Six months have gone by and Simon needed to go out of Thailand for a visa run. This time we decided to go to Mae Sai border again. The difference from the last time was we will go to “Golden Triangle” (Myanmar, Laos, Thailand) as well.
Early morning of 4. July, we left Chiang Mai by bus (Greenbus company). We arrived at Mae Sai at about 10.30 am. Then, we went to the border and Simon did the routine tasks (leave Thailand, enter Burma (pay 10 USD), enter Thailand).
on the bus to Chiang Khong
I did some research how to go to Golden Triangle from Mae Sai. But it was wrong. At the end of the trip we figured out that the Blue Songtaew from Mae Sai to Golden Triangle leaves very near the Border to Tachilek. The trip would take normally 30 minutes and cost 50 baht pp.
We thought we had to take the the Songtaew from Mae Sai bus station. We went there and got told that we had to take a bus to “Mae Rim” and then take another bus to “Chiang Khong” and then take Songtaew to “Golden Triangle”. We did this trip and it took about 2.30 hours and cost 120 baht pp! But the scenery was incredible and the experience of sitting in old buses was new to Simon 😀
“Chian Khong” provides some places to visit as well. We passed by an old temple and drove along Mae Khong river.
We arrived the Golden Triangle around 3 p.m. We stayed in a bungalow on the hill and paid 500 baht per night.
We visited the temple “Wat Phrathat Phu Khao“, did some pictures, had dinner near the river. But we did not do the boat trip.
Next morning we went to “Hall of Opium” or หอฝิ่น. For me, this is the best museum in Thailand. Our “Somdet Ya” (the Royal Grandmother) initiated this museum. We learned a lot about history of Opium. How Opium has almost ruined the world. China was one of the countries that had millions of people addicted to Opium and traded with England. England brought Opium from India and sold Opium in many places in Asia. I cannot tell all the story here. But all this has been presented in many interesting ways. You have to visit this museum!
After visiting the museum we had to take a Songtaew back to Mae Sai as our Greenbus leaving from Mae Sai. BUT… the Songtaew run until 11.30 am. We were told that it will run until 1 pm. So we left the museum at 11.35 and could see the last Songtaew just in front of us passing by…
We had some hopes and waited until 1 pm. The bus in Mae Sai will leave at 3.30 pm. We only had 2 hours left to go to Mae Sai (30 km.). We could order a taxi but it would cost 500 baht. So we hitchhiked. It took us about 20 minutes that a car stopped. This car brought us 5 km further. We got out at a junction. Luckily, another car let us in and brought us to Mae Sai. They were really kind and could speak English 🙂
We had a lot of fun and excitements on the 5. July that is our 8 years anniversary. We will exactly remember this day!
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