Hey everyone hope you're having an amazing day. It's mark wiens, and today i am at one of the most iconic destinations in southeast asia, which is the golden triangle. I'm standing in thailand. You have the ruach river, which divides myanmar and the mekong river, which then divides lao on that side and there's so much history.

That has happened in this area, but at the same time it is a beautiful, peaceful area, and today we are gon na go on a food tour and also a little bit of sightseeing, we're gon na start here at the golden triangle, uh park and viewpoint. So we can see all three countries and then, after that, we're gon na go there's not a lot to eat around this area, but we're gon na go downstream a little ways to a town called chiang sen, which is an amazing little town. Uh. There's an amazing chinese restaurant and also they have some great food along the river's edge in the evening and i'm gon na share this experience.

Uh and all of the delicious food with you in this video we're starting off today at the golden triangle park, which is a series of temples and shrines and just mega monuments. There's elephants, uh, there's the famous golden triangle, golden buddha, which is within this park, and so it's kind of an area where you can just walk around. You can uh visit the monuments, go to the different sites, um and then also get to the the viewpoints of the golden triangle of myanmar of lao across the rivers. Can you climb to the top of those elephants? Yeah.

Oh cool elephants are a large part of the culture here uh in this area of southeast asia and this elephant. It says that you can you're supposed to walk around the elephants three times. I believe, or you could just climb up this flight of stairs to take a picture at the top of the elephant kind of high up here - wow, it's so quiet, it's so peaceful today here and then normally to get in here. You pass underneath the belly of the elephant, that's what i saw other people doing and then come here this side and you can climb up the stairs and then one of the most iconic sights is the golden the golden triangle golden buddha and then you get to The other side and there it is your first view - that is the golden triangle, pass under the elephant again, and i think there is a trail, a path that leads along the side of the river, that we can walk a little bit and get an even closer.

Look at myanmar, especially because that's closer than lao down on the river's edge myanmar, lao thailand and then also, if you look at a map, we're very close to china, uh just a couple hundred kilometers from yunnan, while we're standing here, it's just a quick history about What this area, how this area is so well known and so famous in order to understand this area more, you have to back up to the 1950s uh when the chinese communist party outlawed and started, banning and enforcing the growth and use of a plant called opium Poppy, and so during that time, the production moved south to this region of northern thailand, myanmar uh and lao communities uh in the mountains, in the hills in this area in this region were and even forced into growing the opium poppy plant, the flowers. So this area quickly transformed into the hub of the world for the opium poppy trade and growth and with the production and the trafficking of an illegal substance and a legal drug comes a lot of pain, comes a lot of suffering and a lot of hardship in This area, and then that being said, though, it is an area of hope at the same time, because there are so many villages, there are so many people from the communities hill tribes in this region that have shifted from growing illegal substances to growing things like tea And coffee, okay - and that is just a very brief history of the golden triangle - there's so much more to it, and you can of course read all about the golden triangle and now just a quick hike up the staircase uh to the temple up here. But this staircase is beautiful, made from stone uh with, i believe, the naga snakes leading up to the temple - and this is a historical temple as well. Welcome to this temple was constructed alana thai northern thai temple dated to around the 14th century wow.

That is the way it has just kind of sunk and slumped into the ground into the mountain, wow yeah, so peaceful, so quiet. It almost feels like a cave from here. We are gon na drive down the mekong river uh to chiang san, which is the main town not too far away. So i think it's just about five kilometers, ah, where i'm getting hungry it's time for lunch, welcome to the extremely relaxing and extremely laid back city of chiang san well.

This is uh the major city of the golden triangle in the thailand side, and so specifically, i wanted i've been looking forward to coming to a restaurant, which is called, which is an iconic. It's a legendary chinese restaurant right across the street from the river in this is downtown chiang san, it's so laid back. This is just an old school chinese restaurant they're known for their dumplings. They have a variety of dishes.

I love the the outside look of the restaurant and even the giant clay jars at the at the opening of the restaurant. Okay ying is already ordering some food from what i was reading. I just looked up this restaurant. I mean i had known about this restaurant, but then i just looked up some information.

I saw lonely planet included it and they said that it's a popular restaurant, especially for uh chinese ship crews, sailing down the mekong and we're at near to the chiang san port. And so this is a stopover. And so this restaurant especially caters to a lot of the chinese ship crews. Oh man, i'm ready for some chinese food and from the photos in the menu.

