Chiang Rai & Chiang Mai

7.2.

Not long after dawn we rose to continue our big journey towards Mordor. The next step along the way was Thailand. To get there we took a Tuktuk to the place where modern multi-seat carriages depart. There we departed shortly later in a fully loaded carriage in the direction of the border. Four or five hours later we arrived in the small town of Huay Xai (or however you want to spell it (there are around 5 different options)). Nearly every town in Laos has one quite successful strategy to boost the local economy: put the place where any intercity method of transportation arrives as far outside of the city as possible (train station, bus stations, airports, etc.). This way the tourists have no other option as to take some overly expensive local transport to get anywhere and you can charge them whatever you want without room to haggle. This place was no different. So, we had to take an overly expensive tuktuk to the border, where we stamped out of Laos. For the next hour or so we would be in no country at all, stuck in between worlds, neither being here nor there, as we were not allowed to walk over the bridge to Thailand but were forced to rely on another fuel driven carriage, whose driver took its time. At 2.30 we finally reached Thailand officially and quickly took a Tuktuk to catch the last carriage for the day destined for Chiang Rai. This one was quite authentic. If there is no AC the natural alternative option is to leave the door open and put some fans on the ceiling. If you are lucky the window is open too. However, despite it being slightly warmer than comfortable temperature, the ride was not unpleasant, especially because it was just three hours (so shorter than a LotR movie).

From our point of arrival we walked through the blazing heat to our hostel, but made it there in the end. There we had our first taste of Thai curry on this journey, and I can tell you that was the best meal I had in the past months. Not that we had bad food the last couple of months, but Thai curry is just from a different world. Later we went for a walk through the city and were delighted to come across proper supermarkets, which we had missed terribly.

8.2.

The hostel in which we stayed was designed basically for us. There was breakfast included (Toast, Bananas, Eggs, Oats) and to the delight to our hobbit hearts there were free bananas and toast all day. You could also get cheap freshly made curries there and rent a scooter. Taking the opportunity of the later our quest of the day was the exploration of temples. First stop: the white temple. A mixture of our favourite worlds: Its outside would it make it fit into Minas Tirith, with its blazing white walls and roofs. The decorations might have come straight out of Old Valyria: Dragons of all shape and sizes, some a combination of the winged lizards and non-magical beings, such as turtles and elephants. Finally, the inside of the temple was decorated with paintings from various fandoms: we spotted Toothless, Pikachu, spiderman, Darth Vader and even Harry Potter (weren’t allowed to take pictures of these). Side note: this is really an active buddhist temple, no joke. On a rocky wall outside we also found some Ninja turtles. We took a small break on a bench and had a wonderful time analysing other travellers. Especially the various methods to stick to the temples dress code (long trousers, shoulders covered (for men and women)) without dying of heat. The most widespread and very typical way is to wear the ever present lose, breathable and cheap elephant trousers and/or elephant shirt. Our favourites were a group of three dutch pensioners, who were travelling together who were matching trousers. All of them had the same pattern in a different colour. We decided that if we ever manage to get a group of friends to do a trip like that, we will do that too (especially as pensioners). Anyone who is willing to join, please let us know. Requirements: embrace the weirdness, other people can do normal.

A scooter ride and a lunch at a market later, we headed for the blue temple. It was mainly blue and a bit of gold - really pretty, though we would have preferred bronze over gold. I still think it gave of Ravenclaw vibes, especially considering that I think gold is a lot closer to bronze than silver. But it also had really cool statues.

Back at the hostel we sat down to get some to dos done and to eat. As mentioned before, our hostel offered free toast and bananas all day. Additionally, we found cocoa powder. So naturally we ignored the margarine and butter and ate toast with banana and cocoa powder. That is just a feast for the tastebuds, if you have never tried it, high recommendation!! By the way, that was our snack. For dinner we had another curry. On our after-dinner walk, we also found a temple, which we would call the red temple. It gave us huge Gryffindor vibes. Preferred the Ravenclaw one, naturally.

Note for our later self: we got an email that day (don’t ask).

9.2.

After breakfast, we went to explore the city. With a juice in hand we stumbled across the realm of Tinkerbell fairies and barbie faes, straight out of a Disney movie: the location of the Chiang Rai flower festival. It was magical. However, whoever was in charge of painting the archways behind the tree roots missed a huge opportunity. They were just perfect entrances to magical, enchanted worlds, home to magical creatures and fantasy heroes. Instead, they painted some flowers and butterflies… just because it’s the flower festival.

After a lunch of green curry noodles and some banana-cocoa toast for dessert we took a grab (oh were we happy that this app works again here, we missed you terribly in Laos) to our carriage heading to Chiang Mai. A comfortable, less than a LotR-movie length, ride later we arrived at our next destination. Our point of arrival could have placed there by someone from Laos, so no walking distance from anywhere. Not only that, it was also a huge struggle to get grab to work, as there was no free wifi either. But with the help of too friendly Swiss girls, we got a grab and headed into the city. Later we had some noodles for dinner next to a prettily lit canal.

10.2.

Chinese New Years. In case you had the impression that we rushed through Laos quite quickly you were right. The reason was that we wanted to reach Chiang Mai by Feb 10, Chinese new years. Thai people don’t really celebrate this festivity, but the city has a large Chinese diaspora and is one of the best spots to get an impression of the most important Chinese holiday. On top of that, it is now the year of the dragon, which is supposed to bring luck and prosperity. We could not miss the opportunity to celebrate it with the hope of bringing more of these into our year and see some dragon dances & parades.

We rose early that day to get to see the parade. Yet as we arrived in Chinatown at 8 am, there was nothing happening yet. Someone told us to return in an hour, so we went on the search for some magic potion to have a better connection to our core reserves. A succeeded quest later, we returned and run into a huge dragon, accompanied by a small dragon, two marching bands and a bunch of really important people all dressed in red. Wearing red that day is supposed to bring luck. Sesy took the chance to wear her red trousers. Artey has ginger hair, that needs to be enough. After the parade we watched the opening ceremony with a sword dance and some bards. When the speeches began, we departed for the city center. After lunch we returned to our hostel for a break as the magic potion was wearing off. We spend the late afternoon getting a massage before heading over to China town again. There the dragons had become alive once again in a fierce dragon dance that involved a 6-8 year old being tied to 6-meter tall mast with a dragon head. When they kicked over the mast they cached him very responsibly though. They also build a three four story high human pyramid (or rather tower). On our search to get some dinner afterwards, we found some crickets which we just had to try out of principle. Though we also had some proper dinner later.

11.2.

The following morning, we spend relaxing. Artey appeared to have gotten a bit too much sun the previous day and wasn’t feeling that well. We left our hostel to find some lunch and explore some temples around noon and returned two hours later to play some “who is it” in the hostel. We did it the fun way though. We could only ask questions that were not connected to the appearance of the character, which gave the game another twist. In the late afternoon we ventured out again with the hope of finding a traditional Chinese cooking show as part of the new year’s festivities, but that quest failed. So, we searched for dinner and headed back to our hostel, to prepare for the next journey.