Day Trip Around Chiang Rai: Hot Spring, White Temple, Golden Triangle, Oh My!

Prior to the weekend, I had been asked by Leah, another teacher at the school and my friend, if I wanted to go to Chiang Rai for the weekend with her and some others. At first I was all for it, but after some consideration over money and future traveling plans, I declined the offer. On Friday when Leah mentioned they were only going for a day trip on Saturday now, and for 800 baht ($25 CAD) we have a van taking us around to the things to see in Chiang Rai and lunch. With that I was in.

I decided to take it easy Friday night, as my students had been begging me to come to their talent show at another international school that night. I hopped on the school van after school with another teacher and friend, Anna, and we headed to the show. After meeting a few parents and seeing a few students, we took our seats. It was actually quite entertaining. The talent some kids have is incredible. I was fairly jealous. I always love to see singing and dancing performances, and was so proud to see two of my students get up and sing solo songs. In the end, first and third place were held by our school's jazz band and dance crew respectively. We were impressed. What I wasn't impressed with, was getting home after 10pm when I had to be up early the next morning. 

I woke up at 6 the next morning and dragged myself out of bed. I headed to the girl's place at 640. Linh came down and let me in, and said I didn't have to be there quite so early. I had to head back to grab a swimsuit (which I inevitably did not even need) and met her at 7/11 where the van (which the other girls would already be on) was meeting us. After they picked us up we were on our way towards our first stop: the hot spring.

When we arrived, we got off the bus and headed straight to the mist coming up from the ground at the front. We took some pictures and then Alyssa and Linh bought some eggs to boil in the hot spring. I shared with Alyssa, as they give you three eggs and neither of us were going to eat 3 hard boiled eggs each. After waiting around as they boiled, with the ladies asking if we wanted to take them out numerous times, we finally took them out--they could've used a little longer. Then we took a quick foot soak in the other part of the hot spring and we headed off to our next destination: the White Temple.

Boiling eggs in the hot spring!

Soaking our feet in the hot spring.

The White Temple

When we arrived at the White Temple I was in awe. It was the most beautiful temple I have seen in my life. The amazing way it seemed to sparkle in the sun took my breath away. Walking around and through it, you come to find out just how different this temple is from the rest. At the entrance to the grounds of the temple, were scary heads hanging from ropes. Then on the way up to the main temple building, there were hands coming up from the ground, a few holding skulls. For some reason, I thought of my sister and how much she would enjoy this temple. Strange. As I was posing for a picture at the entrance a loud speaker was going on about not stopping, but we did anyways. As you walk into the actual building, there are amazing murals painted on the walls that were stranger than even the skulls and hands. Spiderman, superman, angry birds, hellraiser, the creepy character from Saw movies, Michael Jackson, the twin towers... Definitely depicting all that is wrong with society, funny how it was all Western images.  I tried to take pictures but there were no photo signs inside the building. I snuck a couple attempts on my iPhone. After we wandered, it was off to the next stop: the Golden Triangle.

Heads hanging from trees

Reaching for the hands.

Western evils

Twin towers, angry birds, randomness

The Golden Triangle was incredible. Not so much the actual look of everything we saw but the pure fact that during our boat trip we went from Thailand to Myanmar (Burma) to Laos and back to Thailand, stopping in Laos for a quick shopping trip. I was in three countries in one day. Pretty amazing when you think about it. We got on the boat, and it went over to the Myanmar side and we saw the casino that is at the coast there. Then the boat took us and we stopped at a dock in Laos. There we got to walk through a small market with everything from handbags to alcohol with interesting things fermenting inside. After Bridget, Linh and Leah had gotten a Laotian beer, we wandered around. Picked up a couple souvenirs and then went over to the alcohol. Leah decided to try a sample of the alcohol. First shot she had was the one with the tiger penis fermenting. I decided that I may as well try one too. After a shot of the snake alcohol I was done my taste testing. Leah tried a couple more. There was everything from scorpion to armadillo. After a few pictures with the snake, we headed back to the boat. After that it was onto a buffet lunch, where we then headed to the Myanmar border.

Island in centre of Golden Triangle

Welcome to Laos!

Leah and the snake

Making faces at the fermented snake!

 At the Myanmar border we got to visit the most Northern part of Thailand, while one of the other passengers on our van was renewing his visa. Now I have been to the most Easterly point of Australia, and the most Northern part of Thailand. After we got our photo op, we wandered around the shops and I found something cute for my niece. Then it was back to the van and our 4 hour journey home. Once we got back at 8pm, I came straight to my bed. It was a long, but fun, day.

most Northern part of Thailand