Hot Spot

SUNRISE SURPRISE As an antidote to the burgeoning commercial crassness of the Chiang Rai part of the Golden Triangle, take a drive to Phu Chi Fah, one of the most picturesque and unspoiled spots in Thailand. Its name means "mountain points to the sky," and when you arrive you'll realize why. A great finger of earth thrusts up from the Thai border, gesturing heavenward, while hundreds of meters below a seemingly endless valley fans out into Laos, where scattered black peaks sail on a billowing sea of low-lying cloud.

Even the most casual photographer, armed with one of those disposable happy-snappers, would...