Day 6 – Hill Tribes, Hard Truths & a Side of Curry | Thailand Travel Diary

Monday, Nov 3 – Day 6, Chiang Rai → Chiang Mai
Location: Union Hill Tribes → Golden Triangle → Heritage Hotel Chiang Rai
Mood: Curious, conflicted, and ready for more “choose your own adventure”

Breakfast & a Curveball

Thai breakfasts have me in a chokehold. Savoury, satisfying, and so not cereal: rice, stir-fries, curries with a fried egg on top, piles of fruit… and today, carrot soup. For breakfast. Shockingly amazing.  TBH, I wish I’d started with the soup before I filled my belly with other things because it was creamy, savoury and delicious.

Then the surprise: we ended up at the Union Hill Tribes & Long Neck Karen village. I’d expected this to be optional (because that’s how it was listed in our itinerary) and had planned to skip it. I wrestle with the ethics of visits like this, but we found ourselves there with no way to opt out—so I listened, asked questions, and tried to show up respectfully.

Hill Tribe Reality & How to Visit with Respect

There are five tribes represented here, with roots in Myanmar (Burma) and parts of China. The men are often working in nearby fields; the women weave and sell their crafts. The community is set up for tourism, and visitor spending directly supports families.

What doesn’t sit right with me: tourists shoving cameras in faces without a word. Even when communities welcome visitors, people are not props. My opinion on a better way to visit these places:

Respect-forward ways to visit

• Ask first. If you’d like a photo, make eye contact (I know, it’s a novel idea for some people…not you guys, because I know you’re awesome) and get permission.  Like actual CONSENT, before you just take from people who have lived through things you probably can’t imagine.

• Give value back. Buy something, tip, or pay for time spent answering your questions.

• Learn, don’t perform. Ask about crafts, stories, and daily life instead of collecting “exotic” images.

• Follow local cues. If a moment looks private, let it stay private.

I took two photos—both with explicit permission after purchasing—and even so, it felt deeply personal.  Then I spent the rest of the time listening. Beyond the “is this okay?” tension, there were moments of quiet beauty: shared spaces, women weaving between stalls, kids playing in the dirt, chickens underfoot, and a sense that child-raising and work are collective. Not “enviable,” exactly—just peaceful in parts, and worth respecting.

The Golden Triangle & Opium Context

From there we drove to the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar (Burma) meet at the confluence of the Mekong and Ruak Rivers. The rivers are a muddy brown right now — rainy season just ended — but locals say once the water level drops, it clears up beautifully.

Historically, this area was once the epicentre of the opium trade, fuelling entire economies (and a few wars) across Southeast Asia. Now? It’s mostly a stop on the tour bus circuit — crowded, shiny, and a little too curated for my taste.

Honestly, it felt a bit like Niagara Falls, if Niagara swapped its mist for souvenir stalls and a big Buddha statue on the riverbank. You can feel the history under all the commercialization, but it’s buried under T-shirt stands and selfie sticks.

The Hall of Opium Museum does a great job unpacking the darker history — the human toll, the politics, the trade routes — but the area outside feels like it’s lost the plot a bit (or maybe it hasn’t, because they get millions of tourists each year).

That said, the 267-step climb to the lookout was worth it. From the top, you can see all three countries at once — Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar — separated by nothing more than a wide, muddy river. Our guide, Rainy, told us Thai citizens can actually hop over to Laos for 24 hours at a time with a simple paper stamp. Imagine living where three borders meet and international travel is just a river crossing away.

BONUS: We were the only ones who made the climb.  So, while everyone else was at the bottom doing “tour bus things”, we were trekking up these moss covered stone stairs for an epic, private viewpoint.

Lunch That Slapped (Plus: Why Is Wine So Pricey?)

Family-style lunch absolutely delivered:

• Betel leaves (tempura) with spicy peanut sauce — Betel (Piper betle) is an aromatic leaf used across Asia (often for wrapping snacks or, traditionally, for betel-nut chewing). As tempura it’s crisp, peppery-herbal, and perfect with the rich sauces that usually accompany a thia feast.

• Fried banana flowers with honey — lightly floral and nutty.  The star of the show for me!

• Sweet & sour fish — tasty, a little bony.

• Chicken curry, fried rice, omelette.

