Tag: Chiang Rai

An Independent Trip To Northern Thailand & Vietnam, Part Five: From Chiang Rai Province Back To Chiang Mai, 17 March 1996

Rose not so early, 6:30 or 7:30. Left Baan Boran and headed west to Mae Sai

The border as seen from Mae Sai market

Looked round market and managed to wazz our way over the Myanmar border…

Scenes on the Myanmar side above & below, known as Thakhlek on that side

I should point out here and now that Janie and I did not jump this border. We are not serial border jumpers in and out of Thailand, you know.

When Janie And I Jumped The Border Into Thailand At Chong Mek And Then Blagged Our Way Out Of Thailand Again, 19 and 26 February 2001

In fact, the ability to get a temporary pass to enter Myanmar from Thailand at that crossing, just for the day, had been reinstated just the day before we arrived. We thought it only polite that we should take advantage and pop in.

Mae Sai monks

– on to a jade factory in Mae Sai then on to Doi Tung Temple etc…

Doi Tung Temple above and headline image at the top of this piece.
Vistas on the way down from the temple.

Arrived at the Chiang Mai quite late – changed – went around night market and got a light bite there – then returned (saw end of the cricket!) & slept

We stayed at the Dusit Princess if I remember correctly.

May 2021 Update: There is now a more comprehensive account of this day from a cricket perspective on the King Cricket website – click here or below.

A 1996 Cricket World Cup final match report

If anything were ever to go awry with the King Cricket site, you can find that article here.

All of our photos from the Thai leg of the journey can be found on Flickr through the link here and below.

=01 13 March 1996 - Jim Thompson

An Independent Trip To Northern Thailand & Vietnam, Part Four: From Chiang Mai Province To Chiang Rai Province, 16 March 1996

Chiang Rai Province – Akha People By The Mae Kok

[I have been pulling my journal notes together for Ogblog using a dictation app – no prizes for guessing what some of this piece looked like before I corrected the dictation]

Rose quite early – left Lisu village. 

The taller of the sweet children was a bit tearful saying goodbye to us

Headed north. Long drive – stopped for coffee on Mae Kok/Myanmar border.

Then on to Akha village [see headline picture and below]

…then Mae Salong (ex KMT people from Yunnan) market – [then] lunch at a good Chinese restaurant.

I seem to remember that Chinese lunch being especially good, with high grade barbequed meats as a centrepiece, but we obviously did not find Mae Salong (now renamed Santikhiri), or at least the part of it we went to, photogenic.

Then on to [a] Yao village in the mountains…

Yao people (above) and Kongburi explaining a Yao pipe’s purpose (below)

…then on to Mae Khong River near Chiang Saen – boat ride to Sop Ruak – Golden Triangle – Laos, Myanmar and Thailand…

I cannot see Mae Salong from here…perhaps they’ve changed the name.
Laotian people above, a shot of Laos, Myanmar & Thailand tri-point below

…on to Baan Boran Hotel for early night.

All of our photos from the Thai leg of the journey can be found on Flickr through the link here and below.

=01 13 March 1996 - Jim Thompson