A month of farewells

We have been spending about one week in every 3 or 4 in Chiang Rai and lately we have been seeing a few new things each time and really getting to know northern Thailand well. Recently we drove out of town to a newly opened restaurant that was getting good write ups in the papers for having not only good food and wine but also extensive gardens and tea plantations. It turned out to be a pretty fun day out which involved eating a lot of fresh tea leaves and wandering through the gardens.

When we got back to Luang Namtha we had to say goodbye to our friend Jacob, the guy who has been doing his PhD on the minority tribes in the area for the past year or so. We made a party for him in the shop and had a night starting at the shop and then the Chinese disco. There was a cool red moon too!

We also decided to get a bigger bike and ride a few hours through stunning views to stay on the Mekong again. The journey was really enjoyable and we stopped many times along the way to relax in ride paddy huts or just a good view points.

The couple of days that followed our friends Phil and Abigail came to visit, and we had a great time catching up and showing them some of Luang Namtha’s beauty. This included time at the river, in the rice fields and eating some more of Paet’s awesome food. We met Phil and Abigail last time they were here in Luang Namtha a few months ago, and they had a spare week before they returned home to Switzerland so came back again to hang out with us and soak up some more of Luang Namtha’s awesomeness.

Another farewell was then to be had – it was Anna’s last visit to Luang Namtha while we are still here (her final visit will be when we’re in NZ). Anna is one of the guides on the Stray bus that comes to town twice a week, and Forest Retreat always serves them cocktails and breakfast and so we get to know the guides quite well. So again we made a cocktail party and went to the disco. The Chinese disco is always an experience – normally a strange one, and not always a fun one, which is why we don’t make it there that often. This time though we had a ball and danced for hours. There was a guy there wearing his bike helmet inside, so Dre convinced another guy who was dancing that it would be cool for him to wear his helmet too, and so a hilarious scene followed with him dancing with his helmet on… only in Laos.

Less than a week later we had our own farewell, we had a bit of a party in the shop and prepared to say our temporary goodbyes to Luang Namtha and our friends here while we return home for Karen’s sister Julia’s wedding and travel a bit more. Before we leave for NZ, we’ll hang out in Thailand again for a while. Our photos of the past few weeks are here.

Dre’s mum Jillian’s visit

We went to Chiang Rai to meet Jillian at the airport and briefly show her some of Chiang Rai’s highlights. When Jillian arrived she was tired so we settled for going to the White Temple in the morning.

We spent probably an hour inside (where the real highlights are and where you can’t take photos) admiring the intricate artwork and then went to the art gallery beside the temple by the same artist.

Then it was on to Luang Namtha; we managed to have our first tuk tuk break down on the way to the bus station so had to get the driver to call the bus driver and get him to wait for us! Our arrival back in Luang Namtha co-incided with a cold snap which turned out to be the coldest two weeks of the entire year! The first day in LNT we heard there was a special occassion at the temple so went up there so we could all get blessed by the head monk and also see the celebrations; on the way Jillian also managed to have a motorbike break down! (again our first in Asia). As anticipated the celebrations were typical Lao style – very loud and basically destroying the peace and quiet that is the allure of the temple. We still got to see the views but with the raucous music it wasn’t quite the same. Both of us got blessed by the monk and after a motorbike replacement we all went back into town and then decided to visit the waterfall.

At the waterfall we saw the village has set up a water ‘pump’ of sorts where the waterfall fills the bamboo bucket and then when the water empties the rice is pounded – very clever! We went into the village to have a look around also and Jillian got some handmade bamboo paper.

We went to explore the river, and the old stupa, and the Lao Lao distillery where we got to see the fresh Lao Lao being heated and taste the fresh brew. Even more potent when it’s hot! We also stopped to join a Tai Dam party for a few minutes, Lao people really know how to party so we thought this would give Jillian a good insight into the craziness.

We then went up to Muang Sing for the night and along the way saw the usual groups animals and children. Once we got to Muang Sing we saw this cool huge katydid (above) just hanging out on the road. We moved it to the side of the road so it was less likely to get run over. We went to visit the school at a Hmong village that we visit fairly regularly. It was pretty cool because the kids were in class singing and learning and the teachers got them to sing a song for us and pose for photos. Then we wandered around a bit and were leaving on our bikes when school break started, so a group of kids ran after our bike for several minutes laughing and shouting. On our way back from Muang Sing we stopped in a Tai Dam village for Jillian to buy some handwoven silk handicrafts.

When we got back to Luang Namtha we visited Ban Sopsim, a local village that Forest Retreat Laos supports by way of donations, sending travellers to spend the night at their village, and paying them for trail maintenance etc. Jillian generously bought some excellent English teaching manuals for the school to use and she gave them to the village chief. We now also support the school by sending volunteers there to help with English also and ensure the teacher knows how to use the manuals properly.

Then it was time for Jillian to continue exploring Laos, so after a leaving dinner with Thong and Paet, the following morning she left for Nong Kiau. Our photos from Jillian’s visit are here.