• Mushroom soup with shiitake and lemon — bright and earthy (I’d order a bowl to myself).

• Morning glory (water spinach) showed up again because it’s everywhere—and I’m not mad about it.

We ordered a bottle of wine (1,200 THB). Beer/spirits are inexpensive, but wine here is weirdly expensive—often due to import duties and taxes—so we’ll likely pivot to spirits.

Dessert: Toddy palm—served as chunks in a bowl of iced liquid (likely palm juice). Different, chewy, refreshing.  Would I order it again?  Probably not, but glad we tried it!

Rural Coffee Stop (ft. Cats)

We pulled into a tiny farm café for lattes and three very friendly cats made this feel like an unofficial cat café in the middle of nowhere. Simple, sweet stop. Exactly my kind of detour.

Tour-Bus Catch-22

This Air Canada Vacations itinerary appealed to us because Italy worked so well with the hybrid model—guided days + freedom. Here, the group is larger (22 people), and that changes the vibe. The upside: we’ve seen things far outside city centres that we might have missed. The downside: waiting, buffets, and the general choreography of bus life.

If I could tweak one thing: build in a full free day at each stop. Even one day to wander or rest would reset everyone’s patience meters.

Transit note: We’ve had great luck with Grab (like Uber). Locals told us to skip taxis that turn off meters and overcharge—Grab shows the price upfront, which keeps it simple.

Dinner & the Slow-Down We Need

We got back around 4 p.m. and all crashed for a nap (rare for me, but necessary). I’m also getting up early to prep client work and holiday ad campaigns—this isn’t a “vacation,” exactly, but I’m grateful we can work from anywhere and still do this.

Dinner at the hotel: curries—green (me), red (Steve), Massaman (Brent). Mine was the spiciest and the best (obviously). One last glass of wine at the library bar and we called it.

Tomorrow we move again—Chiang Mai, then Phuket soon after. We do have one fully free day in Chiang Mai coming up; we’re torn between bamboo rafting, an ethical elephant sanctuary (the research is tricky—if you have recs you trust, tell me), or waterfall hunting.  If it’s up to me and Mom, we’ll do all three.

Cultural Quirks We’re Loving (and Learning)

Every day, there’s something that stops me in my tracks:

• The “ha” thing: I’ve heard our tour guide use something that sounds like “ha” at the end of many sentances.  Like “Okay, Ha.  Now we’re going to visit the Golden Triangle”.  Northern Thais often end sentences with “ka” (for women) or “krub” (for men), but in the north, it sounds more like “ha.” It’s not laughter — it’s a friendly speech particle, like saying “right?” or “okay?” in English. Basically, it’s their verbal smile.

• The communication lines: There are hundreds of tangled wires running above the streets here. At home, we’d have three cables per pole; here, there are fifty. Organized chaos.

• Geography reality check: Thailand isn’t walkable like Europe. Everything’s spread out. You drive or you don’t go.  We haven’t investigated public transit but it doesn’t appear to be as easily accessible as other places (like Rome or Portugal).  I’ll continue to pay attention and will update you with any new information we gather!

WTF Moment of the Day

Realizing our “optional” hill tribe visit wasn’t optional at all. Surprise cultural reckoning before 10 a.m. — not what I’d planned for breakfast.

Photo of the Day

📸 A quiet aisle between hill-tribe stalls—women weaving, chickens pecking, life happening.

“Respect isn’t complicated: ask first, give back, and remember people aren’t your content.”

👉 Day 1 – The Uber Ride from Hell
👉 Day 2 – The Lounge Life & the Struggle Bus
👉 Day 3 – Hot, Hotter, & Really F*ing Hot
👉 Day 4 – Floating Markets, Boat Noodles & the Great Coke Zero Explosion
👉 Day 5 – Heaven, Hell & the Hands at the White Temple

✈️ Travel Tip of the Day

When in doubt about ethics: ask, pay, and err on the side of “no photo.” Curiosity + compensation > content.

Talk to Me

This is where I really want your thoughts:

• Would you visit a hill-tribe village?

• What’s your rule of thumb for “ethical” tourism?  Do you think about it?  Do you act on it?

• And Chiang Mai folks: bamboo rafting, elephant sanctuary (truly ethical), or waterfalls—what would you pick?

Drop it in the comments. I’m reading them all.