Today we drove the 4 hours from Chiang Saen to Chiang Mai, via Chiang Rai. On the way we stopped off at a tribal village, which was basically a tourist market – we wanted to see the long-neck ladies, but unfortunately there were none around. Bummer. We also stopped off at some hot springs, which were very nice but ponged of bad eggs (as hot springs often do)!
The best thing we saw was the White Temple outside Chiang Rai. It’s being built by one of Thailand’s top artists and is truly awesome – it looks like the wicked Queen of Narnia’s palace. Construction is still ongoing – it was started in 1997 and is expected to carry on until 2070. When completed it will consist of 8 massive temples, but only one is complete now.
It was really OTT but we loved it – especially the no-smoking signs complete with skulls, the beautiful white fish in the ponds, and the very weird paintings in the temple itself, featuring scenes of the destruction of the twin towers…and Spider Man. Very very odd!
We arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second city and ancient northern capital late afternoon, looking forward to a couple of days exploring.
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