Just checking - I can't face the earliness and inconvience of the minibus from CM to mai sai, so am planning on having a leisurely lie in and getting the bus up to CR, spending an evening or two there, then getting the bus to the border and back to CM on the same day. Anyone see any problems with this plan?

Also, is it worth spending 2 nights in CR, or will 1 by sufficient? Is it any good and worth hanging around in?

no problems with the plan at all

there's an inexpensive local bus that runs up to the border area (from the bus station you take a shared songtheaw the rest of the way)

I love Chiang Rai and really enjoy the night bazaar there! One night may be enough for most folks.

Much of the joy in being up there is driving around the Golden Triangle

another fun way to kill an early evening in Chiang Rai is to have dinner over the river in the park just out from downtown (not sure how to get there if you do not have your own wheels)

I could easily see myself living in Chiang Rai in the long term, beautiful area and nice people!

Thanks for that. I'm too spineless to ride a motorcycle, which makes transport very difficult in this country, sadly.

There are cars and pickups etc too , if not then consider doing a tour

I know the guy at WhiteHouse takes folks around sometimes while doing the border run I tagged along once as he booked a tour with a woman that only spoke English. (He is northern european I think and we communicated in Thai ...)