Blogs from Chiang Rai, North-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 8

After the easiest and quickest border crossing yet getting back into Thailand, we took a two hour bus from Chiang Chong to Chiang Rai (the bus cost 65bht each and they leave every 30mins). When we arrived in Chiang Rai we took a tuk-tuk from the station because we had pre-booked a room at the Baan Rub Aroon Guesthouse towards the quieter end of town. We were both more than pleased with our choice, the house is an old colonial style building which is surrounded by beautiful relaxing gardens. The lovely owner Nong was there to greet us with a big smile and showed us to our nice room and around her lovely house. After giving us a map of the area and some great recommendations of things to do and places to eat, Nong said ... read more

Phayao - Chiang rai So I got the local bus back to chiang rai this morning, although it did take a lot of wheels on the bus motions to get someone to direct me to the bus station! It cost 40baht and stopped more times than coming to phayao. We stopped for fuel and the. For people on the roadside...all in all took 2 hrs. At the bus station I got a bicycle, yes a bicycle, kind Of like a horse and carriage on a guy pedalling minus the horse! The poor guy pedalled me and my 13kilo rucksack the 20min trip to the guesthouse, filling his tyres with air along the way! I arrived at the guesthouse to a warm and friendly welcome again and a room ready and waiting I have done some washing ... read more

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. ... read more

Vanuit Mae Salong namen we opnieuw een songtaeow die we per toeval deelden met een architect uit Leopoldsburg in België. Onze eerste Belg in Thailand! De architect heette Albino en woonde in Parijs. Niet zomaar in Parijs maar de sjiekste buurt op Centre Pompidou. Het was fijn om nog es Nederlands te spreken. In Chiang Rai gingen we terug naar hetzelfde hotel als de vorige keer. De mensen vonden het fijn om ons terug te zien. Alweer werden we heel hartelijk verwelkomd en in de watten gelegd. Ook de andere kamer had helaas dezelfde 'vernisgeur' en dus werden de verniste lampekappen in de badkamer gezwierd. We gingen in de namiddag nog naar What Ron Khun. Dé bekendste tempel van Chiang Rai. Het is een moderne tempel, slechts 10 jaar oud en het is een wittte tempel. ... read more

After the late nights in the Reggae bar with our new found friends, we decided to be adventurous and go swimming for the day. Om, one of the Rastafarians took us to a place called Naga Hill. Being clean freaks we were not expecting great things and were not even sure we would go in the water if we found it looked dirty! Once again we were taken by surprise. This place was beautiful, clean and so so tranquil. Om took us to a 5 star retreat, with a turquoise blue swimming pool, where we drank and ate and watched the sun go down as we chilled on the wooden patios and hammocks. I did go for a swim and then sat and watched the sunset change from a golden orange to a deep purple. More ... read more