Chiang Rai

I immediately liked the super cute decorated small airport in Chiang Rai. Flowers and typical Thai decorations everywhere that scream 'vacation'.

In Chiang Rai, I stayed at a hostel owned by Chris who was simply wonderful. The whole team was so kind and open, and during our nice evenings together, I learned a lot about northern Thailand, the best tourist spots, and Thai food. Almost every time I entered the hostel, Chris or the girls from his team would greet me and say, 'Sandra, we bought something that you absolutely must try'. Whether it was a Thai sausage, a typical soup, something that looked like a stuffed bun, or my new favorite sweet Khanom Bueang. I have no idea what exactly was in it, but it was damn delicious. Unfortunately, you could only get it at certain street stalls, and during my other stops in Thailand, I ran from street stall to street stall in an attempt to find it, which only succeeded in Krabi. By the way, the Thai sausage was also really tasty.

Speaking of food :) - in Chiang Rai, there is a night market every evening, conveniently located right across from my hostel. In addition to plenty of souvenir stuff, there is also endless street food and you can stuff yourself for €3 every evening.

Furthermore, there is a walking street every weekend. Chris told me that I absolutely had to check out the spectacle. And indeed, spectacle was the right word for it. An incredibly long market where the street is closed off and it just never ends. Mostly locals are on the walking street, going about their shopping just like we do in a shopping mall. Besides clothes, there was all kinds of food you can imagine, but unfortunately also all kinds of smells that you can imagine ;). My highlight was a small square where a band was playing and the Thais can dance, I tell you. There is a choreography for almost every song that hundreds of Thais dance to at the same time. It was fascinating to watch with a smile on my face.

In addition to that, the clocktower is considered the main attraction in Chiang Rai, where there is a light and music show every evening. Of course, I had to check it out and I couldn't stop laughing. If you ever find yourself in Chiang Rai, don't miss it. I promise you, you will expect much more than it actually is ;).

Naturally, there are plenty of temples to visit in and around Chiang Rai. Not just the 'normal' ones, among them there is also a blue temple and the simply beautiful white temple. In Chiang Rai, I explored everything on a scooter again and so I set off very early to the white temple in order to avoid the tourist stream. I succeeded very well at that. There it was, the white temple that I had been looking forward to and had already seen countless pictures of. Super beautiful and at the same time quite crazy. In front of the temple, there is a small sea of hands and in the temple, opposite the Buddha who sits in the front, there are many depictions of evil modern influences. On one side, there is the good almighty Buddha, on the other side, a representation of the bad influence that all the new and modern things have on people and the world. For me, these were totally funny depictions of Superman, the Minions, mobile phones, televisions, Michael Jackson, Harry Potter, but also the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, Osama Bin Laden, and so on and so forth. There is a lot to discover and unfortunately, most tourists don't even notice the paintings because they are just rushing through. Photos were not allowed inside the white temple. But from the outside, I took many pictures of it.

As the opposite of the white temple, there is, a little outside of Chiang Rai, also the black house. Created by an artist, I can't really say much about it, except that I found it totally weird and creepy. Animal skins are lying around everywhere, there is a quite confusing dance show and yes, the whole thing overwhelmed me a little, honestly. But that's sometimes how it is with art ;).

Near Chiang Rai, there is also the quite nice Singha Park to see. I went there together with my Chinese hostel roommate Eunice. It was a nice drive through the park and there were tea plantations to admire. After the park, we went to the Cat Café in Chiang Rai. Something that I had never heard of before, but apparently it is quite common in Asia. A café full of cats! You sit on the floor on small cushions and the cats just run everywhere. Crazy, the Asians!

Other than that, I just let myself drift through the forests on the scooter, passed by plenty of pineapple plantations, and visited the village of the Long Neck Women. It looks absolutely insane how the women wear so many rings around their necks. I think everyone has seen pictures of them somewhere before. Seeing it live is truly spectacular. You can only think about how much pain they must endure.

Unfortunately, the women didn't speak a word of English, so I couldn't bombard them with questions. However, I managed to win over the children in the village because we filmed funny photos and videos with an app on my phone, and it didn't take long for the girls to call more friends. The little girls laughed until they had tears in their eyes, and it was an incredibly beautiful moment! Eventually, the mother of one of the girls joined us with a radiant face, seeing her children laughing like that. She nodded friendly to me, asked for my hand, and put two rings on it that she had bent from the material she wore around her neck. I took out my money, but she didn't want anything for them. It was a thank you for the laughter of the little girls. I was incredibly happy about it and will cherish the rings.

After this wonderful day, I discovered a cute vintage restaurant right by the river where I could relax and end the day.

Then the time in Chiang Rai was already over and it was off to Bangkok to finally pick up Kristina from the airport.