The postage-stamp airport in Chiang Rai, a region in the northernmost corner of Thailand, employs an eight-piece band to welcome arrivals. The passengers from our flight move toward the single baggage carousel to music from flutes and goblet drums. Luggage appears instantly, the plane being just outside, and airport attendants deliver trolleys to travelers standing along the belt. Three suitcases later and we’re walking out into the sunshine, the antithesis of the endurance slog at Heathrow, so wrong-footed that we nearly miss the discreet sign held by the driver meeting us. He waves and points at our names with raised eyebrows.
Northern Thailand is largely overlooked by tourists in favor of the south, which is blessed with the kind of tropical beaches used as screensavers the world over. But where the south is sandy and developed, the north offers vast, unsettled stretches of mountains and jungle, deeply veined rivers and wildlife. There are far fewer hotels in this part of the country and our first stop is the Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle, located about an hour’s drive north of the airport. The Golden Triangle is so named because it is the meeting point of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar, which are separated by a narrow waterway. The area was once known primarily for its production of opium, and now attracts travelers because of its astounding natural beauty.
My husband and I settle into a four-wheel drive equipped with binoculars and that day’s Bangkok Post, and start for the camp. The drive is through a rugged green landscape dotted with Buddhist temples on faraway hills. We pull up to a dock on the Mekong River and step carefully into a narrow boat, which motors us the final ten minutes to our destination.
The camp is built in the mode of a nineteenth century explorer’s outpost, largely open air and well integrated into the surrounding jungle. The lodgings are fifteen canvas tents pitched on wooden platforms, fully plumbed and wired, with freestanding copper baths and writing desks. The tents are spaced far enough apart to allow for privacy, and consequently they all have a slightly different view of the surroundings. Ours looks directly over the Ruak River and into the wilderness beyond. We develop a habit of taking our coffees outside at sunrise, and watching the mist burn off over Myanmar.
Activities at the camp are of an adventurous ilk. Many guests are drawn to the property because of its program for rehabilitated elephants, nearly all of whom have arrived in Chiang Rai following mistreatment elsewhere in the tourism industry. The camp works in collaboration with the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation, an elephant sanctuary, to support the rescued animals and their mahouts (caregivers). Guests can sign up for training in how to ethically interact with the elephants. The morning we spend bathing two muddy, playful elephants is easily the most memorable from our trip.
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