The Golden Triangle of Asia: In 3 countries at the same time!

From Bandaam, we went to a community of the Karen tribe, but we did not join the others with us, we just went around the souvenir shops and waited in the vehicle.

Thailand bursts with colors and patterns!

And finally, this is probably the one we're very excited about, the Golden Triangle, where three countries–Myanmar, Laos and Thailand–meet! I was ecstatic to be in 3 places at the same time!

GOLDEN TRIANGLE. A body of water separates Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. In the past, this is where these three countries traded #opium. #wheninthailand🇹🇭 #goldentriangle #asia #travel #thailand

A post shared by Iyyi (@iyyrish) on Dec 15, 2016 at 11:31pm PST

The Golden Triangle is one of Asia's two main illicit opium-producing areas since the 1950s. It is an area of around 350,000 square kilometers that overlaps the mountains of Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.

Along with other tourists, we rode a boat that took us on quick tour through the Mekong River. Our travel agency arranged everything. They already have a contact among the owners of the boats. They took our passports before boarding the boat, that was for the tickets, I guess. Or probably so they can make sure we all go back, haha. They gave us back the passports when we got back to the Thailand part of the Golden Triangle.

And that's Done Sao Island, Laos, our destination. Upong embarking, we were greeted by kids begging for alms. Yep, this is still a third world country.

There is a market in here that sells all sorts of things at affordable prices. In other words, parang divisoria/tiangge. I was able to buy some Laosian fabric and coffee for pasalubong.

This was the last stop in our tour. The sun has already set when we were making our way back, and the waves were bigger and the current stronger as well. But we made it safe, and we still had time for snacks, before the gruelling 6-hour ride back to Chiang Mai.