Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Day 4 Wednesday Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai

We spent most of the day driving, largely through a national park. Hills and valleys with some crops and medium farmhouses. Several guest house/ resort like places that seemed newish but hard to see because of the lush vegetation that lined the road ( made photo taking difficult too) We stopped at some thermal springs that have morphed into a bus stop/ tourist trap for a break and later had lunch at a pleasant road side large restaurant alongside a river. Our table of 4 shared 4 dishes ( not huge servings but more than adequate for lunch) for the grand total of 125 baht – about $4. They had a large display of desert pies – seemingly out of place - and I had 2/3 of a piece of delicious mango pie.

Later in the afternoon we stopped at a very odd place. A notable Thai artist is building a temple in the middle of nowhere. The temple is rendered with white concrete inlaid with millions of pieces of shiny glass. It looks like some fairytale winter wonderland thing. Inside the walls were being painted with Buddhist stuff with , eg, superman flying past a stupa and spiderman climbing up a pagoda. There was a gallery of his paintings. Not to my taste.

Chiang Rai had a nice feel to it. Another nice hotel. A few of us went for a walk to a museum of Thai hill tribes. We watched a video and then strolled round exhibits dealing with customs, agricultural practises, lifestyle etc of the 7 major tribes.

In the evening we gathered in the lobby for a drink before dinner. I had a cocktail at a cost of 200baht ( 1$ AUS = 30 baht) A glass of wine costs 180 baht. We then walked to an open air ‘food court’ . I had a large plate of fresh mixed tempura – vegetables and prawns - for 50 baht.

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