The Golden Triangle

Bridge:  After an uneventful night and a late wake up, we headed for the Golden Triangle.  The distance was only about 60km but for some reason it took us hours.  Our first stop was the famous “Hall of Opium” which was an impressive building but too expensive to get in so we opted for the smaller Opium Museum instead.  The views of the Golden Triangle were impressive from up here.  You don’t often get the chance to lay your eyes on 3 countries all in the same view all at once.  Thailand meets Burma and Laos in one corner of the Mekong River.

After lunch we decided to ride a few kilometres further to Chiang Saen Lake.  We passed dozens of dams and after hours of driving around in circles, we found the right one.  The boys immediately wanted to jump in for a swim, so we spotted a jetty and headed for it.  The jetty was part of a water-bird conservation area but they let us swim anyway.

We check into a motel-looking place across from the lake but found that their cook had gone on leave.  We had spotted a more expensive boutique place next door and went over to see if we could use their restaurant.  We were greeted by a very cheery Thai lady who spoke excellent English.  Their place was lovely.  7 boutique en-suite chalets, a spa, sauna, gym swimming pool and lovely open-aired restaurant-come-entertainment area.  We kindly explained that we could not afford their accommodation and she was happy enough to let us stay for dinner.  We placed our orders with her elderly mother in the kitchen and then spent the next hour swimming in their fancy pool and knocking back the beers – well the boys did anyway.

After dinner (hands down the BEST homemade cabonara I’ve ever tasted!!) we were joined by Jim (the Thai lady) and her English husband, Ian.  They’d been married over 25yreas but still only looked in their early 40’s.  Ian is an engineer/surveyor for some big oil and gas company.  He was currently based in Angola scoping out potential oil sites to place gas lines or oil rigs.  He had worked all over the world.  He had even worked for the company who eventually built the oil rig off the coast of Bazaruto, and during his time in Mozambique, he’d also spent a few days relaxing and exploring Paradise Island (Santa Carolina) – SMALL WORLD isn’t it!!