Golden Triangle, Chiang Rai and beyond

Standing in Thailand with Burma on the left and Laos on the right

Good Pizza, Coke Light and warm chocolate chip cookies- heavenly.

Wat Rong Khun- The famous White Temple in Chiang Rai

Mike with the artist/creator of the temple, Chalermchai Kositpipat. Actually his cardboard cutout.

Damaged by the earthquake.

 

Right now we're sitting in the airport in Kuala Lumpur. We have a 4 hour layover until our flight to Bali so we're drinking a real honest to goodness Starbucks and taking advantage of free WiFi.
Our last few days in Thailand-
We rented a scooter and drove up to the spot where Thailand, Burma and Laos meet. The actual spot is somewhere in the middle of the Mighty Mekong but it is a tourist attraction for all three countries. Also the former opium growing capitol of the world. Apparently there is still some opium (or to be exact opium poppies) being grown in Burma. The Thai government outlawed opium production and taught the hill tribe people other ways to make a living. There is a pretty impressive museum there called the Hall of Opium complete with an animatronic opium den. The whole initiative was started by the King's mother (now deceased) who was this super cute little spitfire of a woman.
On the way back we stopped and had the best pizza. My tummy has been a little off and while I usually don't crave Western food too much, I just couldn't stand the thought of another bite of noodles... We found the place on Trip Advisor. Mekong Pizza in Sop Ruak. Good thin crust pizza- just how I like it.  Then the very sweet Thai owner baked us a couple of  fresh chocolate chip cookies as we were eating our pizza. They tasted just like Grandma K's. It was exactly the right thing...
We headed down to Chiang Rai for a couple of days and eventually to catch our flight to Bangkok.  Chiang Rai had an earthquake a few weeks ago so we couldn't go into the famous White Temple. It was pretty interesting anyways. They have experienced something like 600 aftershocks including a few while we were there (according to our guesthouse owner.) We never felt anything...
We flew on to Bangkok. We were able to go back in to the city for one last time and have a delicious meal sitting on the river with an expat friend Donna (formerly of Marquette) and her Thai friend Surasak. They are both foodies and treated us to a delicious last taste of Thailand and a fun tour of the city. We didn't see a single military anything. Quiet coup...
We were just commenting on how it feels so ordinary to be getting on a plane and sitting in an airport. Mike said "imagine if it was the beginning of our trip and we were sitting in an airport in January after having left Marquette in the middle of winter and were heading to Bali- it would feel so different." Not that we aren't excited and we aren't complaining... It just might be a sign that we are craving our quiet existence at home.
We are trying to decide how the next 3 weeks is going to play out for us. We had thought we would try to hit three islands in the next three weeks but the idea of just finding a little place on a quiet beach and staying put is also really appealing. We have the next two nights booked in a beach town on the east side of Bali. We'll do some research and have a look around. Who knows where we'll end up?