It looks delicious. Oh man, okay, so at the front they have a wok going with the steamer, with some different soups, some herbal soups and looks like some preserved vegetables going on um and then in the back she's, making some dumplings frying some dumplings and then also steaming the xiaolong Pao, the soup dumplings again with all the different stoops and boils and herbal blends and preserved vegetables um, and then i had to order. We didn't order one previously, but i had to order that top one with preserved uh mustard greens, maybe, but she said yoonan's style and yunnanese pork on the bottom. Ah, like an upside down pineapple cake, she flipped it down revealing the pork on the bottom and the vegetable underneath.

Oh that's, beautiful, and then she just pulled out the soup dumplings as well. I think everything's on the table wow. We just ordered a feast. Oh man, this is an amazing restaurant and it's it's so classic chinese.

The food comes at you classically fast too, just straight out of the kitchen uh, a few things are cooked in the front, but most of the dishes are cooked. In the back, we've got the hot fresh dumplings we've got the fried dumplings. We've got mushrooms that yunnan's preserved vegetable, fried long beans, there's fried chicken with chili's one of the greatest dishes. Ever we got some tofu all that chili oil looks amazing.

Micah got some noodles, which he's already starting with and then totally forgot about this dish, which is a kind of a it says, mala, which is sichuan, pepper, with fish with noodles, with soup with vegetables. Oh man, this smells unbelievable. It's been a few months since i've had chinese food and i am ready the aromas. Everything smells incredible, but you have to begin with the pao, which are the soup dumplings.

I'm just gon na go ahead and immediately go into the chili oil. This is just too good to resist. I can't handle it. The chili oil looks amazing, oh man, okay, that will be good for now, dumpling! Oh, these are beauties.

Oh and i can just put - i just put my chopsticks underneath it look at what they've done here. I don't think i've ever seen that look a carrot on the bottom, maybe to hold in the juices to keep it, so they don't stick too and normally there are some techniques how to eat them. You can kind of suck off the top. You can drink out.

The juice, so it doesn't burn you, but i think they've been sitting here for long enough. Actually i took a lot of photos got some extra footage, so they're, definitely not too hot. I think i can just bite it all in one bite. Oh wow! Yes, oh that's delicious.

The gummy wrapper the meat just crumbles in your mouth, with the chili, still good one more while we're at it and i'll dip it into the. I think this is the sauce that came with it. Well, it's just warm. It's comforting.

It's fresh! Okay, the next dumplings we also got another plate of fried dumplings gyoza or like pot stickers, which are steamed and then just pan, fried just to sear off the edge just to give it that crunchy edge and i'll dip into this sauce uh with sesame seeds and Lots of ginger in there - oh, i like that ginger! Oh, these are really good. I think it's pork, but also scallions or green onions in the in the center, and i love that it's like a vinegar soy, a little bit sweet, but the fresh ginger in there is what makes it next up. Maybe try some of these string beans stir fried you can see on a an extremely hot wok fire, a little bit of minced pork and a little bit of chilies in here and garlic. Oh yeah, oh wow, you can taste the smokiness of the wok in those soft yet crisp, garlicky and here's my rice.

We also got a plate of fried chicken uh chinese, fried chicken kind of sichuan style. You can see sichuan peppercorns in there sichuan pepper. You can see the the ratio of chicken to dried, chilies, fried there's green onions in here. Oh there's, even peanuts and there's there's even cashews awesome.

Oh that's amazing! Cashews! I don't even know how to get everything on one bite. Oh yeah, because down below look at all the sichuan, pepper, corns, all of the chili seeds, oh man, to be able to maximize your bite, you need to use a spoon on this. Oh wow, that is next level. It's so fragrant immediately.

You get the burst of the sichuan pepper, the citrusiness of it, the crunch of the chilies wow, those chilies are decently spicy too the crispiness of the chicken, oh and then the crunch of the i got both peanuts and cashews in that bite. Everything fried oh and, as you keep on chewing, you start to get a tingling of your tongue from the sichuan pepper. What a mix! I love how it's fried dry as well, so many different textures, so much flavor, oh and ginger, in there, too, need to follow with rice that chicken dish that is one of the better versions i've ever had. Okay.

Next up, we also got a plate of shiitake mushrooms, which i think have just been uh lightly, fried just wok fried i think that's it. Oh wow, like the juices that come out of them as soon as you bite down they're, just so fragrant shiitake mushrooms have a strong flavor to them, fragrance that bounced to them that textural bounce to them yeah. Those mushrooms are great. Here's simple, pure next up time to explore the upside down meat yunnanese pork preserved.

I believe mustard greens at the bottom and i love how she flipped it over on the plate. Smells great. This will be good on the rice for sure you can just smell the aroma of that preserved vegetable that is delicious. The flavors are all mingled together.

