Day 11: Trip to the North

Originally, we just wanted to visit the White Temple in Chiang Rai, but unfortunately, all tours to this temple were fully booked due to our spontaneous planning. So, we decided to take a day trip through the whole north of Thailand, which also passes by the White Temple.

So off we went to the hot springs, which are up to 90 degrees hot, so that eggs can be cooked there. Just 5 minutes to take a look and off we go:

Afterwards, we visited the White Temple that we wanted to see. If we had known beforehand that this temple looks like someone wanted to build Disneyland in temple form, we probably would have never made this whole tour:

Then we went to the border with Myanmar. On the way there, you could still 'see' indigenous people of Myanmar. We decided against it, as it seemed to us that the people here are only being exploited to get money from the tourists.

Then we continued to the Golden Triangle. This is where the borders of Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand meet. This area is very well known for opium cultivation. Officially, it is now banned. We went there by boat to a black market in Laos. There, you could buy and try tiger penis and cobra schnapps (see in the pictures). We politely declined and instead bought an 'original' Ray Ban sunglasses.

After that, we drove back to Chiang Mai in a 4-hour car ride. What a day... we just wanted to see the White Temple!