Chiang Rai

Chiang Rai was a surprisingly great place. In Thailand, it is currently New Year's, which is celebrated with a water festival called Songkran. What exactly happens? People pour water on each other. You sit on the back of a truck with liters of water and pour it on everyone you pass by, and they pour water on you. What's really cruel about it is that the water is partly freezing cold and you freeze your butt off.. but it's definitely fun! We then stopped at a river and watched the spectacle there, as everyone just sits in the river or slides along the river on floaters. Back at the hostel, we held a kind of pool party before heading to dinner. The food here is really delicious. The next morning, we went to the White Temple, which is a truly astonishing building. I can hardly believe how beautiful this building was. After that, we went back to the hostel to take advantage of the air conditioning, because it's very difficult to spend a lot of time outside in almost 40 degrees. However, on the same day, we continued to Chiang Mai by bus (thankfully this one is air-conditioned).