Temple in Chiang Rai: found

You may or may not recall, a couple of months back we went up a temple on a hill in Chiang Rai and far in the distance we could see another cool looking temple. We mentioned on this blog that we hoped to find it at some point in the future, so this time when we were in Chiang Rai Dre accepted the challenge of picking the right road to find this temple. And succeeded!

From the hill we first viewed it on, it looked almost like an Aztec structure but when we got up close it turned out to be a fairly new, very well maintained Chinese temple. We arrived with perfect timing – we got to see the sunset behind the temple and when we walked right up to the top inside the views from every side were amazing. Inside the smell was so good – all of the Buddha’s and other statues were carved from Sandalwood so the entire temple was filled with the awesome scent of the wood.

Thong came to meet us to take everything back to Luang Namtha for the shop, and so we took him to try his first ever pizza. He went into the kitchen and convinced the staff to let him try olives, capers, and anchovies for the first time also – they thought it was hilarious for a sheltered jungle boy from Laos to come to the big city in Chiang Rai and try so many ‘firsts’.

Now we are about to board a night bus for 15 hours to get to Vientiane – it’s much quicker to go this way than to travel down Laos and unfortunately we have to return to our least-favourite part of Laos to get our new visas. Our photos from Chiang Rai are here.

Collecting Tim from Thailand

We went back to Chiang Rai to meet Tim and show him around for a couple of days before heading back to Luang Namtha. We went to the white temple again and we were still amazed at how cool it is, even though we’ve seen it a few times before now. We also went into the art gallery beside the white temple – everything in there has been painted or sculpted by the same artist who designed the temple and has painted the murals inside (still only 3 walls painted, we are eagerly awaiting the 4th wall to see what he does!). That was insanely cool and we really want to get some of his paintings.

We spent a lot of time motorbiking around, visiting a waterfall, driving through mud to get to tea plantations, and seeing some other temples as well as going to the night market.

We only spent a couple of days in Chiang Rai but it was an awesome way for Tim to be introduced to the craziness of Asia before we get to the real adventure in Luang Namtha. Our photos in Chiang Rai are here.

Stranded in Chiang Rai (briefly)

We spent our first couple of days rushing around, as usual, buying stuff and riding around trying to find things that we need and cannot buy in Laos. So on our third night, we were pretty exhausted and we were preparing to leave the following morning. Dre wanted to visit the woodfired pizza place, and check out their oven as well as eat their pizza, so we went there for dinner. A few minutes after we sat down, torrential rain started and within about an hour the whole street had flooded. This isn’t too unusual for rainy season, so we didn’t think much of it and just waited til it eased a bit before we rode home.

But, the rain didn’t stop all night or all morning the next day so it meant that the streets were too flooded for us to leave Chiang Rai. We didn’t mind too much, we got some time to relax and then when it cleared up in the afternoon spent some time riding around the non-flooded streets and outskirts of town seeing some cool temples that we hadn’t seen yet.

We saw some awesome views and also found another cool temple in the distance that we want to try and find next time we’re here. Tim when you get here, we have heaps of cool things for you to ride to with us and see! Tomorrow, if the rain holds off, we’ll head back to Luang Namtha. Our photos are here.

The White Temple (again) and Buddha Cave

We were thinking of going to Myanmar for a couple of days for Karen’s birthday, but after all the work we both did in Luang Namtha neither of us could really be bothered. So we just spent a couple of days relaxing in Chiang Rai, riding around on a motorbike and visiting the White Temple again and also going to the Buddha cave, which we haven’t seen before.

Visiting the White Temple again was well worth it – last time the front section was still being completed and also the mindblowing artwork inside was less finished. There is still one entire wall inside to be completed – we can’t wait to visit again because it is the coolest artwork in the coolest building we have ever seen. We spent days across the road from the White Temple last time we were in Chiang Rai, but actually visiting again and going inside and walking around the grounds was way cooler than we thought it would be, just because it is such a unique and fabulous building.

Visiting the Buddha Cave involved lots of riding on country roads that we haven’t been on before, which was very beautiful. The cave itself was on the river’s edge, opposite Chiang Rai beach. It is a very serene location. We met a monk there who had lived at the temple for just a few months and was eager to practise his English. After talking to him for a while and seeing the cave we wandered around the grounds and then started being attacked by a swarm of mosquitos so high-tailed it back onto the roads.

Although we didn’t make it to Burma, it was a nice relaxing way to spend a couple of days and much needed after Luang Namtha and before the 3 day journey to NZ. Myanmar (Burma) will still be there when we get back :-). Our photos are here.

Shopping trip to Thailand

We to Thailand to get supplies for Project Laos that we couldn’t buy in Laos. This consisted of food (including things like cheese, olives, tomato paste, olive oil, butter, sliced bread) and appliances such as toasted sandwich maker, juicer, electric elements, microwave, grill, coffee machine and grinder, toaster, speakers, and other things like that needed to set up the shop.

