Chiang Rai

Next rest stop on the way to Chiang Rai. Just as interesting as the last. Neat restaurant on the Lao River. A pie vendor here that used to live in the United States and uses American pie recipes. I had a piece of blueberry cheesecake. It was phenomenal! Julie had some traditional Thai food with fried egg on top. The folks next to us had a slice of avocado pie. I didn't even know such a thing existed so I took a pic. After eating we went outside and there was a lot to experience. Interesting birds, a lot of botanical goodness and a pretty shaky looking bamboo bridge. Buddha Mike (someone called me that on the bus) wasn't going out in that bridge...lol. No thank you!

Not even sure how to articulate enough how stunning this place is. Feels magical. Dante's Inferno mixed with Frozen. The White Temple is definitely one of, if not THE best temple...at least photogenically. Makes me optimistic about what Chiang Rai has to offer us while we're here. Looking forward to the next few days here.

What even are you? Get in my belly!

Enjoy the Zen!

Hell yes I'm having a Mekong Mojito!

Another breathtaking venue for us to stay at. All of these places are very Feng Shui. Time to settle down for a dinner of Thai food and a good night's sleep. We were informed that tomorrow is going to be pretty active.

First Temple today. Lots of steps! Whew! This one was an adventure. We were told we can do the steps or do the path going up and down to the Temple. We decided on steps up and path down. Well it rained on the way up. So we visited the top and got to see Myanmar (Burma) from the top. On the way down we went down the path. Well it was a muddy mess. I get around a corner part way down and one of the ladies in the tour is sitting in the mud on the side of the road. I hustle to get to get and slip and slide on my butt down the road down into a concrete hole on the side of the road about waist deep. I look back at her and she has a gash on her forehead. So I climb out of the hole to help her down the rest of the hill. A vendor at the bottom offers is chairs and a hose to clean up along with some napkins. I guess she was alright but there was a considerable amount of blood. I had a few scratches on my arms but nothing big. I spent the next 30 minutes cleaning mud off of my clothes and backpack. I'm just glad it wasn't worse and she was alright.

The Northern most point of Thailand. Right on the Myanmar (Burma) border.

A quick stop on the way back to the resort at another Temple and to see some teak wood.

I think we have be to back out of here lol

I mean it's an Opium Museum...we had to go right? Also some info on the Long Neck Karan people including photos of the elder lady I took photos with. She's famous! Anyway, there were some pretty nasty wars over the opium trade. Pretty good learning experience. No free samples though.

On the way to Sukhothai. Long drive. Probably not a lot of pics today by except from the bus. Maybe rest stops which seem to be interesting.