We didn’t have long in Chiang Rai as we were using it as a stop over before catching the slow boat down to Luang Prabang in Laos. Most people will visit the main tourist areas near to Chiang Rai as a day trip from Chiang Mai (not confusing at all, I know!). As we were heading up that way anyway, we thought we’d give Chiang Rai 2 nights and see what it had to offer.

We caught a VIP bus from Chiang Mai at 8:45am. The VIP bus had lovely large seats and we got given a bottle of water and a sweet pastry snack on the way. It was a little bit quicker than the normal bus and only cost about a £1 more. A no brainer really. Before we knew it we had arrived and walked the small journey to our hostel not far from the bus station. On first glance Chiang Rai didn’t look as picturesque as Chiang Mai. There was a certain charm about Chiang Mai that I was starting to feel we would struggle to find again during our time in South East Asia. We dropped our bags off and decided to find some food, as well as to start the hunt for a reasonably priced tour the next day and a reasonably priced slow boat ticket for the day after. We ended up booking our tour for the next day from our hostel, but more about that later and we booked our slow boat ticket from a man in a travel agency who had a lower price and far more details for us. Within a few hours we had been pretty successful.

Later on in the day we decided to go for a walk up to the Mae Kok River as my mapsme app was telling me there was a good viewpoint there and it was nearly time for the sunset. When we arrived we found some pretty cute puppies and a lovely park area where a lot of locals were playing different sports in the cooler evening weather. It was a very pretty walk and we are glad we did it.

We headed back to town and walked past the famous Chiang Rai clock tower. The tower was unveiled in 2008 in honour of the King. It serves as a roundabout and as you can see it’s pretty impressive.

We also went for a wander around the night market and were surprised at how much you got left alone by the vendors. In Bangkok you couldn’t even glance at a stall without being harassed to buy something. Here and in Chiang Mai the vendors are far more relaxed and happy for you to peruse at your own pace. The next morning we were getting up relatively early to head out on our tour so we called it a night after this.

The next morning we were collected at 7:45am to begin a very long day of sightseeing. The tour we had booked through our accommodation was going to cost 1000 baht (£22) each, but was going to stop at many many tourist attractions.

Our first stop was the White Temple, also known as Wat Rong Khun. This has been our favourite temple so far. It is absolutely stunning. You’re not allowed to take photos inside as the artist would like to keep what’s in there a secret. Let’s just say it’s amazing and definitely worth a visit.

The toilets:

Next, we stopped at the Blue Temple. Again, very very beautiful and not like anything we had seen before.

Our last colourful stop was the Black House. Not a temple at all, but an art installation created by a famous Thai artist. The many buildings held a lot of his own personal art collections as well as his own work. It was a very bizarre place, but worth a visit.

The next stop was a little controversial for us. We were intrigued to visit a Long Necked Tribe, but when we got there it was exactly what we expected… a little bit like a zoo. We spoke to a few of the women there and I bought a nice bracelet, but you couldn’t help but feel like you were involved in something a little bit unethical. The women were fine with us taking photos, but despite that I think I only took about 3 of the women. Again, there were very cute puppies here.

We headed to Choui Fung Tea Plantation next where we were able to taste some local teas. Very tasty, a little like green tea. The views were breathtaking here as well.

I hate to say that at this point I started to not feel very well. My stomach started to cramp up and I was in for about 4 hours of unhappy times. I wont mention it again on the slow boat post, but I didn’t feel well for a few hours then either. Exactly the same problems. I have since linked this to eating pineapple. I can’t guarantee that it’s the cause, but both times within 1 hour of eating pineapple I wasn’t very well. No more pineapple for me for a while.

The next 2 stops I didn’t visit. The first was Monkey Temple. Simon couldn’t tell you what was there either as he was sat with me. Apparently we didn’t miss much and as we had already seen monkeys we weren’t too disappointed. The next stop was to Mae Sai which is where Thailand borders Myanmar. Simon got out and went for a walk. He’s not sure if he officially entered Myanmar or not.

We stopped for lunch at a buffet place next. I drank water and ate some plain rice… Luckily, our next stop was a bit of a drive, so I had a sleep and felt a bit better by the time we got there. The Golden Triangle is where the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand all come together. It was a main Opium producing area and was involved in a lot of illegal drug trafficking. However, growth, selling and possession of opiates is now illegal. We had some beautiful views from the top.

We stopped at the Hall of Opium where we were able to learn about opium as well as see some of the tools used from production to consumption. It was pretty interesting.

The last stop was to watch the sunset over Laos, but we missed the sunset haha! It was still a good view though.

We headed back to our accommodation and with that our time in Thailand had come to an end. We will be flying back into Thailand on the 26th March and will be meeting up with Loveday, Joe, Jamie and Leigh in the weeks after that. We can’t wait!!!!