Chiang Rai

Hi all

We arrived in Vientiane this evening on the bus from Lauang Prabang. As usual our posts are lagging somewhat behind; so heres the post for Chiang Rai, Thailand:

Chiang Rai

The Green Bus to Chiang Rai was no ordinary bus.  This was in fact a first class bus, including a hostess with the mostest serving drinks, nibbles, and wet wipes.  The bus left on time and arrived early— almost unheard of in South East Asia.  It had tags for our bags and seats that reclined substantially further than any other bus we had been on in Thailand.  Sitting across the aisle from us on this “bus nirvana” were Rob and Tina from Dorset, England who become our travel companions for the next few days.

The next day we set off on a bit of an informal walking tour of the city with Rob and Tina; getting our bearings and figuring out a bit of a plan for the next few days.  We booked a trip to the Akha Hill House—which is a guesthouse run by some Akha Hilltribe people in one of their villages not far from Chiang Rai.

The next day our ride to the Akha Hill House didn’t leave until the afternoon so we had time to take what Rob and Tina dubbed as an “Eli tour”.  An Eli tour involves taking the cheapest form of local public transport you can find to the site of interest on this less than a dollar per person each way.  If you’re lucky, either Eli or I have read the appropriate section of the guide book and can remember all sorts of interesting facts about said site.

This Eli tour was to Wat, Rong Khun, The White Temple.  Another temple?  Yawn you might think.  But no; the white temple is nothing like any other temple you might see in Asia.  Firstly, construction only began in 1997 and the designer / architect is an eccentric Thai modern artist called Ajarn Chalermchai Kositpipat.  He does not expect it to be finished until at least 50 years after his death

The interior of the main temple building is covered with a huge mural which depicts—among many contemporary allusions—George W Bush and Osama Bin Laden as the eyes of the demon. As the name suggests all the buildings at the temple are white.  Except for the toilets which are housed in a gold building and apparently are “the most beautiful toilets”.  Of course, we tried them out and they are certainly a lot nicer than many toilets we have come across.                      

That afternoon we headed up the hill to the Akha Hill House in our complimentary transport—the back of a ute, complete with worn-out gearbox and stock cage.  While not the most salubrious accommodation, the Hill House was adequate and we joined a great group of fellow travellers for dinner and Beer Chang around the camp fire.

The next day a group of eight of us set off for a walk around the surrounding countryside accompanied by two Akha guides.  

The Akha people—like many of the hill tribes in Northern Thailand—are originally from southern China and made their way to Thailand over several hundred years via Myanmar and Laos.  They have moved around for several reasons: one, because they practice a style of farming where they intensively farm a piece of land and then move on; and two, due to persecution and war, particularly in Myanmar.

During our trek we learnt that the Akha people make extensive use of the bamboo that grows around where they live.  Our guides made short work of fashioning cups and chopsticks using their machetes.  When it was our turn we quickly realised it was not as easy as they made it look; although Eli managed to fashion something resembling a cup and I managed a pair of chopsticks without losing any limbs.

The next day it was back down the hill on the back of the ute and off to the bus station to head for the Laos border.

Love to all, hope your checking out the photos we will try to add more tomorrow

xxxx