Chiang Rai - Thailand

As part of a trip to Asia last December my husband and I visited Chiang Rai in Thailand. We stayed there in a fabulous hotel and from our balcony we could see 3 countries – Thailand, Burma and Laos. This is known as the Golden Triangle where the 3 countries meet separated by the Mekong river.It is possible to get close to these countries by taking a long tail boat ride along the river.

Our resort had an on-site elephant camp designed as a traditional mahout village. We had the opportunity to feed an elephant bananas at breakfast and take a walk with them in the jungle with their mahouts. We got to bath the elephants and even got to meet a 2 month old baby elephant! Elephants can be very playful as shown in the photograph where one is squirting my husband with water!

Many of these elephants were rescued and brought to the camp where they are looked after and now don’t have to work.

We took a 3 night package at this hotel and this included an activity every day such as walking with the elephants, a Thai cookery lesson, a spa treatment or a long tail boat ride.

We tried the cookery lesson and the food actually turned out as it should and we have the photos to prove it! Before the lesson we met the chef at 7 in the morning to go to the local market to buy fresh produce.

She introduced us to strange and wonderful foods I’ve never seen before and then cooked us breakfast on a charcoal cooker in a covered part of the garden used to grow vegetables for the hotel. Very different!

We met some very interesting people in our hotel from all over the world and for many the elephants were the draw to this place.

This part of Thailand seems relatively unspoilt with its stunning scenery and great ethnic variety which has given birth to a unique culture formed by different clans who retain their individual village structures.

This is Thailand as I imagined it - far away from full moon parties!