Chiang Rai is a lovely small city with the feel of a real place, i.e., not just for tourists. To add to this, we got a studio apartment rather than a hotel, which always makes us feel much more like locals. This was the first place we had a burner or a microwave in almost a month, and we decided to eat in the first night. Feeling lazy we picked up some dumplings and frozen Thai from 7-11 (7-11 is all the rage in this area of the world and they have had locaions in all the urban areas we have been thus far…not surprisingly, more prevelant in Taipei and Thailand then in Myanmar or Laos. Anway, these frozen 7-11 dinners tasted like goog Thai from a restaurant in the US, and we were pleasantly surprised about that.
The next day we took in the temples and sights in town and the night market. The night market was a sight to see with a beautiful stage where free local musicians performed traditional and not so traditional songs and/or dances. We had dinner out in a big courtyard and enjoyed the night, the yummy spicy Thai food, and the music.
Next day we took the bicycles thoughtfully provided by our owners and got out to the countryside where we biked to the extraordinary White Temple. This temple is still being added to by the famous local artist who designed it, it is like a young girls frozen disneyworld, all white and squiggly, it looks like an ice palace, amazing! And it was also amazing to see the countryside and farms and people living outside the city. Bike days are always great days!
The people and local market in Chiang Rai were super pleasant, and it actually felt like a place you could imagine living. We were really glad we took the time to stop and get to know Chiang Rai.
This ornate clocktower dominates the central traffic circle in the city.
It is good karma to make sacrifices of food and to cover the buddhas in gold. We saw lots and lots of gold-leaf covered Buddhas, but this was the first one we saw in process of being gilded. Sometimes the buddhas become just big lumps of gold after so much leaf has been added…..
Took a trip down the river to see the elephants, this guy and a bunch of his friens were hanging out in the water, keeping cool.
Riding an elephant…pretty fun, feeding an elephant, priceless……these guys (and/or gals) loved a banana or 25.
Yes, I got to feed them, too.
Just to. Prove we really did ride on one.
Lovely bridge view from atop the elephant.
It is really, really difficult to get a picture of an elephant while you are on top. Here are our feet on his neck, with the guide riding in front. Luckily, he didn’t need the machete for anything.
Lovely, cool trip down the river.
Cottages alongside the river.
Steve out in the fields on bicycle…on the way to White Temple.
I have no idea if there is actually a significance to these statues, but they were about 15-feet tall and on the posts all the way around the walls of the temple, this was an older, lovely spot we passed on our bike ride.
Yup, this is it. Doesn’t even look real, does it?
There is a bridge at the temple entrance with all of these hands sticking out of the water. It is supposed to represent leaving temptation behind. Not sure if the manicure was part of the design or somebody’s idea of a joke. Creepy though….
Another view.
For a few Baht, less than 50 cents, you can buy a little ornament and write a wish on it. There were wishes here from every corner of the world.
And what do you do when you have a million wishes?? You make a wish tree, of course. (Actual number of wishes unknown by me). There were at least two of these trees plus a long walkway covered with wishes…seems powerful somehow….
Because I really like them both, and better together….
This museum housed an amazing private collection of Thai artifacts. The free 45-minute private tour taught us more about Thailand than we had ever known. Don’t miss this museum if you are ever in Chiang Rai.
They even served us tea after our tour. We weren’t allowed to take pics inside the museum, so we just have a few nice viewpoints inside.
Kathleen
