strike a pose

Chiang Saen is a city littered with ancient ruins, just south of the Golden Triangle.

I am a horrible person because I don't remember the names of these temples.

But here's a chedi. I remember that it's from the fifteenth century.


...in a residential neighborhood.


My guide, Sun, showed off his mango-slaying skills


And... there was a time in my life when I posed like the girl in the Absinthe Robette poster whenever someone brandished a camera. Don't judge me.


Two mangoes!


(I'm impressed with Sun's energy, as well as his mango-slaying. By this time we had visited...everything I blogged about this week.)

And this is at Wat Chedi Luang in Chiang Saen. This one was built between the 12th and 14th centuries.

we are golden

The area where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet is called "The Golden Triangle." This area is famous for opium production, and now there is a great Opium Museum with all sorts of interesting paraphernalia.

This is Myanmar, as seen from Mae Sai, which is the northernmost part of Thailand.


(And this is going to be a lot of Emily-standing-in-front-of-things. I was the only person who signed up for this sightseeing tour that brought you the White Temple, and the monkeys, and this, and more tomorrow, all in one exhausting day with a wonderful guide named Sun who took my picture everywhere and gave me a wicked awesome and also kind of ominous Thai name, which sounds like "Deeo" and which means "go alone." He was really hung up on the fact that I'm traveling by myself. Anyway.)

It's Emily, standing (in Thailand) in front of Laos on the right and Myanmar on the left.


It's Emily, being attacked by (and standing in front of) a giant scorpion at the Golden Triangle.


It's Emily, standing in front of a couple of giant elephants!


...and a giant golden Buddha.


And that's enough.