The Golden Triangle is only an hour and a half away from Chang Rai. We took off in search of coffee for the way out. Stopped at an Amazon. No relationship to the Amazon we know so well, but very common in Thailand. We were told that the Golden Triangle is more or less a […]
Thailand
Fairwell Chang Rai
All good things must come to an end, and it had become our last day in Chang Rai. Pete invited me to his weekly coffee with a few of his friends. The coffee was grown in the mountains by one of the hill tribes. It was delicious. The conversation was all over the place, as […]
Chang Rai with Lek and Pete
As those of you who followed this blog years ago in Ecuador know, we met Pete in Ecuador in 2015. An amazing thing about “travel buddies,” is that you don’t need to see them all of the time in order to retain a travel friendship. So it is with Pete. In the intervening years, our […]
Dark House
Colloquially known as the Black Temple, today we headed out to the Baan Dam (translates to “Dark House”) museum. This is another “temple” from the imagination of a Chang Rai artist, in this case, a private art museum comprising a mixture of traditional northern Thai buildings with unconventional and contemporary architecture, designed by Thawan Duchanee. […]
Orchids and an Elevator
Sunday was a rest day. We took off Monday not know what to expect. First stop La Lalitta for a coffee and some orchids. La Lalitta Not knowing what to expect, imagine our surprise when we walked into garlands of orchids and mist blowing all over the place. The coffee was good too. Bodacious Temple […]
Northern Thailand Magical Mystery Tour – 9 – Fini
The last day of our magical mystery tour of Northern Thailand. In hindsight, we wish we’d planned a few more days in Chang Mai. It has a nice vibe, and when one discovers a great breakfast place, one doesn’t want to let it go. We opted for VIP tickets in the “Green Bus.” $11 each. […]
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Northern Thailand Magical Mystery Tour – 8 – Elephants
I must admit, elephants make good photo models. There are probably too many photos here, but I already deleted several hundred. Ethical Elephant Tours There is a great deal of debate about which tour is the most ethical. From a Western perspective, we can rule out riding of elephants for sure. Many tourist don’t care. […]
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Northern Thailand Magical Mystery Tour – 7 – Chang Mai
It is Thanksgiving this day, not that you’d notice in Thailand. In honor, and absent any evidence of turkey and stuffing, we decided to do a Thai cooking school. We also couldn’t help but hear the screams and cries of children during recess at the school next door. Chang Mai Our hotel was located across […]
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Northern Thailand Magical Mystery Tour – 6 Pai to Chang Mai
Pai Canyon We decided to take a look at the Pai Canyon on our way out of Pai. Though it was a bit of a climb up, we’re glad we did. The Drive Down In a previous post, we mentioned the curves on the road. It was almost a work of art watching a semi […]
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Northern Thailand Magical Mystery Tour – 5 – Pai
Day 5 was the vaunted trip to Pai. Vaunted because there are over 762 curves–most of them hairpin and switchback. Apparently it was built by the Japanese during the 2nd World War. However, we needed to start with a stop for morning – Coffee There are tourist traps, and there are tourist traps. I think […]
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