Chiang Rai and Laos

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15th of May; Got up early to go to the aiport, a taxi is 10.000 kyats from the center. Said goodbye to everyone and checked out - sad to leave and not know when I will see them again, but also excited about travelling on my own! Flight went fast, changed in Bangkok without a problem. Arrived in Chiang Rai and went straight to Chian House. A nice little family run guesthouse in a quiet area, with a swimming pool and super good and cheap northern style thai food, one fan room for 200 bath per night. Booked two nights there and a day trip to all temples and sights the next day. Met Frank an American English teacher living here for a year now. He took me to a temple in the city and a local market. He told me about all the tribes in the area. The long necks came here from Myanmar and there are several others, the Akhas are the ones he knew the best, after the British where here they still have Christian churches, English writing and sing amazing grace but in their language. He said living here has its ups and downs and there is a lot of corruption in the schools so no money is being spent on books and they do not even have internet so the teachers can't prepare their lessons properly. After walking around a bit in the park I went for a quick swim in the pool and had dinner at the guesthouse before reading a bit and then going to bed.

16th of May; Up early for the day trip around Chaing Rai. I got picked up early and got the front seat - luxury. First stop was the Singha tea fields, the biggest beer producer in Thailand apparantly also produces tea. Beautiful and quiet area. He also owns all 7/11 in Thailand - that guy must be one of the richest persons in Thailand. Then off to the White Temple - Wat Rong Khun. Super beautiful! The artist had been given permission to change an older temple by a monk and he did well! All white and when entering you have to walk through "hell" to get to heaven - the temple. When you enter you see a wax statue of the old monk who unfortunately passed away already. There is the original gold buddha and the new white buddha created by him. All walls are painted in beautiful colors and with a modern take on spirituality - almost looks like he was on mushrooms when painting this. When you turn around you see the last wall which again represents hell, there is a monster painted and in one of the eyes you find George Bush and on the bottom other images from modern culture such as Jack Sparrow, Star Wars, Superman etc.. I definitely recommend going to the toilet here as well - one of the most beautiful toilets I have ever seen. After this we went to the black house - Baan Dam - which is more or less the opposite. It is not the temple but a house decorated by a local artist who now has passed away. Its very dark and all in black. He was a poor young man who went to Bangkok to study with almost no money, he lived under bridges and around the school when it opened - he spent all these years in dark corners which inspired his art. When he became more famous he travelled and met people all over the world who donated objects, often animal skin or horns and you see many different types around the houses. Next visit was the hill tribe village. We saw girls from the Akka tribe, their hats had indian coins on them each worth a thousand bath. These are the people that are still Christian. They have statues cut in wood with very big genitalia- apparantly for good luck. They have different hats for married and single women. Then we meet the long neck people who has fled to here from Myanmar, there are about 60 of them here. Very beautiful women but a very suppressing culture with only women wearing the rings - hardly for protection against tiger bites in these days - the women doing all the work in the village and the men sleeping all day. I feel like they only keep the rings on now to make money of tourism. Then we were off to the monkey cave, aggresive monkeys and a 256 steps up the mountain in the afternoon heat to find a smaller cave with a mini budddha - not worth the hike guys. A monkey did get in the mini van and the drivers seet which was quite entertaining. Then off to the scorpion temple where you have a great view of the nearest city in Myanmar - very beautiful. After this we stopped by the golden triangle to see Thailand, Myanmar and Laos all next to each other only parted by rivers. It is possible for them to cross to casinos in the other countries without a visa check. A lot of Myanmar people come to the border to buy Thai products as well. It is called the golden triangle because it is famous for its opium trade. After this we were off to the opium museum where we were taught how to cook and smoke opium but more interestingly could read about the latest heroin king from Myanmar who died 8 years ago. The area is "golden" because of the immense opium and heroin trafficking that has and is taking place in the area. We finished off seeing some over 1000 years old temple ruins from the van on the way back - unfortunately not much was left of them any longer. Got back for a quick swim and another lovely vegan thai dinner for just 50 bath. Got packing since I booked the slow boat to Laos the next morning at 6 - two day trip through the mekong coming up!

