So long Chiang Mai

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Hi everyone



A couple of days ago we headed out from Chiang Mia to the Thai Laos border, a journey of about 5 or 6 hours.



There were 7 of us - me & Hannah, Fliss and Flo, Ewan & Amanda and Laura. All but Ewan, Amanda and Hannah were on the original mini bus that came from Bangkok, so it was nice to catch up with the others and find out what they had been up to since I had last seen them.



We took an AC'd mini bus and headed off on our journey. Everyone was chatting and getting to know each other, but we soon settled down and fell asleep as we were all tired.



Part way we stopped off at a 7/11 to get some Scooby snacks and a wee stop,and then headed on our way again. I have to say at times his driving was a little crazy, over taking on blind bends, and taking corners a little too fast, but I'm alive to tell the tale lol. Along the way the driver put on a film for us so we ended up watching Now You See me about a group,of magicians. I've seen it before but it's a very good film with a twist for those of you who haven't seen it.



We soon came to the town of Chiang Ria where the famous white temple is. It a beautiful and amazing building. Sadly we could not get in as there had been a earthquake a few years ago and it was not safe to go inside. However the outside was epic. It's all white and also uses small pieces of mirrors. It is very intricate and ornate in they typical oriental style. It looked like the snow queen from Narnia had visited or that it was made from icing and covered in glitter.



The temple was built quite a few years ago by a Thai architect. He has designed and paid for it himself and did not want any donations from the public etc it's design is based on heaven and hell ( there is a song title in there my rock buddies lol). See photos attached. It was built in white as the architect doesn't like gold, so he designed the toilets in gold and the temple in white. Even the toilets are ornate and worth taking a few photos of lol.

We also threw a coin in the well if it lands on the flower in the centre and you make a wish it will come true, mine didn't but I made a wish any way. Also you could buy a 'leaf' that hangs on tree. You can write a message or make a wish and it gets hung on the tree. we didn't do this bit but took photos instead.

High lights included the heads hanging in the tree, the inclusion of predator, the skull shaped traffic cones and bollards and the bottle of whiskey in top of some skulls. All rather cool in my estimation.



After the temple visit we piled back into the mini bus and carried on watching the film. We then landed near the border and a little hostel which overlooks the Mekong river, sadly no AC but we did have wifi!



We settled in, it was so hot and humid and we had a ceiling fan. I came up,with the idea of sleeping in the bed the wrong way round as I could be nearer the fan LOL it worked too.



We then headed out into the village on push bikes and cycled to,the restaurant. It was a pretty cool bar with some rock themed murals, pictures and ornaments. We had use of the lap top music choices so we listed to chart dance stuff to keep the mood up best. We all ate our last Thai meal, drank cocktails and played killer pool. To finish off we did tequila slammers, my first, and I have to admit I didn't like it so it may be my first and last, and then headed home. A little tiddly on our bikes before the curfew witching hour lol.



An earlyish night ready for our departure from Thailand to Laos.



Xxxx





Xxxx

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