25 Feb - 26 Feb 2010 Chiang Rai

Kingdom of Thailand aka The Land of Conditional Smiles
Singhakhlai Road 126
Mae Hong Son Guest House +6653715367 karencountryside@hotmail.com 
Basic and clean double room with wifi for only THB 170.- or US$ 5.15 per night.


Click below for an interactive road map of the Mae Hong Son Guest House in Chiang Rai, which we would recommend, and for directions:









Strolling through the town centre of laid-back Chiang Rai, the “Gateway to the Golden Triangle”, ignoring the mind-altering temptations of opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) and exploring instead the mind-boggling diversity of vegetarian rice-and-noodle food stalls on the town's lively night market (a somewhat smaller version of the more famous and much larger night market in Chiang Mai).

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” 



Taking (i) a săwngthăew (literally “two rows”, a small pick-up truck aka bakkie with two rows of bench seats down both sides of the truck bed) from our guest house to Chiang Rai’s Bus Terminal 2 aka the “new bus station” for THB 20.- per person, (ii) thereafter the overstaffed 2nd-class Win Tour bus (one driver and five bus stewards who stand in each other’s way) for THB 249.- or US$ 7.60 per person for the 450-km long trip from Chiang Rai to Sukhothai, and (iii) eventually another săwngthăew from Sukhothai’s bus terminal to our next guest house, the recommended Garden House Lodge +6655611395, for only THB 10.- per person, thus toughing it out against the local taxi mafia who asks for THB 50.- per faràng.



Click below for more blog posts about Asian night markets

Click below for a summary of this year's travels

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Konni & Matt Travel Photos


Facing Thailand
© Konni & Matt
 
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