A few days in the town of Chiang Rai. With lush forests, waterfalls and the most stunning temples we have seen so far, this is a place which should not be missed from anyone’s itinerary.
Day 111: Onwards to Chiang Rai
Having not booked our onwards bus until last night, we were a bit limited with the times we could go. These are more like coaches, and there is one company offering three different levels of coach/bus. Each improvement in class gets you a little more leg room, and a toilet, or toilet and snacks. We opted for the middle, hoping that Chris would fit in the seats this time, which meant a 2.15pm bus.
This meant we had a lot of time to kill in the morning, which was actually rather nice after our busy few days. We chilled all morning, then walked out to the local restaurant for some rather yummy and reasonably priced lunch, before grabbing a taxi over to the bus station.
We only had a reservation text, which the partially translated website had implied needed to be exchanged for a ticket on arrival. Our bus was fairly easy to find, but we had a little trouble finding out what to do with the text and whether we needed to exchange it for a ticket. That was cleared up simply when I spoke to the right person though. The text was all we needed to board, so we just had to wait for the bus.
It was slightly behind schedule, leaving around 10 minutes late, and pretty full! Not the sort of bus that you turn up for on the day I don’t think.
We had our jumpers ready in preparation for the icy air conditioning, but it was not what we were used to in Myanmar – some cold air was blowing, but with the sun shining on the bus it was pretty ineffective. We will not be needing jumpers today!
Progress out of Chiang Mai was slow, as driving anywhere in Chiang Mai seems to be. Traffic is heavy and the waits at the lights lengthy.
Buildings gave way to farmland. Before we hit the hills. The road is undergoing some major work here. So we were slowed by the roadworks as we wound around between the steep sided, forested outcrops, going seemingly endlessly up.
We did emerge onto more farmland, with the hills never far away. We could see the farmers, who seemed to be ploughing the fields, or burning the stalks. The rice was harvested last month.
We were making better progress until a loud bang announced that our bus had issues. Our driver pulled over, walked around the bus and then got in and carried on. Perhaps all was well? Nope. We limped along to a garage where we all got off to stretch our legs and the bus was jacked and the rear wheels removed (much to the kids delight!)
With no spare at the garage seemingly, they tried to get the spare from underneath the front of the bus, but seemed to have trouble – I don’t think they had the right sized wrench. After a while, the following bus pulled in and they tried to get its spare tyre, but seemingly faced the same issue. So an hour and a half later, we were back on the bus and underway again, but with the same blown tyre attached in the same way. Not fixed, just delayed. They did move four people to the other bus, and the rest of us were moved as far forwards on the bus as possible. Presumably the plan was to limp slowly to Chiang Rai?
It was, so we arrived around two hours late in the end ☹. Good job we hadn’t gone for the super cheap bus and had nowhere we really needed to be!
Our first mission in Chiang Rai was food, so we headed to the food court just behind the bus station, where there are loads of tables and a stage surrounded by various mini restaurants, many with their food on show before being cooked so you can get an idea of what it is!
We went simple; spring rolls, pad thai, rice and omelette and some chicken and chips. Simple but satisfying. And very cheap!
One of the attractions in Chiang Rai itself is the Clocktower. As we were unlikely to have time to come back in tomorrow, and it was quarter to 9, when the light show on the clocktower starts, we shouldered the backpacks and marched the 700m to what may be the most attractive roundabout on the planet (?).
It’s a shame it’s surrounded by traffic, but the clocktower itself is rather nice and built by the same artist that created the White Temple which we’ll visit tomorrow. At 9pm music started and the lights on the tower started changing colour. That was it really, the kids were thoroughly underwhelmed! Ah well, you win some, you lose some – at least we won’t go away wondering if we missed something great!
After a taxi ride out to our accommodation (we were not staying in town but rather to the west by the river} we arrived at our guesthouse, where we were met by the very friendly owner Alex. He assured us we could sort tour drivers etc out in the morning and we got the kids to bed.
Day 112: The stunning temples and waterfalls of Chiang Rai
After a rude wake up call at 4.15am by some anti-social cockerels, who seemed to be on snooze as they went off every 30 minutes ☹, we had a nice breakfast. Still eggs and white bread, but a different variation which was nice…
Alex offered himself as our driver for the day for a fairly reasonable price. It was more than we’d have paid to get grab taxi‘s everywhere, but with his excellent English we learnt a lot about Thai life on the various drives and at lunch. He also recommended excellent restaurants for lunch and breakfast, and suggested the waterfalls to add some variety to the trip. All in all an excellent and relaxed day, which would not have been achieved under our own steam.
We learnt that weddings here are three or four days! The men walk through the streets with bananas to the house of the bride, as bananas signify an easy life. There is both a Hindu and Buddhist part to the ceremony, even though they are not Hindu’s.