17th of May; I got up and was picked up by the mini van at 6 in the morning. We did a stop for coffee and then off to the border. Filled out an application in 5 mins and got my visa in 5 mins as well. Then took out some kip and walked to the Laos side and on the bus with our next guide. He took us to their office where we could get some food to bring on the boat and then off to the boat. We found some seats and people kept coming on so in the end they had to put extra plastic chairs on. People in the front where having a mini party all the way and we had good seats so we could relax and read and enjoy the view. The boat ride is very beautiful and you can see the local fishermen on their boats, buffalos along the water, small kids swimming and beautiful mountains. In the end my bum got quite soar so I was standing up a bit, luckily there was room for that. We stopped at Pakbang to spend the night, got a room for 40.000 kip, I recommend to wait and get a room there, people who booked at the office or boat paid overprice. Had dinner at the hotel with a Hawaiian couple I met on the boat. The power went of and everything got so quiet and nice and you could see the fireflies flying around in the jungle. We had a few beers and then to bed.

18th of May; Had some juice and got food to go at the restaurant, while we were sitting there and elephant was walking around across the river with the owner, eating of the trees - very idyllic. Then we got down to the boat and got some good seats, it was a different boat and much better, it was wider and on the side we sat at, it was old airplane seats which were better than the old car seats from the day before. We had really nice weather, it had rained all night so it was not too hot for once. We passed more fishermen and little villages, it is so cool to see how life along the river is so different from in the cities or inland. Two boys on the boat started to play with Tylers tablet and could write both numbers and letters so they must at least be in school. The boat ride was a bit faster than we expected, we got in a bit earlier but they drop you off 10 kms outside the city so you have to take a tuk tuk for 20.000 kip. When we arrived this guy Jason was trying to get everyone to go to his guest house so we decided to go with and check it out. A dorm room was 35.000 and looked okay so I decided to take it. I ended up being the only one in there and since the shower was in the room it was like having a private room. They sold the guest house to us because the manager Jason would be able to give you insider tips and show you the coolest spot by the Kuang Si warerfall. That was not all true we would find out. The "free alcohol" turned out to be a glass of local whiskey. He recommended a restaurant to us which was nice because we could see the beautiful sunset but the food was nothing special, buy hey at least it was cheap. Then we walked to the night market which was very nice, some different things than from Bangkok. We bumped into everyone else from the boat and went to a bar called Utopia - it was very nice. Very relaxed and we got to put on our own music. After that we went to bed.

19th of May; It was raining when we wanted to get up and see the waterfalls but it stopped again at 9, Belinda was not feeling super good and no one else was ready to share a tuk tuk so we decided to wait until 11 and go with the other people from the hostel for 25.000 kip. Until then I walked around the city which is full of old French colony houses, temples and monks. Especially Wat Xieng Thong looked beautiful but again entrance was 20000 kip. Then the waterfall trip. It was very cheap but in the end Jason did not join to take us to his secret spot, which means we hiked up on our own. There is an entrance fee of 20000 kip again, as you walk up the trail you pas a bear rescue center, they rescue bears that have been captured to take extract bear bile from the stomachs which especially is used by Chinese in medicine, but the medicine is not helping, actually is harms you more than it helps. Luckily these bears have been saved but can now not live in the wild any longer. It had been raining so I really recommend not to wear flip flops if you go up there on a rainy day, everyone else did and I was the only one who did not slip around like crazy. It was so worth the trouble though! One of the most beautiful waterfalls I have ever seen! The pictures will speak for themselves. After a hike all the way to the top we got in the water a bit further down and got a free fish spa experience with the tiny fishies nibbling on our feet. On the way down we met everyone from the boat again. Then we had some lunch before our tuk tuk driver took us back. We got back at 16 and showered and met back up to go up the 300 steps to the temple on Mount Phousi to enjoy the view. Again 20000 entrance fee. It was quite a walk up the stairs but so so so beautiful! Surrounded by the little french colony houses, mountains and the two rivers. We have been avoiding crowds all day because the rain came and left non-stopm, so we were happy since these spots are usually overcrowded. A quick walk around the night market again and dinner at a restaurant with VEGAN menu. Super nice. Then back to the hotel since an early morning awaits.

