Thaton is located on the widely traveled tourist route between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. It is a sub-district of Mae Ai district in the far north of Chiang Mai Province in Thailand.
Since the 1970s, riverboat trips between Chiang Rai and Thaton have given foreign tourist as well as native Thais the opportunity to visit remote jungles, observe different ethnic groups, and see the Fang Plain, bringing a welcome influx of capital into the local economy. In the 1980s, this trend continued with the building of several small resorts to accommodate tourists.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tha_Ton)