Alex himself was a lawyer in Bangkok, before giving that up and moving to Chiang Rai six years ago, where he bought land and built guesthouses. Now he enjoys time with his family and helping his guests. A much simpler life – we could relate to that!
Our first stop was the White Temple (properly known as Wat Rong Khun). Whilst this did look like it would be interesting from what I could see online, we were blown away by this place! The work of an artist, Chalermchai Kositpipat, the temple has been designed and built as a melding between traditional Thai and the modern world. Funded by himself and small donations (he doesn’t allow large ones as he doesn’t want to be influenced), the temple is intended to be a tourist attraction as much as anything else, bringing some of Thailand’s tourist income to Chiang Rai. Whilst the whole site is very much a work in progress, with only a couple of the areas completed, what is there is fascinating, and the completed White Temple is attracting tourists in droves, with good reason!
The completed ‘White Temple’ is the part meant to depict hell. The white building is covered in mouldings dotted with mirrors which reflect light making it glint like it’s covered in diamonds. The sculptures before the entrance show people being tormented and hands reaching up for salvation. Chris was truly captivated by this art, he would have stayed here for hours examining each piece.
From here an ornate bridge takes you up into the temple.
Inside the walls are painted with murals, including one around the doorway which seemingly depicts the Western world as evil, with many cult favourites including Neo from the Matrix, Superman and Mickey Mouse. Hello Kitty was there too. Unfortunately, photos aren’t allowed, so you’ll have to go and see it for yourself!
We thought this would be it, but there are many more buildings yet to be completed, or partially done, including the Ganesh Palace, which is all gold. Work has started from the top, but there’s still a lot to do here to turn it into his vision. Work is set to be completed in 2070 – long after he’s dead! We’ll have to come back!
There is also a sculpted waterfall area, in the rocks of which are faces and shapes. You see more and more as you look. Buddha’s are mixed with the Predator and Alien, and this cute bush baby…
Everywhere you go there are odd finds here and yet more stunning buildings. This gold one has possibly the poshest public toilets I’ve ever been in.
After wandering the site, we headed for the free museum of the artist’s art history, right from when he was around 14, to the modern times. He is an incredible artist, who seems to be able to work in many mediums, from tiny metal sculptures, to big bronze works, pencil, acrylic, crayon, wood scratching.
All in all we were here for nearly two hours, the tour buses from Chiang Mai had arrived by the time we left – this is definitely a place to go to in the morning!
From here, Alex took us towards a local roadside restaurant where the menu was only in Thai. Luckily, we had him to advise us on what to choose, so tried a couple of different dishes, including a noodle and gravy soup which was delicious.
Happily full, we headed to the nearby waterfall, Khun Korn, where there was a pleasant 1.5km walk through jungle dominated by massive bamboo stands to a beautiful fall.
Whilst there were a few people here, it was not busy, and the temperature was perfect for walking.
Time for another temple, Wat Huay Pla Kung, another new one in a complex being created by a senior monk. The main draw here is a massive statue of Gyanyin, the Goddess of Mercy. At 79m tall, it towers above everything around it and offers far reaching views from the top. We declined the free Hello Kitty shuttle bus to the top, taking the massive white staircase lined by dragons instead.
The stairs appeared to be closed, and the lift was not free so I went up alone. It was actually pretty amazing up there, with the whole inside of the head carved into white sculptures and dotted with crystals. Had we not just been to the white temple and seen similar it would probably have been quite magical!
You can look out through the eyes, or through some windows in the back of the head, although the haze shortened the views. With clear skies the views would be great!
At the kids request we got the Hello Kitty shuttle bus back down, they love riding in open transport with no seatbelt!
There’s a normal temple here, which didn’t look that special on the outside, but we went in anyway, and were rewarded with our favourite temple interior of any. All white, the pillars and walls were carved with the stories of the Buddha. A low chant was playing which reverberated and added to the ambience. With windows offering glorious views over green hills, this was a place I could definitely find some peace. We stood and enjoyed the calmness for a while.
Our final temple for the day was the ‘Blue Temple’, created by a student of Chalermchai Kositpipat. You could see some of the influence here, especially in the murals inside, but the exterior was definitely not as impressive.
Arriving back at the car with no sign of Alex, we sat in a café opposite and ordered some of the nicest waffles we’ve ever had, with fruit, chocolate sauce and ice cream. Yum! Whilst we were sat there 8 coaches of Chinese tourists arrived – Yikes!
