Chiang Rai White Temple & Golden Triangle

Since we didn't have much connection with the city of Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, but still wanted to visit the famous White Temple, we decided to take a day trip to the north of Thailand. In addition to the 2nd most famous temple complex in the world, we naturally wanted to take the opportunity to visit the Golden Triangle. This is where the countries Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet at the Mekong River and are only a stone's throw away from each other.

By the way, the most famous temple complex in the world is located in Cambodia, Angkor Wat, which we will visit with Jonas and Lisa in mid-August =).

However, the tour was not a piece of cake for us, as we had a total of about 8 hours of driving in a minivan with a Thai driver ;-) and a total of about 12 hours on the road. As a brief overview, we should not regret it and the tour fulfilled everything we had promised ourselves in advance.

We had once again flipped through some flyers and researched the best possible provider. In the end, however, we booked the tour through our hotel after the nice receptionist assured us that Journey Travel was a very good provider. In total, we paid 1,000 THB per person for the tour including a lunch buffet at the Mekong, which is about 25€. Optional, you can also add a visit to the Long Neck women or a boat tour on the Mekong, but fortunately, we did not do that and instead had our own alternative program, but more on that later... ;-)

We had a very good experience with Journey Travel, as the minivan was in very good condition and our tour guide was very friendly and could explain everything in very good English.

The tour started in the morning at 07:30 and we were picked up directly at our hotel. The first stop took us to some hot springs, although the facility itself was more of a large rest area for all the tour buses. Nevertheless, we gladly used the short break to stretch our legs.

Then we went straight to the White Temple in Chaing Rai, Wat Rong Khun, one of the highlights of the day. We had a total of one hour to visit, which we felt was just right. The temple complex is incredibly impressive, even though it is crowded with tourists. The temple is different from all other temples in Southeast Asia, as it was designed by the most famous artist in Thailand, Ajarn Chalemchai. His goal was to build the most beautiful temple in the world and to showcase modern Thai Buddhist art, which he succeeded in impressively, even though he may not be completely sane =DD

The artist wanted to create a lasting legacy with the temple and his life's work, even though the entire temple complex will certainly not be completed in his lifetime. By the way, the entire complex was financed by him alone without support from the government or sponsors, because he wants to remain free in his work and not be dependent in any way. Nowadays, the complex supports itself naturally due to the incredible masses of tourists who flock to the temple every day.

The path across the small bridge to the temple symbolizes the journey through hell before reaching heaven (the temple). The artist has implemented hell with many different, sometimes pretty crazy fantasies and very detailed. In the temple complex itself, he has also integrated some "superheroes" of modern times, such as Ironman, Superman, Minions, or even Pikachu, by designing the walls accordingly. Overall, the artist seems to be truly out of touch, but his life's work is more than impressive and definitely worth a visit.

Afterwards, we visited a traditional village, where we had the option to visit the Long Neck women, which we gladly declined. The village was also very focused on tourist visits and there was some handicrafts available for purchase. After a half-hour stay, we continued our journey towards the Mekong and Golden Triangle. Once there, we enjoyed a delicious lunch buffet.

For all participants of the Mekong boat trip, the boat was ready afterwards, while we had 1.5 hours of free time. We gladly used this time to visit a huge Buddha statue and the famous sign of the Golden Triangle for a small photo shoot. Afterwards, we took a short hike to a viewpoint, which was incredibly worth it, because from there we could admire the real tri-border region of Southeast Asia and enjoy the great view. So we had the opportunity to nostalgically look back at beautiful Myanmar and with eager anticipation for everything still to come in Laos ;-).

We would recommend all participants of the tour to use the time on their own and to skip the boat trip, as it was reportedly not very spectacular according to the other tourists.

By the way, there used to be a thriving opium trade and excessive drug smuggling here. A small island was even named Opium Island because there were no regulations due to the statelessness and lawlessness of the island. Here, for example, 1 kg of opium was exchanged for 1 kg of gold. Gold was the main currency of its time, which is why the border region was also named "Golden Triangle". However, this drug trade was put to a stop a few years ago, which is why there is now only an opium museum and an opium house to visit.

After visiting the opium house, the return journey was on the program, during which we were once again fascinated by the means of transportation and school transportation in Thailand, and with many beautiful impressions, we arrived tired back at our hotel in Chiang Mai after 4 hours of driving and a 13-hour tour in the evening.