The top picture is my university's building in Chiang Rai, not far from the center of the provincial capitol; the bottom picture is "our" hotel up there (the one where we get a discount). For prof's, the hotel is 600 Baht (about $18); for you, should you choose to go, about 800 Baht ($24).
The hotel is pretty nice too, not great but fine. Not much in English on the TV, out of about eighty stations I think three were in English (RT, Channel News Asia and Al Jezeera). Easy walk to the good Italian restaurant, ditto the Night Bazaar and the bus station.
That's a little thin for English TV stations, but what really disappointed/surprised me was that there were no channels from Lao, Vietnam or Burma. Those can be a lot of fun.
