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Published: August 24th 2012
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Chiang Rai
After a reasonably good nights sleep, only reasonably good due to the fact that I have a fan and not a/c. There were also huge thunderstorms in the night, that woke me several times.
I got up early...ish, had breakfast at the guesthouse, Banana Pancake with Honey, but dont be mistaken, this was not your typical pancake, it was the size of a dinner plate and about 2 inches thick, delicious but too much for breakfast!
I was picked up at around 8am by the tour guide, and as the trip was over booked myself and two others, max, from Switzerland and Laura from Essex, but now living in Pakistan as she works for Oxfam as an aid worker were treated to luxury transport, some type of 4x4, rather than a cramped mini van. The tour guide was lovely, a chinese lad, 23, who is very proud of the fact that his parents live in Malaysia, but more importantly thathis father works for lambourghini and they own one.
Firstly we visited the 'White Temple' or by its true name, '
Wat Rong Khun' It is a contemporary unconventional buddhist and hindu temple. It was designed by
Chalermchai Kositpipat. Construction began in 1997 and is ongoing.
The artisit said..... "It is my strong intention to build a temple in imitation of heaven. I wanted it to be a heaven on earth."
From there we visited the black house. The Black House is not just one house, but an estate with numerous buildings, big and small, mostly of wood and mostly black. A few of them are locked, but most are open and freely accessable. They contain many curious objects, among them many buffalo horns, animal skins and bones, shells, wood-carvings and benches shaped from one piece of wood. The estate is owned by famous Thai artist Thawan Duchanee, born in 1939, who studied art in the Netherlands. His grotesque and erotic paintings have been exhibited in may countries and evidently made him a well-to-do man.
Following there we headed to Monkey Cave. There were loads on monkeys roaming the area and we fed them monkey nuts. However our guide was on hand to chase them off with a sling shot if they got too rowdy!
Behind where all the monkeys hang around are what felt like a milion steps after
walking up them in the bazing heat. At the top there is a spectacular view but more impressively a cave housing a golden buddha.
After that we visited the Long Neck Hilltribe, the story goes that many years ago a member of the tribe was attacked by an animal that bit her throat. Now the women wear the heavy (4kg) metal rings round their throat to protect them from harm! However, they can never take them off, the sheer weight causes their chest and rib cage to lower, giving the impression of them having a long neck. We watched a tribal dance and then met with the children in the tribe school.
Before our lunch stop, we headed to Mae Sai. The furthermost northern point in Thailand. The border is there for Myanmar. There is a huge border market on the thai side which we spent a half hour or so looking around. There was an interesting mix of goods from thailand and burma.
After a quick look at the Ruby factory, we stopped for lunch at an all you can eat buffet, which was delicious.
In the afternoon we headed to the golden
traingle, it is where Loas, Myanmar and Thailad meet on the river and we headed to a great view point. I had a little shop at the stalls near the Golden Triangle viewpoint and puchased a pair of thai pants.
Leaving there we headed to the Opium museum. Although, it is known that opium originated in the Mediterranean area. Who discovered, it is still unknown. Nevertheless, some evidence both in archaeology and literatures indicate that people in Greece, Rome, Persia, and Egypt, who called this plant “OPIUM” meaning “FRUIT JUICE" on diplay were many items used in the production and use.
Heading back to the centre of Chiang Rai we had a quick stop at Chiang Saen Wat. More ruins that Wat now, but nevertheless, interesting.
All in all an amazing day out, very educational and culturally enlightening.
I've now arrived back at the guest house, will get some tea later and relax with my book. Tomorrow I plan to head back into town seems its my last day here.
I have decided to go onto Phayao next for a day or two before returning to Chiang Mai, heading to Chiang Khong and crossing the
border to Laos.
I will upload photos later...photos now uploaded as I met a girl Sophie, from trafford whilst having my tea so we went to the night market together. Will probably catch up with her again in laos.
Love to all xxx
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