February 24, 2015 (Chiang Rai, Thailand and Laos)

Today we were driving to Chang Mai, not Chang Rai, thats where we are now, but first we stopped by some other places. First we drove to the Golden Triangle where three countries meet in one river, Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos. At the Golden Triangle there was also a big statue of Buddha and some other art. The Golden Triangle was also known for dealing Opium, because three countries meet but now the country has banned Opium throughout all of Thailand. We next drove to the Opium Museum where we learned about Opium and how DRUGS ARE BAD! In the beginning it took us through a tunnel which made it seem like we were taking Opium, it felt sketch! The drug Opium is created by a poppy flower and when in a bulb sliced open, then collect the oozing substance then boil it, smoke it or inject it as a pain killer or as a drug.

 Back at the Golden Triangle we traveled to one of the countries of the triangle. We didn't travel to all three of them but we will eventually make it to all of the countries of the golden triangle. We did travel to Laos which was really right next door. To get to Laos we took a tiny speed boat which had a pretty big engine and a prop that was connected to a rod and far out from the back. In Laos all we did was shop around some stores, because that is where we were dropped off. On the way back we cranked the boat, this thing does go pretty fast!

We ate lunch at a nearby restaurant and then were on the road to Chang Mai. Our first stop on our road trip was the White Temple to get some bamboo sticky rice with beans. To be honest it was not my favorite but it was unique. Our second stop was at the hot spring! There were multiple hot springs where we drove. When we arrived Kendall decided to hot spring boil some quail eggs, which Mom and I did not eat. Kendall got the eggs from a man selling Chicken and Quail eggs. Some or all of the hot springs we visited smelled like eggggggggssss. We put our feet in one of the hot springs, it wasn't big enough to swim in unlike our hippy hot spring in Utah. There was one big hot spring that we visited that had water gushing out of it!

Arrived in Chang Mai we checked into our hotel, Rimping Village before going to town. In town we visited the Night Market. The Night Market was filled with cheapoe stuff but also had some modern art that had a Macaw which I mainly liked!

We had dinner by the water then finally made it back to the Rimping Village to sleep.