Chiang Rai/Golden Triangle Activities?
Feb 19th, 2007, 04:30 PM
#1
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Chiang Rai/Golden Triangle Activities?
We will be doing a one day tour with Waow at the end of March. We are staying at the Anantara. We have seven adults and two adventurous children.
What activities do you reccomend for a one day tour in the area? Our guide suggested the following:
Mai Sai
Lao (Donsao Villages)
Doi Tung
Doi Mae Salong
Bob recommended the Queen Mother's house which I read up on and will for sure go there. We also heard about the Opium Hall which we have tickets for through the hotel.
Any other suggestions for a day tour? We like pretty much everything and would love a very authentic experience with the locals/environment.
Thank you!!
What activities do you reccomend for a one day tour in the area? Our guide suggested the following:
Mai Sai
Lao (Donsao Villages)
Doi Tung
Doi Mae Salong
Bob recommended the Queen Mother's house which I read up on and will for sure go there. We also heard about the Opium Hall which we have tickets for through the hotel.
Any other suggestions for a day tour? We like pretty much everything and would love a very authentic experience with the locals/environment.
Thank you!!
Feb 19th, 2007, 05:10 PM
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doi tong is the queen mother's house....mai sai is on the way there from the anantara...
personally i would not waste the time or $$ to go over to laos or myanmar....both are just border towns selling junk....in the case of myanmar, most of the stuff is available in mai sai....mai sai is worth an hour or so....
do not know what doi mae is???
opium museum is just across the road from the hotel....it is worth about 2 hours or so...
personally i would not waste the time or $$ to go over to laos or myanmar....both are just border towns selling junk....in the case of myanmar, most of the stuff is available in mai sai....mai sai is worth an hour or so....
do not know what doi mae is???
opium museum is just across the road from the hotel....it is worth about 2 hours or so...
Feb 19th, 2007, 05:14 PM
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Doi Tung is the King's mother's estate and her many projects for the hiltribes. It's a good half day if you stop at the workshops as well going to her house and garden atop the mountain. We enjoyed visiting the ruins and museum in Chiang Sean. The Opium museum is excellent (and save it for a day when you don't have a driver/guide as it is across the road from the entrance of the Anantara). You can cross the border into Laos or Burma... I don't recommend either. They won't give you any real sense of the country.
You already have too many things listed for one day.
You already have too many things listed for one day.
Feb 19th, 2007, 10:02 PM
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We had an excellent one-day tour which felt relaxing, not rushed. Left the Anantara at 8 am and were back by 2 pm and did the following:
Myanmar - Spent three hours. Visited a Shan village, a Mon village, a pagoda with gold stupas(a replica of Schwedagon in Yangon) where we released birds, and a monastery with novice monks as young as six. Agree that it is not worth going to Myanmar just for the border market (although you will find kalaga tapestries there that you can't get in Thailand), but the brief excursion to the villages was fascinating - a step back in time and a completely different world than Thailand with wonderful people. Crossing the border itself was a great adventure for the kids. You leave your vehicle on the Thai side, walk over the friendship bridge by foot, then relinquish your passport to soldiers in a rundown office right out of the fifties. Then you rent either a rickshaw or open truck with benches for your excursion into the interior.
- Mae Sai - Visited a small jade factory. Bought fabulous chandelier earrings with tiny sapphires ($130). Other than that the "town" is just a strip of tourist shops.
- Photo Op - Golden Triangle.
- Fast longboat to the Lao island. Not the real Laos, of course, but kids loved bragging rights of visiting three countries in a morning. Our guide timed it so we were the only ones besides the vendors on the island. After checking out the interesting array of beverages (tiger penis whisky, scorpion whisky, cobra whiskey, etc.), we had noodles and Lao beer for lunch with the vendors.
There were two other families at the Anantara when we were there that were so taken with Burma that they spent the entire day there and didn't return until around 6pm.
Myanmar - Spent three hours. Visited a Shan village, a Mon village, a pagoda with gold stupas(a replica of Schwedagon in Yangon) where we released birds, and a monastery with novice monks as young as six. Agree that it is not worth going to Myanmar just for the border market (although you will find kalaga tapestries there that you can't get in Thailand), but the brief excursion to the villages was fascinating - a step back in time and a completely different world than Thailand with wonderful people. Crossing the border itself was a great adventure for the kids. You leave your vehicle on the Thai side, walk over the friendship bridge by foot, then relinquish your passport to soldiers in a rundown office right out of the fifties. Then you rent either a rickshaw or open truck with benches for your excursion into the interior.
- Mae Sai - Visited a small jade factory. Bought fabulous chandelier earrings with tiny sapphires ($130). Other than that the "town" is just a strip of tourist shops.
- Photo Op - Golden Triangle.
- Fast longboat to the Lao island. Not the real Laos, of course, but kids loved bragging rights of visiting three countries in a morning. Our guide timed it so we were the only ones besides the vendors on the island. After checking out the interesting array of beverages (tiger penis whisky, scorpion whisky, cobra whiskey, etc.), we had noodles and Lao beer for lunch with the vendors.
There were two other families at the Anantara when we were there that were so taken with Burma that they spent the entire day there and didn't return until around 6pm.
Feb 19th, 2007, 10:19 PM
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Thank you for the wonderful replys. I really appreciate the clarifications on what there site entail etc.
Kim- I talked to a friend of ours who was there last year and used a guide named Waow. She had her email address. You actually email her cousin who does the bookings for her. it is [email protected]. From what my friends and in-law say...they LOVE her and she is a good deal as well. Which makes it easy to tip her very well.
Crosscheck, did you request to go into the villages in Burma instead of just the border markets? If we were to go I would want to do the same thing.
Kim- I talked to a friend of ours who was there last year and used a guide named Waow. She had her email address. You actually email her cousin who does the bookings for her. it is [email protected]. From what my friends and in-law say...they LOVE her and she is a good deal as well. Which makes it easy to tip her very well.
Crosscheck, did you request to go into the villages in Burma instead of just the border markets? If we were to go I would want to do the same thing.
Feb 19th, 2007, 10:35 PM
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Hi Travelmom13,
When we were at the Anantara in December, it was all the rage to visit villages in both Myanmar and Laos. Every time we went to dinner or the pool we heard tales of another family's Burmese or Lao adventure. After having dinner with one of the families who spent eight hours in Burma, we hired their guide(Doi)and told her we wanted to spend three hours and get a glimpse of everyday life, including interactions with kids. Then she chose the villages and figured out the logistics.
When we were at the Anantara in December, it was all the rage to visit villages in both Myanmar and Laos. Every time we went to dinner or the pool we heard tales of another family's Burmese or Lao adventure. After having dinner with one of the families who spent eight hours in Burma, we hired their guide(Doi)and told her we wanted to spend three hours and get a glimpse of everyday life, including interactions with kids. Then she chose the villages and figured out the logistics.
Feb 20th, 2007, 08:22 AM
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Yes, we hired Doi and her husband as our driver. She speaks excellent English, understood exactly what wanted to do and told hilarious stories about her childhood in Bangkok. Spending the day with her was like traveling with a smart and funny friend.
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