New Year's Eve in Bangkok and onwards to Chiang Rai

We watched the fireworks at 0.00 o'clock from the rooftop of our AirBnB apartment. Unfortunately, because of the other skyscrapers, we couldn't see everything, but we still had a nice view and were almost alone on the roof. Definitely better than squeezing with a thousand others for the best spot. The next morning, it was time to pack our suitcases again and head to the airport. We know the Bangkok airport pretty well by now :D Our plane, which took off with a significant delay, brought us to Chiang Rai in the evening.

Chiang Rai is located in the far north of Thailand, close to the border with Laos and Myanmar. In 2016, I only made it as far as Chiang Mai, another city in the north. But at that time, pictures of the White Temple in Chiang Rai had impressed me, and I really wanted to come here and see the temple. The White Temple is the main attraction here, and when we set off on rented scooters to the temple early this morning, we were very excited. When we arrived, unfortunately, there were also many other tourists there. In the pictures we had looked at before, the temple looked more deserted. The temple itself is a very special temple and cannot be compared to the other temples in Thailand. The White Temple, or Wat Rong Khun, as it is actually called, was built by the Thai artist Chalermchai Kositpipat. Construction began in 1998, and the temple complex is still not completely finished. But see for yourself, because pictures speak louder than words. For us, the temple was definitely a highlight, and we marveled at the sight. Not only the temple impressed us, but also the whole area around it. There were various creepy heads from which plants grew, many smaller temples and buildings adorned with gold, and plenty of art (Ninja Turtles) to admire. Especially the sea of hands was impressive and creepy at the same time.

After about 2 hours, we took our scooters again and drove to the Blue Temple. I found it by chance through a Google search, and since we had scooters for the whole day anyway, we drove there. Riding scooters up here in the north is much more fun because there is significantly less traffic. At times, we were alone on our scooters between the rice fields. What fun! Especially with 125CC scooters, which have plenty of power and which we wouldn't be allowed to ride in Germany without a motorcycle license, but Thailand makes it possible :) The Blue Temple was blue and gold, as the name suggests. Nice to look at, but not a real highlight.

Afterwards, we drove to another temple complex, which was also waiting nearby. There we found a huge Buddha, a Chinese pagoda, and a white decorated house. Everything was designed for tourists, and especially Chinese tourists were brought in by buses in masses. We walked around the area, took some photos, and when we were back at the scooters, we were amazed. Next to our scooters was a truck full of cabbages, and it seemed that they were being distributed for free to the visitors. Everyone wanted a bag full of Napa cabbage, and the distributors on the truck could hardly keep up with packing more cabbage into bags. A truly funny sight. After that, we discovered a food stall with the word FREE written on it. We watched the Chinese tourists for a moment and then got in line as well. There, for some reason, there were free warm noodles, cabbage, and sauce. Perfect for a little snack, and that's how we also got a portion of Napa cabbage :) After eating, we drove back to our hotel because it was slowly starting to get dark. A truly wonderful and varied day. Thailand can really do it! Tomorrow we will continue to our final destination on our long journey, to Chiang Mai. I already visited this city, as mentioned before, in 2016 and was totally amazed.