Getting up close and personal with elephants. Visiting hill tribes in remote villages. Floating along a jungle-lined river in a long-tail boat, with a stop at a market in Laos or a side trip to Myanmar. These are just some of the highlights of a visit to the fabled Golden Triangle. Up here at the northernmost tip of Thailand, where the Mekong and Ruak rivers form a boundary with Myanmar and Laos (and, yes, an actual triangle), you encounter a Southeast Asia from an earlier era. First, you’re in the jungle—lush, rugged, misty. You’ll meet Karen, Hmong and Akha villagers, each with its own distinctive lifestyles, crafts and dress; visit the Hall of Opium, a remarkably evocative, ultra-modern museum; and savour hours interacting and exploring with the beautiful elephants at Four Seasons Tented Camp. Chiang Rai, the regional hub, has intriguing temples like Wat Phra Kaew and a lively night market, but the real lures are adventures out in the timeless, hazy hillsides.