Tiger2 meets the Mighty Mekhong

We leave Ping Khong  and are aiming for Chiang Saen 184kms away to the East on the Mekhong river. This is where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand all meet at one of the many areas named the ‘Golden Triangle’ forming a natural boundary between them. This seems to be the River ‘Golden Triangle’. We are riding diagonally through the Geographical one, with high mountains forming 2 sides of the Triangle, peaking at Mai Sae on the most northern boundary with Myanmar, and the flat lowlands through Chiang Rai as the natural base. The term ‘Golden Triangle’ is also used to refer to the production of Opium, which was declared illegal by Thailand in 1959. The late King of Thailand created the highly successful Royal Project Foundation of which there are now more than 2,500 agricultural units. The mission is to improve living conditions in remote rural areas, particularly the north, with substitution crops and therefore help to eliminate the illegal crops. The foundation encourages land management, dividing small farms into 30% water source, 30% rice, 30% mixed crops, (fruit and vegetables), and 10% residence, leading to self sufficiency.

The roads in Thailand are a bit like the little girl, who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead, because when they are good, they are very very Good, but when they are Bad they are ..................................a challenge. So with a “ Goodbye” to my curls and “Hello” to another day of helmet hair, we start the daily road challenge. 3kms after leaving the little bit of heaven at PingKhong resort, we hit the Baddest of Bad Roads and competed with bulldozers, excavators and articulated trucks to find our way forward. Everything was driving on both sides of the road at the same time and the dust was both choking and blinding. And then to make it worse a water truck joined in the fun, so the dust turned to slippery sloshy mud. A nice challenge for B. My challenge is to hang on and take some decent photos. The Samsung Gear on my arm takes 15second videos, but I have to keep my bent arm up in the air over my head, not possible. The Go Pro is on the front handle bar and I cannot get to it to switch it on. My Sony super zoom is belted around my waist, so I do my best with one hand gripping B’s pants and the other one snapping away. 5 kms is a long way under such conditions, but thankfully the road becomes Good again and stays that way for the rest of the 180 kms trip to Chiang Saen.

The riding takes on a rhythm and pattern as we pass through clusters of communities. First the rice paddies, then a temple (called a WAT), then perhaps a few houses, followed by a school with playing fields, next a hospital, a Tesco Lotus, and then bigger shops all spilling their wares onto the pavements (every possible consumer goods available), a bit of industrial space and back to rice paddies. This rhythm and pattern repeats itself many many times along the route; it’s not boring , just fascinating. The big names are there, Samsung, Phillips, LG, Toyota, etc intermingled with local crafts and food stalls, garden centres, concrete animals, plastic baskets, wave after wave of thriving industrious “busyness”. We have a standard tasty brunch at Tesco Lotus of rice and soup – 40 baht /1euro each, top up with fresh orange juice and ride the final part of the journey. We pass corn-on-the-cob drying on big mats by the side of the road and get to Chiang Saen by 15h30. We cannot go any further, it’s a T junction with the Mighty Mekhong forming the “T”. It’s wide, brown, fast-flowing, some boats whizzing around and we look across to Laos.

Of course, we are hungry, again! Turning left we spot a chinese cafe/ restaurant. The menu offers stir fried rice and crispy ‘prok’. Not sure about the ‘prok’, which actually turns out to be bacon. Tummies full we ask the waitress if she knows about any cheap room? “ Yes, next door.” A very pleasant room across the road from the banks of the river for 300 baht. All the rooms we’ve stayed in have a TV, but this was the first TV that we saw in a padlocked cage. Most TV’s are large flat screens, so this was even funnier that it was a very old CRT that needed to be bolted up. Chiang Saen is described on our GT-Rider map as an Ancient Mekhong city. So like Chiang Mai it was walled and moated; with the river being the Eastern natural moat. We rodeeeeeeeeeeeee around the wall and were most impressed with the Fine job done by the Fine Art department. Pristine stainless steel signs, acid etched with lots of detailed technical drawings explaining construction and history of the ancient Wall. The city was a former separate Thai Kingdom dating back to the 7th century. Apparently the Burmese, raided the area and took the Thai people as slaves. On the other side of the River, the people from Laos weren’t too friendly either. We walked around an ancient 4-sided monument before heading back to our lodgings. A ride around town, then a walk through town for a banana pancake and the best part was the soft pink sunset over the river. The Mekhong River is the world’s 12th longest river, at 4350kms long. Its source is in the South Eeastern Chinese province of Qinghai, partly the disputed Tibetian Plateau, and it is the international border of Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, finally draining into South China Sea. The lives of an estimated 70 million people depend on it. We find out that the boats buzzing across the wide brown waters carry gamblers back and forth to the casinos on the Laos side.

Tomorrow, Tuesday January 17, we plan to complete our ‘Golden Triangle’ and travel to the Northern most tip of Thailand at Mai Sai. Today, Tiger2 met the Mighty Mekhong.

see www. Bangkokpost.com 4th feb2017 ‘Battle rages for the Mekhong’