Having examined the temple ruins in and around Chiang Saen it was time to move on – following a good night’s sleep in what is possibly the cheapest place I have stayed yet: A small hostel which name escapes me now. Prize for the night: 99 Bath + a 1 Bath donation to the place’s dvd-collection. The plaze was new and has my recommendation.

As I approach Mae Sae I decide to ignore the sign for Chiang Rai (telling me I still have some 60 km to go) and turn into the small border town instead with the intiontion to have lunch and a look around before I move on. I have lunch, but the looking around is so and so – I don’t care to negotiate the traffic. The border crossing to Burma/Myanmar seems to have made Mae Sae a rather busy place. As I move on towards Chiang Rai I have a good chat with a local guy who drives an interesting vehicle:

I met this Thai guy outside Mae Sae. Notice his conversion of an old bicycle!

On the road I see several signs advertising local tribe villages – sponsored by Coca Cola. Chiang Rai is a popular destination with travellers who have a couple of days to see the “real Thailand”, so busloads of tourists visit these villages.

In Chiang Rai I pick the first hotel I see. It’s in an uninspiring location just off the main road, but brand new and good value. Apart from visits to tribe villages the main attraction of Chiang Rai is temples. By now, I have visited my share of temples, but there is one, rather unique, just outside Chiang Rai that I want to visit. Local artist Chaloemchai Khositphiphat is the man behind the controversial Wat Rong Khun, or White Temple. Building bagan in 1998 and is still in proces. Unlike other temples, Rong Khun is kept completely in white, to signify the purity of Lord Buddha. Throw in tons of sparkling glass mosaics and the immediate result is a building that seems to come straight from a fairy tale. Entering the temple you are greeting with a “pool of despair” and inside is a wall decoration depiction the “fall of the West” or something like that: Twin Towers are being destroyed, while Superman and other cartoon charaters fight UFO’s in outher space. I don’t know the intentions behind this depiction, and unfortunately I didn’t have the guts to inquire the artist himself, when I had the chance. I saw him sitting around, recognizing because there were full size posters of him around as well.

Wat Rong Khun or the White Temple. Chiang Rai, Thailand

Donations are welcome in the "Pool of despair" in Wat Rong Khun.

I have some Kip to spend, so end up staying two days in Huai Xai. This unfortunately means I’m overstaying my Lao visa with one day, so I expect there will be a fine to pay. “10 US dollar!” the leech in uniform asks for. The guy must be psychic – it was the exact amount I had left in my pockets. I find it rather stiff, but with people lining up behind me I don’t care to dispute the amount, but do my best to look dissatisfied. I cross the Mekong river in a long tail boat, get a 15 day visa on the Thai side – and make a mental note to remember I shall now ride in the other side of the road again. I notice that Chiang Kong has a bicycle museum – now there’s a surprise – and start riding towards Chiang Saen. My legs are feeling good – damned, proper form is finally showing after 4 months of cycling and at the very end of the trip … and too late to make the Tour de France selection . My butt have been feeling a bit sore, though, after many hours on bumpy roads in Laos, so my aim is to go to Chiang Rai where it will get a days rest before I continue to Chiang Mai.

Rather than going straight towards Chiang Rai I have decided to spend an extra day going to Thailand’s northern most point, Mae Sai, at the Burmese border, and with en route visits to the small town of Chiang Saen and close by The Golden Triangle before I go to Chiang Rai, where my sore butt will get a few days rest.

Coming from Laos, Thailand appears almost as perverse display of money: Newer cars, people flashing fancy cell phones and laptops, motor cycles and even carbon racing bikes. I appreciate the return of air conditioned 7-elevens with ice cube dispensers (what a terrific invention – very handy for the bicycle tourer), chocolate milk and cheap DIY coffee.

I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking:

Chiang Saen's main attractions are a number of temple ruins in different states of derelict. I like the way the information boards invariably says: "This temple is no longer in use" even if there's only a pile of bricks left. Photo: Joel Schumann, 2010

The Golden Triangle, a term used to describe an opium producing area in Burma, Laos and Thailand. For the benefit of the tourist industry the term now coins the precise point where the 3 countries borders. Photo: Joel Schumann, 2010

They have an opium museum, but not a single poppy field! Photo: Joel Schumann, 2010

Unfortunately they have adopted the bad habit of bad road maintenance from Laos. Photo: Joel Schumann, 2010

... but at least they are working hard to do something about it - a worker is taking a nap! Photo: Joel Schumann, 2010