Our time in Thailand was filled with many ‘firsts’. For Thong, it was his first time outside Laos. For both Paet and Thong, it was their first time inside a mall, sitting in massage chairs, drinking real coffee, having a swim in a swimming pool (we had to instruct Thong that he had to wear bathers rather than swim naked!), having a warm shower (we had to teach them how to turn it on and adjust the temperature), eating toast (Thong proceeded to put jam on both sides), even using a knife to spread jam and butter was a first. It made for a really interesting and entertaining experience for all 4 of us. Next time we’ll definitely go for longer, we didn’t even have time to show them the White Temple or any of Chiang Rai’s attractions other than the walking street and night market. Before we went to Thailand Thong told us that because they don’t have passports, they could only stay for a couple of days. We later found out that he actually had no idea, (they can actually leave for 10 days) but was scared to death of leaving Laos (especially to go to Thailand, as the two countries have bad history from centuries ago) so wanted to spend as little time as possible away. Once there he agreed that there was nothing scary about Thailand and that it was in fact really fun. So bring on next time, where we will have time to show Paet and Thong some of the more interesting sights.

The whole adventure was very successful, right down to us getting an awesome minivan driver who helped us load everything into the van, unload into the boat to cross the Mekong, and then some young Lao guys helped us load everything into another minivan on the Laos side. More details on Project Laos will follow soon!

Chiang Rai (aka Dre’s haircut)

We arrived in Chiang Rai after swapping buses from Pai in Chiang Mai and headed straight to our favourite hotel. We laughed about how cool it is that we now have ‘regular’ hotels in Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, KL, Lanta, Luang Prabang and Luang Namtha, and know our way well around these places. Kinda of a nice feeling to arrive and know exactly where we are and where to find everything we need in town! We were going to stay just 2 nights before heading to the border, but we enjoyed our chill time here so much that we stretched it out to the max of 4 nights, leaving it until the day our visa ran out to actually leave.

Pretty much the most exciting thing we did here was get haircuts! Dre is super excited because for the first time since he was 14, he got a ‘real’ haircut. And then subsequently posed for heaps of photos with his new do.

When we arrived here, we found out that a huge new mall has opened in Chiang Rai since last time we were here so we headed there to check it out. We found an amazing hairdresser who trained in Berlin, and won, yes WON the world championship for some hairdressing competition in Berlin before coming back to Chiang Rai and setting up shop. Lucky us! The new mall also has movie theatres! So after our almost-year-long movie drought, apart from KL, we now have a movie theatre in northern Thailand which shows one English movie a day. (one is better than none!)

Also the temple that they have been building the past few times we’ve been here was finished so we went to see that too. All in all a really nice catch up time before heading back to our Asian homeland, Luang Namtha :-)

Chiang Rai

View our location map in Chiang Rai

We arrived in Chiang Rai after a long haul – we arrived at the Sukhothai bus station at 8.30am only to be told that the 9am bus was already fully booked since the trains weren’t running. So we managed to get on a 9.30am bus to Lampang (the only city in Thailand that still used horse-drawn carriages) and then another bus to Chiang Rai and didn’t get here until about 6pm.

Since arriving in Chiang Rai we’ve done quite a few things; visited the largest waterfall in Chiang Rai, the White Temple – the inside is the coolest we have ever seen and Dre even asked the artist if he would paint one of our houses – the painting is so intricate and fantastic. It is a new temple that isn’t actually finished yet and so we weren’t really expecting too much, so it was nice to be blown away with it’s coolness.

Our first 2 nights we stayed in less-than-fantastic guesthouses, (a different one each night in an attempt to move to a nicer place) so we were really glad to move into the house with Ben and Christerine when they arrived here. The house is 12 kms out of town so we have a couple of motorbikes to get around. It is on quite a large piece of land, with it’s own pond and views of the mountains, it’s really beautiful and quiet.

We also decided to celebrate Guy Fawkes and bought heaps of fireworks and made a bonfire at the house. It was such a fun night which ended in us all releasing a huge lantern (which is part of the festival that is currently taking place in Thailand and Laos and everyone is releasing lanterns every day at the moment). It has taken us by surprise how freezing cold Chiang Rai is – our winter clothes have come out and the evenings are very chilly. It is the first time we’ve had blankets on the bed, and it’s 3 blankets, not one! It’s a welcome change from being hot all the time though and we’re quite enjoying it.

Our plans for the following couple of weeks have taken a slightly unexpected turn (again!) as we have to go to the Laos border to renew our visa’s today, and also we were going to spend the next couple of weeks staying in Chiang Rai town instead of the house because Christerine’s mum is coming to stay at the house… so this was fine and then everyone we met in Chiang Rai were on their way to Laos and we spent the week telling everyone how amazing northern Lao is… then it dawned on us – we could go back! Why not? We are going to be at the border anyway and all we have to do is cross the border and get the bus for 4 more hours to our beloved Luang Namtha. Ever since we left Luang Namtha and northern Laos we have been searching for the peace and beauty that we found there, and haven’t quite found it…so Laos take #3, here we come! Woohoo!!! Our photos are here.

Andrej and Karen Brummer

The adventures of the Brummers

Tag Archives: Chiang Rai