Chiang Rai

22nd November – 24th November

With Laos in our sights a stop over in Chiang Rai was in order to break the journey and allow us to check out the famous Golden Triangle. 70kms north east of Chiang Mai, it was an ideal opportunity for us to rent another motorbike and spend a day on two wheels.

After carrying out some research on the area by visiting tour operators, we cobbled together a plan for where we could visit in a day. It was difficult trying not to look too shocked at the 1500 Baht price tag (per person) for the day trip in a minivan!
Top Traveller Tip #4 – If you want to save money on a day trip, go to the agents and get them to tell you where you can see in a day, then hire a motorbike and follow their route!

Our plan was to head to fish and monkey cave, Mai Sae (the northernmost point of Thailand), The Golden Triangle, The Opium Museum, Chiang Saaen, a long neck village and then head back to Chiang Mai.

As you’ll see from our pictures, we accomplished all of our plan, apart from the Long Neck Village, which we couldn’t find. Still, we saved ourselves nearly 3000 baht by doing our DIY trip!

For further details on the route we took, look at our Google Maps in more detail!

A border crossing into Laos loomed, so an early night was called for. This was the last we would see of Thailand for a while and from what we had heard, things would only get tougher as we cross to one of the poorest countries in South East Asia.