Taking the bus to Chiang Mai from Bangkok

Day 3 – Maesa elephant camp, ‘long-neck’ tribe village near Chiang Mai

Day 3 (Part 2) – Chiang Mai Night Market

Day 4 – Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai… and back in town

Day 5 – Leaving Chiang Mai for Phuket

Day 5 (Part 2) – One night in Phuket

Day 6 – Leaving Phuket for Ao Nang by bus (via Phang Nga)