Chiang Rai

[daveduke007]

I am planning on staying in Chiang Rai for a week next November with my "teerak" and looking to stay at the Wangcome Hotel.

Have any BM's stayed there and/or can advise me on trip's within the Golden Triangle etc

Any help would be much appreciated

[marshal]

hi dave,
only travelled through chiang rai, i have heard of wangcome hotel, but only through a guide book, sounds pretty reasonable and they have a night club,disco and pool.
About 80km from chiang rai(approx) is mai sai border town with burma. Spent 2 days here , in 05 crosssing border for new stamp , and seeing a different side of south east asia. Mai sai is a one horse town with the border crosssing, only one place to drink at the time, called uncle johns, but don't expect to meet anyone, as the whole town pretty much shuts after the border closes for the night. Lot of problems here with child beggers. Stayed at the wang thong hotel next to the border payed about 800b a night, 3 * hotel but shabby,only reason three star because of amentitys!
I came up from chiang mai, and travelled back west along the burmese border then back to chiang mai, i would recommend a good travel around as it's a part of thailand most people don't see. I would have liked to have spent more time in burma, and pushed on a bit, but at the time it was not possible.
A good side trip from chiang mai is lamphun, very interesting 45mins-1hour.
I actually enjoyed mai sai as it had an air of mystery to the place, as you get a feeling everthing is not what it seems, Baring in mind that it is a major route for yabba and illegal hardwoods!
Sorry i could not shed some more light!
Have a good trip mate, hope the info was of some benefit.
cheers
Marshal

[fleeing]

Chiang Rai does not have alot going for it I'm afraid. A small night market, the river and a few bars.

If you enjoy day tripping on 2 wheels (or 4 for that matter) there are some nice hills to the north east, with the one of the royal retreats and parks open to the public, and I can only agree with the comments about the border town.

Otherwise I'd advise to just get out and enjoy the scenery, the locals are generally very friendly. But Chiang Rai is not a place I'd consider staying more than 3 or 4 days. I hope you will have some company to relieve the boredom.

[SamplerDoc]

Sounds like 2 days is plenty

[daveduke007]

Thanks chap's appreciate it , I will be staying in Lampang first before getting a bus up tp Chiang Rai and I will have company with me ( my avator)  

[PigDogg]

Here's a Wangcome Dave.

[daveduke007]

LOL PD

[katoeylover]

Could think of much better places to go for a couple of days Dave, like Cambodia or laos?

[daveduke007]

 Maybe KL but I do want to see more of Thailand   than just BKK and Pattaya and it is on the Burma/ Laos Borders so may pop across  

[Guest]

went on a tour of northen thailand with the ex wife 2 years back. stayed in chiang rai for 2 nights,more than enough,only the night market there really. the surounding area is very nice though,a pleasant change from the madness of bangers. hava a good one dave,danwin250.

[daveduke007]

   buddy, I've no doubt I will have my hands full with my "teerak"      so Im not complaining  

[marshal]

Probably worth a trip up to the border dave, a couple of years ago you were able to push into burma a bit. The town is called Tachileik, from there you use to be able to travel to kentung and mengla.
Beware of the ciggie sellers if you do go over to burma, the smokes are bad fakes, full of real nasties!!
The border town itself(burmese side) is very dusty, and full of seedy locals, also beware of the limpit guys who tag along with you, i had one tag along for ages with me, who spoke impeccable english and after 10 minutes wanted to talk about the state of burmese politics and the regime( BIG FUCKING NO NO). On the other hand, sat for a couple of local brews on the way back and struck up a conversation with an older fellow, who was fine,brought him a brew or two friends for fucking life now.
You don't have to change currency into FEC (foreign exchange certificates) now, well certainly not for short trips/day trips. Baht accepted.
It's not as bad as it sounds, and you will have your teerak so that helps.

The nearest Laos border to chiang rai is called chiang khong, roughly 2 and half hours by bus, you used to need a visa before hand, to cross, but i think some guest houses can arrange these visas.
There are some nice places on the other side of ching rai, called Mai hong son and pai(bye), although i never managed to travel to these places, from what i heard they are very quiet and worth a couple of days with company for quality chilling out!

[daveduke007]

Thx a lot marshal mate

[marshal]

No problem mate, you got me thinking, i might venture up that way october, well want to go laos, with a few days whoreing either side, in patts and bkk
I fancy going to luang prabang, but there is a lot to see in north thailand as well.
we will see.