Today was so wonderful! We spent the day visiting The Golden Triangle, which is the place where three countries (Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand ) meet. Our tour guide Mr. Pok was so great he brought us tons of water and kept reminding us to drink! (I've mentioned how hot it is here I think...maybe once or twice?)
While visiting several beautiful but run down temples, Mr. Pok explained that once the temples are built, men cannot take them down. They must come down by time and nature.
We also went to the Opium museum where we learned a lot about....well... opium and the history of how it came to Thailand etc. Then had lunch on the Makong river which was delicous and scenic!
We took a river boat ride to Laos (there were life jackets mom! ) where we visited the whisky market! It's customary for everyone to do a free shot of whisky before shopping....I'm sure the intent is to get people drunk before trying to sell to them! We learned about "Whisky Laos" which often has snakes, scorpions, or centipedes in it. .....if I can get it through customs I may or may not have purchased a bottle with the intention of bullying my twin brother into drinking it!
We visited another temple on the way back to our hotel. Here Mr. Pok was telling us that for some of the colors in temples, they will grind up the young leaves of a teak tree and it turns bright red! He then made lots of jokes about his hands bleeding! He's seriously a funny man! He makes a whole lot of Forest Gump references! I assume it's one of his favorites!
Then another bus ride back to hotel to freshen up before we go out for another night at the Chiang Rai Bazaar! I'm going to sleep we'll tonight!
I'm passing on the snake drink! No way jose!
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