Hired a moped for a couple days, Matt looks at the map and decides we should head to the 'Golden Traiangle' where the Mekong flows between Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. It was 63km, so we reckoned it'd take about an hour.........
The clock tower roundabout
...............4 hours later, after one wrong turn, no signs and back roads, we finally made it.
And, well, it wasn't really worth the sore bums.
Laos across the river, Myanmar straight ahead
Filling up
The journey back was awful, busy roads, sore butts and getting late. But at least we did it in 1 1/2 hours. I think we'll stick to buses for longer trips in future.
Sun 1 Feb
A more local trip today :-). Went to Wat Rong Khun, 'The White Temple', an artistic take on a Buddist Temple designed by Chalermchai Kositpipat, a local artist.
Ghoulish cones at the entrance
Predator...!
From what I can gather, the bridge represents the cycle of rebirth, the hands reaching up represent unguarded desire, you must cross the bridge without succumbing, once you cross the bridge there are two figures deciding your fate.
The inside of the temple has a mural with Buddist images and Western evils and temptations including such images as nuclear explosions, Superman, Kung Fu panda...I kid you not, a minion, Jack Sparrow, Darth Vader, Batman, Michael Jackson etc etc.
Strange.
After lunch we visited 'The Black Temple', created by a student of 'The White Temple' creator.
It was a bit shit really. Full of animal furs, skins, sculls, bones etc and other weird objects....
Picked up some presents for friends back home
Hit the country roads to the 'Buddah Cave', by the river, watched a local fishing.
Well, we had some surreal times here, including stumbling across the park with some kind of flower fairy show...life sized manikins, music and flowers, lots of Japanese and Chinese taking photos. Felt liked we'd been beamed up to another planet.
Line dancing locals, well, actually circle dancing locals, all doing the actions to loud music by the market one night and the national anthem blaring out of the local police station as we sat in traffic outside, it sounded like the Trumpton theme tune. I got the giggles.
Whilst Chiang Rai isn't a pretty place to look at, it's pretty scruffy and dirty really, it has a lovely relaxed feel about it, an amazing night food market and there is plenty to see around the area, well worth a few days.
Mon 2 Feb
Off to Laos...got a ramshackle local bus to Chiang Khong from the night bazar station.
£1.10 for a 3 hour trip, we were the only farangs (foreigners).
A strange farang on the bus
We asked to be dropped by the border crossing bridge (the tourist buses drop you 11km further on, forcing you to get a Tuktuk back, another money making scam).
Got dropped where we wanted and then a short Tuktuk ride to the immigration office, they take your Thai visa away and through you go, then a bus over 'Friendship bridge' to the passport office (only 20tb)
Goodbye Thailand..........................................................................................Hello Laos!
What a scruffy town, checked into a place called Friendship guesthouse, £6 a room!
This is why....
Cheap....and cheerful?
Off to teddybies
The bed was awful, springs gone. The sink wasn't plumbed, clean your teeth, toothpaste on your feet!
Worst place so far, I'm sure there will be others to follow!
Strolled through town to find out where the slow boats head off from...found them.
The sun setting on Thailand across the Mekong
Had a Laos beer. Early dinner, early night.
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