It has a a little bit of a bitter taste from the vegetable. It might be mustard greens, but yeah almost has like this kind of roasted tea flavor to it. It's salty. Oh, it kind of almost has a caramelly hinge to it without being sweet.

Only thing that would make it better is a little bit of chili oil to combine on that bite. Oh wow, there's so many layers of flavor and also because the pork fat has melted out of the pork into the vegetable that just makes the entire bundle the entire plate so rich. Oh so good, oh that ginger! Okay! Next up for this mala pot, uh, there's noodles in here there's fish, there's vegetables and you can smell the sichuan sichuan pepper in there. It looks like everything the fish has been fried as well: the saltiness, the chili oil in there the noodles are very soft and kind of gummy, and then it also has a little bit of a preserved taste.

I think, because of the the vegetable in there that boosts the umami adds to the flavor adds another layer. Another dimension, it's really hearty really flavorful. Finally, this is the last dish that we ordered mapo tofu and i love you can see a little bit of the sichuan pepper sprinkled on top. You can see some of the bean sauce that they've used in here and then fresh chilies chopped up in there too, and really really soft tofu.

I love how the tofu just melts in your mouth, the silky soft tofu. You can even just like squeeze it between your teeth, that's how soft it is and that flavor you taste the chilies in there. I think there might be a fermented bean paste in there um and then just an essence of the citrusy sichuan pepper in there. That is comforting and tasty add a little bit more there's a little bit of minced pork in here too, i got ta add a little bit more of their chili oil.

Oh, the chili oil is so good here too uh, it's really chunky and chili's, but i think there might be some fried garlic in here too, but really chunky. It's actually crispy crispy, chili oil and so much smoky flavor, oh wow, and actually all of the dishes are really good. Food is outstanding, almost identical to meals that i've had in china certain parts of china, but then to be in this location. Just a couple.

Kilometers down from the golden triangle along the mekong river, the breeze coming through the open air amazing chinese food. This is this - is a fantastic lunch they're, just so fragrant, i'm probably starting to get a chili oil mustache. Oh man, wow. That was an outstanding meal and just again the peace and relaxation we're right along the main road.

But it's so quiet, it's so peaceful. Every now and then just a car goes by or a motorbike was, is passed, but just the the calmness of life along the mekong river is a spectacular thing. There's actually nothing that sounds better in life right now than a nap after this meal, or at least just a lean back in the chair for a little while after that, amazing chinese lunch, uh yeah definitely got very sleepy, but this afternoon we decided to come over To what's called wat pasa, which is a historical site, uh right within the city, the old city of chiang sen, and so i was just reading about the history of this temple and it's called wat. Pasak and tunsak is a teak wood tree, and so the temple got its name from the 300 tekwood trees planted on this compound in this area and the temple.

The original structure dates back to the 13th or 14th century and then also i didn't mention, but uh we're also surrounded by the ancient city walls of chiang sen. But it's a beautiful area and now i'm at the base walking around the main stupa, which again dates back to the 13th or 14th century. But it has been, i believe, uh renovated and you can see especially the top section from here. The plan is to go back to the riverside mekong riverside where in the evening, so a number of street food vendors set up along the river's edge and they set out tables uh on the ground.

Where you can sit where you can look out over the mekong river and order a bunch of delicious food, especially they're famous for a dish of snakehead fish which is roasted in bamboo. So that's where we're headed next to the riverside. Okay. Actually, just one more stop before we get to the river i'm going to stop by one more chatty.

It's called watch luang wow, and this is another chatty just down the it's within the historical park as well, wow beautiful so in the evening, starting at about 4 30 p.m, or so there's that there could be a dozen different street food stalls all lined up along The river they sell a variety of papaya, salad, fish, grilled meat and they put tables just on the sidewalk, with matt's low tables. You sit on the ground, you overlook the mekong river, the weather is great, the air is great, the atmosphere is spectacular and i mean they all almost serve the same menu, but yesterday we just walked down here. We didn't eat uh and the uncle at the front. Here he was so friendly to us uh and he said hey.

We have some good food here, so we just decided to eat with him he's so friendly and look. He ying is already starting to order and he just sits down to order with you. That's how friendly and nice he is, and the service and then again one of the main dishes that you have to eat. Actually, they have a full menu of so many different dishes from stir-fried dishes to pounded salads some thumb.

But one of the main dishes that you have to eat is the snakehead fish, which is stuffed into bamboo pole and then roasted and you'll see that almost every stall along here has it doing wow. Oh man, that is amazing, uh it's filled with soup. So i think they it actually kind of boils within the bamboo uh boils and breezes in a broth and a juice and uncle said it's a mix of salmon fry. I think there's lemongrass, there's turmeric, there's shallots um, there's some basil there's some dill in there.