We had reached our temple limit, and nothing could really compare to the White Temple, so we let Alex take us to the Sunday Walking Market in town. The kids were attracted to the kids’ area, where they got a go on the bouncy castle slide thing and painted a plaster sculpture – they’d been missing their art so this was a welcome opportunity! Chris was keen to get a ‘Thai massage’ whilst in Thailand, and they were offered here. He bought an hour’s worth and settled on the bamboo bed with 5 other locals all being worked on. I couldn’t possibly describe it, and he’s got the full story with all the gory details here – read it if you’re after a laugh!. Here are some extracts so you can get an idea:
…”It was quite obvious that the experience was not going to involve a darkened room, with scented candles lightly burning on the side and a nice oil massage as the whole set up here was more akin to a war hospital…
…she clearly thought that I’d look good as a pretzel…
…She slowly stretched her leg until it was fully straightened, whilst she pulled my arms back so that I started to resemble Santa’s sleigh”…
Needless to say, he did not enjoy the experience! After Chris’s abuse had finished, and he was bruised all over like well kneaded dough, Alex reappeared and dropped us off at a restaurant just up the road from the guesthouse where we enjoyed a speedy dinner before walking back for bed.
A really lovely final day in Thailand (apart from the torture).
Day 113: The land border crossing to Laos
We started with a lazy morning wander down to the river near the guesthouse. There is supposedly a beach here, a sandy river bank, with bamboo huts and restaurants. What we found was actually just a grassy river bank with some bamboo huts and vendors setting up umbrellas and stalls.
The kids were much more interested in the park we’d passed, as was I as it was full of birds, so we settled there for a while instead. After we headed back to the guesthouse to pick up our bags for a lift into town to the bus station, via the money exchange as it’s much better value to pay in USD for the Laos visa rather than in baht.
We’d read that the buses go every 20 minutes, but the timetable said hourly, and one was due to go in 15 minutes, which rather scuppered our plans to eat lunch before boarding. The latter one would get us in close to 5 though, and I had read that you should make sure you’re through the border before 5/6 when they close or you can get stuck on the wrong side. We decided to raid the nearby stalls for crisps or something and get this bus. Luckily, there was a street food stand with a lady who cooked a couple of dishes there whilst you watched. She was able to knock up a fried rice, noodles and gravy and some other noodles in around 12 minutes. I boarded at 1.29 and we left pretty promptly – phew! Whilst we were a little nervous about the food, it was pretty tasty.
The Red bus to Chiang Khong was full, and we were the only non locals on board. With no air con it got pretty warm in the afternoon sun so we had the windows fully open. The locals were in coats and wooly hats though – this is cold for them! Progress was fairly slow, with lots of people to drop off and pick up on the way, and we weren’t sure if the super old bus would make it as gear changes seemed to be a little hit and miss. No need to worry though, it made it fine.
This was our first land border crossing, so we’d read up about the process, including all the different places where you get stung for transport! The bus goes to Chiang Khong, the town on the border, but the crossing point is a bridge around 5-10km south. Not really walkable with all the bags, so they charge a flat rate, extortionate fee of 50 baht, for the 10 minute journey. We’d paid 65 each for the 2 and a half hour bus to get here.
Our bus driver clearly saw an opportunity, so offered to take us to the boarder on the bus for 50 each. We accepted, knowing it would be the same in town and would add nearly 30 mins to the journey. The whole bus was diverted down the road to the bridge, poor locals!
Exiting Thailand was easy, like an airport passport check place, but empty!
Then you have to pay for a shuttle bus to take you across to the Laos border control site over the Friendship Bridge. It’s entirely walkable, but I guess they want to control the movement of people between the fences? Or it’s just an opportunity to take more money from you at 20 baht each, plus 5 baht extra for overtime as it was now five minutes past 4. Overtime is from 4 apparently!
The shuttle bus pulled up almost immediately, said it would leave in 20 minutes, and actually left over an hour later! We were left sitting whilst other buses came and went back across, refusing to take us as we had to get on the first one.
Finally on the other side, we had to fill in the visa and arrival forms for each of us, get them processed, with an extra $1 charge each for overtime, get our stamp and we were finally though.
Except you’re now 10km south of the town on this side of the border, Houayxai, where we were staying. With no options it’s another expensive taxi ride into town.
So from Chiang Rai to Houayxai had taken us 5 hours. Not a stressful journey (we actually quite enjoyed the bus), but the border process is tedious and pricey!
Rather handily, the Mekong Smile Cruise office was under our guesthouse! And there were restaurants all over the place, so after confirming and paying for our boat trip, we headed across the road for dinner at the recommended restaurant. Our first taste of Laotian food, which turned out to be very similar to Thailand food (although they didn’t seem to have a chicken fried rice much to Aiden’s disappointment!). We settled for a pork omelette, Pad Thai, sweet and sour chicken and vegetable fried rice. All were ok, and a little cheaper than Thailand 😊.
Time for a quick call home before bed.
So that’s it, Thailand is over and were now in Laos. Read on for our scenic boat trip to Luang Prabang, or head back to check out Chiang Mai, where we held scorpions and elephant poo!