Headed to Chiang Rai

Took the 6:45 am bus to Chiang Rai this morning.  Derrik has to leave Thailand by the end of February, so he decided to go with me because Chiang Rai is a good jumping off point for Laos.

Getting to the bus station was a bit stressful.  Grab (like uber) drivers kept cancelling.  Then we interrupted the breakfast of a songthew driver, but he wanted to charge way too much.  We should have just taken it, but on principle, we waited for the next grab driver.  I honestly thought we were going to miss it, but we didn't!

bus terminal

Well, unfortunate we didn't miss it.  2 hours into the ride, the bus got a flat tire and we sat waiting for the next ride for 2 hours.  We could have slept in!  At one point though, I look around the bus and realize it's only foreigners left.  All of the Thai people have been put on other buses.  I don't know what happened to them, but eventually we made it to Chiang Rai and met up with Kevin!

We got a flat tire across from this market, which unfortunately wasn't open lol

Derik and I rented scooters, grabbed some pizza and korean chicken wings, then met Kevin at the White Temple.

Wings were so yummy!

The clock tower in downtown Chiang Rai has a light show twice a night, apparently it's pretty cool.

The White Temple was Beautiful!  But to be honest, it was just a major tourist attraction.  You had to pay to get in and then it's just a walk through.  The paintings inside the temple are of things like Spiderman and superman.  I dunno, it was weird.

Weird statues like this are outside.  My silly crew.

Monks taking pictures with the statue haha

After that we drove to the Blue Temple.  Also crazy touristy, but more authentic.

From here, we went to the giant white lady Buddha on the hill.  As we're pulling up the hill, I notice everyone staring at me.  I soon realize they're playing the "Kings Song" and everyone is supposed to stand completely still and pay respect during the song.  Monarchy is still a very serious thing here.  Talking bad about the government or the king are absolutely off limits.

For dinner, we went to a market.  I had garlic pork and then coconut ice cream!!  Yum!

Market

60 baht for 3 scoops!  that's less than $3usd

During the day, Derik decided he's going to leave for Laos with Anna and Kevin tomorrow.  I'm really sad saying goodbye to these guys, but it's been awesome.  Because everyone is leaving me, I booked my last minute flight to Bangkok.  It doesn't sound like fun to make new friends in Chiang Rai when I'm headed to Bangkok anyways and it doesn't seem like there's a ton to do here.  I prob should've stay another day or so to explore and relax, but oh well.  

*side note: if you want to add baggage, you have to do so more than 24 hours before your flight with Air Asia.  Since I bought the ticket less than 24 hours before the flight, they said I had to pay for my baggage at the airport, which cost me as much as the flight, like $40 usd.  Many Asian carriers only allow one carry on item with a maximum weight of 7kg.

In the front is Mat, the hostel owner who actually is Also a flight attendant.  We talked about airline stuff.

Bunks in the hostel.