We drove up even further north to Chiang Rai to visit some of the villages and see the “Golden Triangle” where Thailand, Burma, and Laos meet. We stayed overnight in this bungalow up in the hills where the temperature dropped to about 7 degrees Celcius. There was no heat and the bungalow was one large room with 10 small mattresses lined up on the floor. We had 10 people in our group so it worked out. We stayed near a village that was made up of Chinese refugees who ran away from China. As we were shopping for some tea, I watched the children who were playing on the roadside near where their moms were selling their wares. There were a few children that caught my attention.

One little girl was using a plastic Coke bottle that was filled with water as a doll. She wrapped it up in a jacket and carried it around like a baby. There was another little boy contently playing with a piece of string tied to an empty spool as he ate his breakfast. I also watched a couple boys no older than five years old building a fort or tent out of wood and a plastic sheet. It was so interesting to watch and really gave me perspective of our different their lives are.