Chiang Rai & Golden Triangle

Many travellers advised me not to travel to Chiang Rai for too long as there would not be much to visit. So I decided to book for a day trip today. In fact Chiang Rai is more liveable than visitable, lacking any major tourist attractions except being a gateway to the Golden Triangle and an alternative spot for arranging hill-tribe treks. We actually drove directly to the Golden Triangle and made a short trip by speed boat around the three-country border between Thailand, Myanmar and Laos with brief stops. The tour took us as well by car all along the land border and finally leaded us to a hill-tribe village. I was completely fascinated how they live and the way they are dressed. Each hill tribe has its own language, customs, mode of dress and spiritual beliefs. Most are of semi-nomadic origin, having migrated to Thailand from Tibet, Myanmar, China and Laos during the past 200 years. According to research, there are 10 different hill tribes but there may be even more. The population is estimated to be around 550'000. As you can see on the images, their colorful dresses are very different to one another. The most popular tribe is the one of the Karen, the so called long neck. The women wear heavy metal rings around their neck. They normally start to put it on at the children age of 4 to 5 years and will continue to make it higher once they get older. It is very remarkable how they can live with such kind of jewellery. I think also the other pictures speak for themselves. The two photos at the bottom were taken at the market near the border, the little girl carrying her younger brother. It was a very impressive day.