We had booked a day tour to cruise up the Mae Kok by the Le Meridien boat. The boat cruise will take us upstream about 110 km or so along which we we stop at a Karen village, a Lahu village and after that move on by car to the mountain to visit a few other tribal villages.The fast-boat was comfortable and fast. The whole boat was just for the two of us, the tour guide, Peter, a Chiang Rai gentleman who studied history at Bangkok University and spoke good English. The boat-man was the only other passenger in the boat. It cost slightly more to hire the boat for just the two of us. The whole boat could take a maximum of 6 passengers which would have cost considerably less per person.
We left the Le Meridien jetty at around 8.30 am. The river was calm and the ride was quite smooth. We passed by many riverside resorts some of which were of the same class as Le Meridien. There were also many private villas. A little upstream as we left the city, we passed by the Army Camp with its own Army Golf Course. And a little further up we passed by the Chiang Rai prison - we were told most of the inmates were 'drug offenders'. Further up we passed by several dredges mining for sand for use in the construction industry. Pakdokter wonders if sand was also a lucrative business as in Malaysia that this place was plagued by illegal sand-mining as well.
the pool-side Favola Italian Restaurant seen from the boat
a bridge across Mae Kok
riverside motels
private riverside villa
sand-mining dredge
sand being processed at the river bank
boats returning from early morning visit to the elephant camp
it was quite cold that morning made worse by the wind
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