Oh man, these low tables, you sit on the mats, the river behind you so spectacularly beautiful. We ordered a couple of dishes. We got the steakhead fish, the you can smell all of those thai herbs, the lemongrass, the turmeric, the shallots. In there you can see the chunkiness of it and then kind of a watery soup that goes along with it.

That was it boiled in its own juices, with all of those spices and chilis and then topped with herbs, and then we also got shrimp mekong little shrimp, oftentimes they're eaten raw, but we got the the cooked one with a bunch of different chopped up herbs in There and then also it looks like some kind of a vegetable, i'm not sure what that is got ta start with the snakehead fish and kind of re-juice. It maybe just taste that taste that soup first that broth. Oh, it's so good turmeric herbs, both cooked within it and then sprinkled on top of it, the dill, the sawtooth coriander, oh, oh, it's like sweet from shallots and some of the fish oil has come out into it. Oh, it's that it's amazing and then to dig into some.

Oh, you can feel the tenderness of that fish too, all tender and juicy, because it's just been braised in its own juices and that broth, oh, so it remains juicy so juicy wow yeah that is juicy and so soft it melts in your mouth and so herbal. Well, i love it. It's really good yeah, sticky rice we like to eat sticky, rice, huh, oh, and he added in a bunch of what is that one vegetable it looks like almost like uh taro stems and a lot of onions in here. The shrimp are cooked.

A little shrimp, uh there's a bunch of herbs, a lot of satu sawtooth, coriander and cilantro and chili. Oh that's, amazing! The shrimp are a little bit sharp because the whole head you the whole head. You eat everything with them, but it's like condensed: shrimp! Flavor! It's nice and salty: it's acidic. I love the the crunch of the onions in there and the freshness of all those herbs.

Oh that's really good, yeah, salty and really good, okay and then. Lastly, we got a plate of jim, which is flash boiled mekong river fish, and he said it was a mix of two different types of fish and definitely uh some catfish, some local catfish in here, which you can also see some herbs in there. Some lemongrass some galangal and then just flash blanched and dip this into this is one of the best ways to to use pure fish, because it's just flash blanched, oh okay, make sure the bones. Oh it's so firm and then that skin is just like a jelly.

Fattiness, oh that's good! That's fresh! Oh just the meatiness of that mekong river fish catfish and then again, when you have fresh fish, that's one of the best ways to prepare it, because that's just the pure thing, uh, there's nothing covering it up. It's just the pure taste of the fish, and that is so meaty. That's straight up like chicken straight up like chicken, and then we also just got a plate of stir-fried vegetables and that wraps up everything that we ordered for this meal. We didn't order too many dishes because of the huge lunch chinese lunch that we had not that long ago, good, good, simple, stir-fried, vegetables, there's some napa cabbage in there there's some chinese broccoli.

I believe and then also some cauliflower in there kind of salty uh a little sprinkle of pepper a little bit of garlic in there. Okay back to the trophy dish, though, the herb bamboo boiled fish snakehead fish. Actually, all the food is really good, and i think the best thing to do with this is to get some fish in your spoon and then fill up your spoon with soup to rehydrate it. So you got soup and fish all in one bite, just melts and juices in your mouth full of herbs and along with a delicious food owner here, is so friendly, and then i have to just mention one last time about the the natural beauty of this location.

The peacefulness the views across the river to lao and then just sitting here enjoying food. What a day it's been a learning day, an educational day, a day of delicious food, a day of diversity, a day of history, watching the boats go by, and occasional barges are going by we're gon na sit here. We're just gon na enjoy the rest of the sunset, the rest of this evening and slowly eat the rest of this food. Ah, and so i'm gon na end the video right now, but it's been just an amazingly relaxing day, an amazing time to learn about the golden triangle to visit the iconic actual golden triangle, where you can see all three different countries: uh the natural beauty, remembering the History and then oh an incredibly delicious chinese meal, an incredibly delicious food right along the river and one of the most relaxing meals that you will have in thailand.

For me, it was also an incredible learning experience today, and so that's going to be it for this day at the golden triangle chiang san chiang, rai, thailand, i want to say a big thank you to you for watching this video. Please remember to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it, leave a comment below i'd love to hear from you and if you're not already subscribed, click subscribe and also click the little bell icon. So you'll immediately get notified of the next video that i publish thanks again for watching goodbye from the banks of the mekong river in chiang rai, and i will see you on the next video.