Chiang Rai

We left Bangkok for another flight with trusty Air Asia and landed in Chiang Rai in just over an hour. The airport is small and formalities brisk.  It is more of a local airport so there is no public transport into town.  We had to queue up to get a taxi and then had our Taxi hijacked by an obese sweaty German who was travelling with a very young teenage Asian boy.  We dropped them off at the YMCA as we had no choice about sharing the Taxi when the German planted himself in the front seat. Draw your own conclusions from that relationship.
 In town we were pleased with our hotel as we had a top floor room which overlooked a pretty mountain view facing the sunset. We quickly unpacked and headed into town as we had only 2 full days here. We hired a bike for a bargain £4.50 a day which for the first time ever was actually roadworthy and in good condition. Dinner was a farce at a restaurant later where they lost or forgot our order and left us sitting there for 45 minutes until we reminded them, prompting them to serve up some rather rubbish rushed food that was barely edible but we ate it as by this time we were famished. True to form when it came to paying the bill they mucked that up as well but in our favour by 50% so we did not correct them and paid it, and considered it compensation for their poor service.

Something to break the ice at your next dinner party?

   Next day it was off on the bike to the black temple.(Got stopped by the police on the way there but luckily I had my licence on me which I usually didn't so we were lucky that day as they don't like it if you have no docs). Not another temple I hear you cry! Yes, but this one is an anti-temple, a temple dedicated to hell. A temple built by a local artist who has turned it into a satanic mini village, with all the temples painted matt black and inside all the rooms kitted out like one of Black Sabbath's album covers . There was crocodile skin tablecloths, complete with heads still attached. bearskins rugs with heads, oxen horned furniture and of course a healthy splattering of animal skulls for good measure. It was quite an unusual spectacle but right up our street as we love a bit of the macabre. Then on the bike again to some hot springs. Totally non commercial, used by the locals for health benefits, we got some strange looks showing up but booked a private room and had our own steaming hot plunge pool. After you have cooked for 10 minutes you jump out then have a cold shower which gets the heart racing then jump back into the plunge pool. It was so relaxing and only £2 for the session for the private room hire. We loved it as there were no other tourists there.

Just plain weird.

  Then back on the bike for a flat out ride on the motorway to the white temple. Oh no, not another temple I hear you cry! Yes, but this one is a reincarnation of what heaven would look like if it was a building. The structure is like something out of the Frozen cartoon. All sparkly and white with  thousands of  little mirrored tiles reflecting the sunlight which gave it a celestial glow. A truly amazing sight. This one is also a creation of a local artist who has built this mini village which in his mind must have been his vision of heaven. It again was an awesome sight and well worth the visit.
   That night we hit the night food market and got some street food rustled up which was OK for under £1 each.

Dulux profits were again through the roof in Thailand.

  Next day and we hit the road again on our trusty steed, into the remote mountains of the Karen tribe where they have an elephant sanctuary. We were not sure if we would have access to the elephants as it is not advertised anywhere as a tourist attraction. The ride up there was amazing as they were still building the road to get to the village because some of it was still mud roads. The jungle was dense and the river wild and deep chocolate in colour  as we ploughed into the higher reaches. We got lost a couple of times by taking some wrong turnings as there were no signs but were rewarded by total access to the elephants who seemed very happy and their owners genuinely seemed to care for them not like the elephants we had seen in India. We bought some food for them so we could feed them. They were ever so gentle with us except for one naughty one who caught Kathy off guard and stole the whole stash of food in one swoop of its trunk from behind her back.. They were offering elephant rides but decided not to take one because of the ethics of keeping elephants as tourists attractions. We just kept buying food and feeding them which was great fun. One of them even done a little dance for more food. Another made a toot toot sound. I got the feeling they were once performing elephants that had been rescued as they were very well behaved and did exactly what they were told by the owners making noises rather than sticking sharp picks into their heads like they have in other countries.

There a trunk call on line 1 for Miss Kathy please.

  After that we had lunch at some rough looking shack and then onto some more hot springs. This one had a huge open air swimming pool heated by the hot thermal springs which was heated to about 37c so very comfortable. We had the whole pool to ourselves most of the time we were in there and all for a bargain 70p each. After we had some real coffee as it is prime coffee growing altitude here and the coffee is actually really good, of international standard, so is exported to USA and Europe.
 We were going to go higher into the mountains to the national park to do a bit of trekking and waterfall visiting but the day had somehow just slipped away as it does when life is easy, so come 4.30 we had to head back as we did not want to drive in the dark since it was a guarantee of us getting lost in the jungle.

No running, shouting,petting or bombing in the pool but pole dancing is permitted.

 We dropped the bike back later that night and went for dinner in the food market again but this time it was poor . While we were eating some traditional dancers came on the stage to entertain us.
  We got some bus tickets for our next destination which is Chiang Mai and were lucky as they were just about sold out at the bus station being peak season here.. Some beers and strawberries from the local market and it was all over for Chiang Rai. What a great destination this turned out to be.

At least he was pleased to see us!