NORTHERN THAILAND

Surrounded by the tallest mountains in Thailand, Northern Thailand is cooler than the rest of the usually sweltering country and thus particularly popular in December and January.
Culturally, Northern Thailand shows heavy influences from the neighboring cultures of Myanmar and Yunnan (China). The kingdoms of Lanna (centered at Chiang Mai) and Sukhothai were the first historical Thai nations.
Much of northern Thailand was for a long time off limits due to a series of Communist insurgencies and Myanmar's drug battles and civil wars spilling over the border. Both problems have been largely resolved.

The CHIANG-RAI PROVINCE is the most northern province of Thailand.
The north of the province belongs to the so-called Golden Triangle, at which the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar converge. The river Mekong forms the boundary with Laos, the Mae Sai and Ruak River to Myanmar. Through the town of Chiang Rai itself flows the Kok River.
While the eastern part of the province is relatively flat river plains, the western part consists of mountainous terrain.
The majority of the population is generally ethnic Thai, but 12.5% of the population belongs to the hill tribes, a minority in the North of Thailand. A minority are of Chinese descent, mainly descendants of the Kuomintang soldiers who settled in the region, notably Mae Salong.

(see more: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Rai_province)