20th of May; Up at 5 to see the monks doing their Ahlm's - they go along the wall in the city where a lot of people are seated - waiting to donate food to them. They walk in a long line with their boxes and people give them mainly sticky rice and snacks but also money. We then saw a few street kids sitting praying to the monks and they then gave a bit to the kids towards the end. A lot of people come to donate, tourists do as well but I read that the food must be home cooked and the monks often cannot eat the food the tourists buy on the street to donate to them. We kept our distance and took photos from the other side. After saying goodbye to everyone I got on the bus to Vang Vien. It was a super beautiful landscape that only became more and more mountainous as we got closer to Vang Vien. Instead of 4 hrs the tour took 6 hrs. On the way I spoke a bit with an older couple from Namibia (originally South Africa), they travelled a lot still, especially around Africa, remind me to be like them when I grow up! I arrived and found a nice and cheap dorm room at Vang Vien backpackers hostel, 40000 per night and much cleaner than what I had before. Ended up sharing only with one thai girl and bathroom in the room again. Went to buy my bus ticket the day after, I thought it left at night but instead it leaves at 9 in the morning, half a day less in Vang Vien for me. Bus ticket cost 275000 kip. On the way back to my hostel I found Sonia and Mano I knew from Luang Prabang and we decided to rent scooters together and go up to Blue Lagoon. People sent us in all directions but in the end we found it, not too far from the city, bicycle would have been fine too. 10000 kip to cross the bridge, then 10000 to enter the national park and 3000 for parking. Sneaky bastards. The national park was super beautiful and very worth it! If you come earlier there are tons of caves to explore as well. The lagoon is placed by a parking lot and there are restaurants around and a lot of Chinese tourists in orange life vests, it ruins it a bit but the lagoon is still very beautiful and it is so nice to cool down after a long hot day! You can jump in from a big tree. After that we went back to the city for a beer and a VEGAN dinner, found another vegan restaurant. Then we showered and met up again plus with some of their friends from
Thailand. We had some drinks and went of to a jungle rave which was a bit weird, it wasn't really in the jungle but more of a patio, in the end it was full of ladyboys and music was not the best but we had a lot of fun.

21st of May; Got up to get on the bus, it was a bit late and I was the last to get on so had a small foldable seat most of the way which made it impossible to sleep. Again the bus took 6 hrs and not 4. Arrived in Vientiane where I had to wait three hours for the next bus to Bangkok. Walked around the city, very quiet for a capital. Saw some temples, a mini church and local little shops. Went for lunch to make time pass and then back to wait for the bus. I got driven to the busstation to wait for the bus to cross the border, an american teacher was waiting with me. He told me works for an international school so he does not have to deal with corruption but there are still a lot of political issues. In Laos he has seen a big change, he has been there for 15 years. When he first came there were only old limousines from the 60's, no cars or buses. Only dirt roads as well. He said it was much cheaper and he could feed 30 street children with just 3 dollars. Now there are no more children on the streets. Looking back the people in Laos have not been super friendly, I guess it is getting too touristy and they are getting tired of tourists, we met some nice people on our way but they do see us as money machines now - it's still worth to go for the nature and sights and on the plus side you meet so many nice foreigners! I got to the boarder in a bus with only locals, beware you have to pay 11.000 kip at the border for customs, make sure to have cash left. For some reason I only get to stay 15 days in Thailand this time, luckily I just need two.

22nd of May; Last day. Got to Bangkok early in the morning, got a room at D&D inn again. After a little nap I just chilled at the pool and had lunch with my Thai friend who turned out to be in Bangkok that day as well. Bought some gifts and went out in the evening, went to happy bar which is one of my favourite bars in Khao San area, reggae music and a mix of tourists and thai people. Then we went Shisha hunting which apparantly now is really hard to find since it is no longer legal. We found the top floor of a bar in the back street where we smoked and played games. To bed late and then up again next morning to catch my flight. This trip is over but I got a lot of inspiration for more upcoming adventures inspired by the lovely people I met on my way!

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