Farewell, Thailand ...

Had a great last day in Thailand. Woke up early while it was still cool outside and there was heavy mist over Burma. I ate breakfast bundled up outside on the veranda ... it was really quiet and peaceful. While I was eating I saw a baby elephant coming down the stairs I had just come down ... the hotel has a mahout training course, so the professional mahout and his elephant came to say hello. Pretty amazing to start my day inches away from a baby elephant!

After breakfast I went to the Opium Museum, which is a really incredible museum about the history of the opium trade, the opium wars and generally the drug issues in the Golden Triangle. I was skeptical when Duke told me I would enjoy it, but the museum was very well done and I learned a lot (like that heroin, codeine and morphine also come from poppies ... luckily they also had a poppy bagel in the photo of uses of poppies ...).

From there we went to the Royal Botanical Gardens, which were much nicer than the garden in Singapore. Yesterday was a national holiday in Thailand, so a lot of locals took long weekends and the garden was packed, although I was the only westerner I saw all day. Then went to a nice spot to take a photo of where Laos, Burma and Thailand meet. Pretty touristy day but nice and relaxing, and I got back in time to read by the pool and do some yoga overlooking the rice paddies with the roar of elephants as my music. A great way to end a really nice trip to Thailand.

Thailand has definitely exceeded my expectations ... I didn't really want to come here at all, but it was the logical jumping off point for the rest of my trip. I am really glad I was here ... northern Thailand is beautiful, the people have been very welcoming, and I think it will serve as a great base of learning for the rest of my trip (dusting off my distant memories of studying Buddhism and history as an East Asian Studies student in college ...).

I leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow to transfer to the Lao border for a two day trip down the Mekong, stopping tomorrow night in a basic lodge on the way to sleep. So, signing off from blogging until I arrive in Luang Prabang, Laos on Saturday afternoon.

Until then ...