In Thailand’s northern Chiang Rai Province, the biggest tourist trap is the small town of Sop Ruak. Officially known as the Golden Triangle, this small town lies on the banks of the Mekong River where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar converge. The Golden Triangle throbs with tourist activity, and on weekends in particular, the small town becomes a parking lot for large tour buses from Chiang Rai loaded with tourists primarily from Bangkok. I admit that I am not partial to tourist traps and I prefer to spend as little time possible in these kinds of places before moving on. Continuing south of the Golden Triangle, just off the highway to Chiang Rai is the exit to Chiang Saen Lake. In my opinion, this is one of the most pleasant and scenic locales in Chiang Rai Province. The lake is a popular stopover for many species of migratory waterfowl including some species from Europe; reportedly the greatest numbers of migratory birds are observed in the months of November and December. In early December, to complete a day of touring, Fatcheek and I stopped at Chiang Saen Lake shortly before sunset and boy, I am I glad we did. While we did not see many birds, the beauty of the lake was outstanding and the sunsets were magnificent. What a wonderful and idyllic place!

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 8th, 2007 at 1:02 pm and is filed under Thailand, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.