from golden triangle to the royal villa

When everyone is not in, I seem to be more motivated to work and not laze around. Ok ... some update of our trip to Myanmar/Thailand.

On 26th November, we rented a van to take us to two places...the Golden Triangle and Mae Fah Luang Garden/Doi Tung Royal Villa. The van is really spacious and comfortable. When you travel around like this, you feel like you can just travel on and on....

The road to the Golden Triangle was under construction. Maybe the flood spoilt the road. When we reached the place...the road there was dusty and dirty due to the flood. Lots of shops selling souvenirs and shirts and we bought quite a few items here. The rule in buying in these places is you must bring down the price by half. If the saleperson refuses to give in, just walk away and forget about it. Many times they actually called us back and offer the price we want.

This is the map of the places we had been. The Golden Triangle is pretty clear...The pink part is Laos, the blue is Myanmar and yellow is Thailand. We stayed at Tachilek (Myanmar) a night and Maesai (Thailand) two nights.
From where we stood, we could see Laos and Myanmar. That's why it's the Golden Traingle....lots of opium in the highlands I believe.

Mae Fah Luang Garden is part of the royal grounds. The valley is filled with flowers. From the royal villa, the royalty are able to get a good view of the garden. We have to buy two tickets...one for the garden; the other to get into the villa.

A little pond in the garden with a swan and a few ducks. The ponds and rivers here are all brownish. I wonder why.

Very beautifully landscaped.

Quite a few arches like this around the garden.

The colours of the flowers are well coordinated too. This garden has brought about a lot of work to the people around. We saw many tribal people (in their costumes) and monks visiting the garden.

Outside the royal villa. Can't take pictures inside.

The majestic view of the mountains from the balcony of the villa. Imagine staying in a villa like this and sitting at the balcony sipping hot coffee; looking at the mountains. I don't mind living like this too.

After the trip ended, we went back to the hotel. That night, I went for a foot massage. Only RM12!!! Sooooo cheap.