Wednesday 12 November 2014

Golden Triangle, snakes , Opium and Tea

Fantastic ride today from Mae Salong to Chaing Saen, first a really twisty road with stunning scenery, a wrong turn that took us into a very authentic village and a visit to a tea plantation to sample and buy some tea. After the plantation we were riding along and saw a 3 foot long snake on the road, this was the 3rd we'd seen, the first was a few days ago, dangling my feet off the pegs to get a bit of comfort I spotted it and quickly raised my feet again, the other slithered into the undergrowth when it heard us coming on foot, today's must have felt the vibration of the bikes and raised its head as we approached, we gave it a wide berth and didn't stop to pass the time of day.
We headed to Mae Sai first then over to here via the Opium museum , sobering place and it brings home how much we the Brits were responsible for much of the misery caused by this drug from the poppy, this area was used for cultivation but now the government have got it under control. We are in a posh place tonight, looking from across the balcony (not bad for £36) we can see across the Mekong river to Laos  with Chinese riverboats moored below our hotel window.

Fi admiring scenery just before the snake incident


Outside the Opium museum, a shocking tale of British and French colonial abuse

Working boats from Laos moored in the Meekong river just outside our hotel


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