Day 17 & 18

Sunday. 

Another incredibly special day today as it’s Georgia & Grantleys Birthdays!! 🎉🎉

I’d like to thank everyone who helped to make it so special, Jenna, Nikki, Tish, Jack, Rebecca, Sasha!  

Today was spent mostly mooching about, walking down roads and alleys I haven’t been down, just round by the hotel. The little sides streets and Alleys (not alleys as we know, more just smaller streets) are great. It’s where people live and also where some more fab places to eat etc are. 

Walking down one street that had a fair few Laundry signs up, was wonderful as it just smelt of clean washing!! 

As I was strolling along a moped came towards me and the lady rider started waving, it was one of the waitresses from Kats Kitchen! clearly I go there Alot!! 😂

My stroll took me to an unusual place called ‘Breakfast World’ a bit of a German vibe I felt, but it had a lovely garden, live music and I was starving! 

I sat in the garden and enjoyed a tasty Club sandwich, minus the boiled ham with an orange juice. Very pleasant. 

After this I went back to the hotel for swimming, reading and relaxing!

Got chatting to Colin the Kiwi again, he’s very interesting, he’s travelled a fair bit and has some good stories! 

I bumped into him later in the evening when we both arrived at Kats Kitchen at the same time, so ended up having dinner together. He is great to chat with and Dinner was lovely. I had Chicken Fried Rice (yes, again!) 

I headed home straight after eating so that I could have a video chat with the Birthday Twins! Which was so so lovely. Love and miss you G & G. 

Early night for me, as I’m heading to Chiang Rai tomorrow. 

Monday.

I’m only going to Chiang Rai for 2 nights, so leaving my stuff at the hotel and just taking my little back pack. 

I had contemplated walking to the Bus Terminal, as it didn’t look that far on the map, but in case of rain opted for a taxi, which the lovely Sing on reception called for me. Thank god I did, as it was a lot further away than It looked! 

The Bus Terminal is fun, lots of locals & tourists heading to various places, some buses look a little more weathered than others 😳

I’m travelling on a Green Bus which is quite fancy really, it has air con and a loo! I’d chosen my seat when I booked and opted for A1 right at the front, as I thought it would give me the best view, sideways and through the front drivers windows, Sadly not! The drivers section is partitioned off so my front view was a wall!  But the seat is big and comfy, so I’m happy. 

The journey takes 3hrs and once we leave the City we start a steady climb up into the jungle, it’s really beautiful, lush and green, with villages and rice fields dotted around. The route takes you through 2 National Parks: Doi Luang & Kuhn Chee National Park. The views are stunning. 

I really enjoyed the journey, although I’m very glad I packed a wrap, as the air con was ferocious 🥶 (even when the vents were closed) 

I arrived in Chiang Rai at 1.30, so on time. 

I found my Hotel pretty easily, as it was approx a 5 min walk from the Bus Terminal and my screenshots of Google maps worked! 😃

I’m staying at a medium sized hotel, that is more expensive than my one In Chiang Mai and it’s nowhere near the same standard 🙁 It’s OK, but not great. 

My room is on the ground floor and has patio doors onto a caged balcony, the toilet and shower room are together and very small so if you shower, everything gets soaking wet! My bed linen looks and smells clean, but it feels a tiny bit damp!! TBF I am being a bit of a princess about it 👸 I’m only staying for 2 nights so I’ll be fine. 

My aim whilst in Chiang Rai is to visit both the Blue & the White Temples. I think the White Temple will take longer to get to and to explore so I plan to do that tomorrow. 

With this in mind I head out to find my way to the Blue Temple. I get stopped by a Tuk Tuk driver almost immediately, and as I haven’t actually been in a Tuk Tuk since my experience in Bangkok I decide to go for it. He says it’ll be 150bht to take me there, wait while I visit, then bring me back. I reckon this sounds like a reasonable price. 

I jump in and off me go! I realise pretty soon that I’ve jumped into possibly the oldest, rickityest Tuk Tuk in Chiang Rai, I just hope he makes it there! He does. He drops me off and settles back to wait. 

The Blue Temple is, well, very Blue! and very beautiful. It’s so nice to see a temple that isn’t red & gold! It’s not huge, so it doesn’t take me long to look around, there are nice grounds and some stalls/shops. I haven’t really eaten much today so I’m tempted by some coconut and mango ice cream, which is served with blue (obvs) sticky rice. It is really good. 

I end up sharing it with a cute friendly little cat! (I’d checked on my driver, he was sleeping in his Tuk Tuk, so I didn’t feel bad about not rushing. 

When I got back in the Tuk Tuk I was so busy making sure I got my legs in and my bag that I failed to notice the solid metal bar across the top, which connected quite hard with the top of my head! Ouch! 😫 

The route to the Temple had taken us across a large river, called Mae Kok, I got a couple of pics, but not ideal. 

When the driver dropped me back in town, I had a walk then decided I wanted a better look at the river, I checked my tourist map and it was pretty straight forward, just follow the road I was on. 

I did this. Chiang Rai seems to have more trees and greenery along the paths than Chiang Mai, Thank God as it was really sunny, it’s also worth remembering that tourist maps are not to fucking scale!! The river was further away than it appeared. But I’d committed to my quest so on I walked! 

I eventually got to the huge road bridge which crosses the river, and followed the path that went underneath, and thus to the river. 

It was as I approached the river that I started thinking that it was quite deserted under the bridge, I was almost at the river so carried on, I got to the river. The underpass was pretty desolate, rubbish & broken bottles, 1 large pick up truck and a random man! 

At this point I thought, shit, I’m actually a bit vulnerable down here, so I snapped a couple of rapid pics and turned tail and headed back the way I’d come. 😳 suffice to say I was fine, but it was a lesson learnt. I shall not be going to anymore Underpasses while in Thailand! 

I walked back into town, then down some different streets past a locals walking market, by now I was very hot and very thirsty! (I did have my water with me, which I’d been drinking) 

I found myself in another Irish Bar ☘️ having a well deserved Singha! 

From here I walked to a restaurant I’d found online earlier, called ‘Barrab’ it had really good reviews for its authentic Thai food, it also happened to be near the hotel! 

The restaurant was very underwhelming when you go in, it was also empty not a great sign! The waitress, May, who was also the owner came out and she was so lovely and talked me through the menu, explaining different items, especially dishes that were local to Northern Thailand. I took her advice and had a Butter Curry with chicken, homemade nans and a cucumber salad, I added vegetable rice! 

OMG! It was absolutely incredible, so tasty, the best Thai food I’ve had since I’ve been here. May was so kind and helpful. I’m definitely going back to tomorrow! First impressions not always the best! 

After my lush dinner I walked back to my hotel, showered and climb into my still slightly damp bed! 

As I’d had a pretty full on day I was hoping for a good nights sleep, unfortunately the Aircon had other ideas! 

It goes from a gentle hum to suddenly making these weird noises. It sounds like bubbling water and mumbling! I kid you not! A proper Shakespearean nightmare! 

I managed to sleep between the curse making!