Very friendly homestay
The owner and his wife are extremely friendly and helpful. She makes excellent Thai breakfasts (be sure to let her know you don't want a Western one) that aren't spicy and were different every day. He drove me to the airport and wouldn't accept any payment, as well as offered suggestions about what to see. The communal patio area is an opportunity to meet other travelers (non-Western when I was there). It's a 15-20 minute walk to the city gate, past a large market, and then you're on a main street through the town, but the less touristy part. On the right hand side was a nice tour agency (Move On) that offered a variety of reasonable tours (you'll be consolidated with travelers from throughout the town). The tour with elephant ride, oxcart ride and bamboo rafting really gave an excellent exposure to components of local life (two baby elephants accompanied their working mothers), while the all-day tour to Chang Rai, the Golden Triangle and Myanmar market was fascinating and not too expensive. Both tours included a large, all-you-can-eat buffet with a great mix of Thai and Western foods (including true vegetarian--not just the dishes where they pull a vegetable from a dish and exclaim, "See, vegetarian!" (Incidentally, the taxi fare from the airport kiosk is reasonable, but it may not be so reasonable on the way back based on my experiences elsewhere.)
คะแนน : 9 / 10
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