Northern Thailand

By Helen / June 29, 2017 / 3 minutes read / 546 words

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Myanmar

The Land of Laos

After Myanmar we spent several weeks in Northern Thailand. All the Chiang’s together: Chiang Mai, Chiang Dao, Chiang Rai and Chiang Khong!

Chiang Mai

We decided to get organized in Chiang Mai. We mailed some items back that we don’t use, saw Wonder Woman, and did a cooking class with Pat and Liz. I’d wanted to do a class, so this was more for me than Paul. We got to make several dishes and no injuries occurred. After wandering the night market, we spent some time at the shopping malls. Neither is our favorite thing to do, but we managed. We had a nice evening at Small House Kafe, where some advice from Dao had us heading off to Chiang Dao instead of Pai.

Look at that concentration

Curry

Dao and Chris at Small House Kafe

Cool graffiti

Chiang Dao

Loved it! Our friend from Small House Kafe, Dao, recommended it to us. We spent a few nights there, ate some amazing food, and had a great time with Buppa (and her homemade spiced whiskey) at The Cave Bar. We walked around to explore the area, and even went on an awesome scooter ride through the clouds in the national park

Excellent food at The Nest

Beautiful flowers

Amazing views everywhere

Our bike was underpowered for 2 in these hills

Farms outside the national park

Great fun at Bhuppas bar: "The Cave"

Chiang Rai

Next up, we took a bus from Chiang Dao to Tha Ton, then a cool longtail boat ride to Chiang Rai. We saw some elephants being bathed in the river. There was a stop where you could get a photo with a huge snake, but we chose not to. The owner of the guesthouse took us on a tour the next morning to the White Temple, Black House and Blue Temple before dropping us off at the bus station. We were heading to see our friends God and Yves at their hostel in Chiang Khong on the Laos border.

Longtail from Tha Ton to Chiang Rai on the River Kok

Some of the local buses were pretty cool

Chiang Rai clock tower

Sculpture at White Temple

Cool but weird

Venom? Really??

Very busy at the White Temple

Blue Temple was a lot quieter

Black House was weird, all by same "artist" and his disciples

Lots of death at the Black House

Chiang Khong

We finally made it to see God and Yves at their most excellent Hub Pub and Funky Box hostel, where we had a fantastic week! We went on a jungle hike to a beautiful waterfall, checked out some amazing local viewpoints, spent a few lazy days fishing, took cooking lessons, ate incredible food, and generally had a blast being spoiled rotten. If you’re in the area, make sure to grab a coffee at The View Coffee for awesome views of the Mekong and Laos! (Paul declared it the best urinal view he’s ever experienced.)