Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and Sukhothai
After arriving in Chiang Mai, Chon's uncle was there to greet us and then drive us 3 hours to Chiang Rai. We spent 2 nights in Chiang Rai and with Chon's uncle being a tour guide driver, we visited all the best places Chiang Rai has to offer. He showed us the modern White Temple that has a mural in it with images from star wars, an image of batman, superman and many more modern day movie characters, which is the strangest thing we have seen in any temple thus far.
Another interesting site is the black house (Baan Si Dum) that was created by another prominent artist in the area. The black house has a lot of animal skins and bones arranged in a manner that reminds us of art work in the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart. We also dropped into a tea plantation called Choui Fong, visited the golden triangle and explored the walking street market and night bazaar.
We had a nice meal with Chon's Uncle, Aunty and Cousin back in Chiang Mai before driving an 8 hour return trip to Sukhothai Historical Park and Si Satchanalai Historical Park that were 50km apart (more ruined temples like Ayutthaya and Angkor Archaeological Park). Both parks were just as spectacular as previous sites we had seen on our travels but they seemed to be looked after better. The rest of our time in Chiang Mai was spent frequenting more walking night markets and night bazaars. We were both nominated for the Ice Bucket Challange here so rather than covering ourselves in ice water (a relief in the tropics) we changed the rules and ate bugs instead. I had it easier as I ate crunchy crickets and some kind of larva which wasn't that bad in the end. The next night we found these huge bugs that looked like cock roaches. Chon struggled and I was so grateful that we didn't find them when it was my turn (videos available on our Facebook pages).
Koh Phangang, Koh Tao and Koh Samui
Our first destination was the island Koh Phangang where we had missed the famous full moon party by approximately 2 weeks either side. However, the half moon party was in full swing on night one. This party was in the jungle, it had two stage areas with international DJ's and lots of glowing jewellery and body paint. We made friends with a group of German's and it was a fun night but stopped us from doing any site seeing the following day.
We only had one night on Koh Tao but we used the time for some diving and snorkeling prior to having to ride out the rest of winter and spring before braving the waters back home. Whilst walking around the small streets near Sairee Beach, we bumped into two of the four German friends that we met at the half moon party (Svenja and Diane). None of us recall whether or not we had talked about going to the same area in Koh Tao so it may have been lost in translation or just too many drinks. We ended up hanging out with them that night and the following lunch before catching a rough scary ferry ride to Koh Samui.
In Koh Samui we walked a nice street market in the fisherman's village where we ate lots of little snacks at almost every second food store. Being our last coastal destination and having such a beautiful hotel to stay at (Akaryn), we spent a fair bit of time hanging around the private beach and the private pool attached to the room. We also checked out the busy beach area of Chaweng sampling food and checking out local shops.
On our last night, there were fireworks at the beach for a wedding next door. The fireworks started just after we had a shower. So only in bathrobes, we went out to our balcony to watch but Chon closed the door to stop mosquitoes entering the room and the key card was still inside. After a few akward minutes a staff member walked past and let us back into the room.
Kanchanaburi and Bangkok
Our last destinations before returning home included catching up with friends (Note) and family in Bangkok as well as visiting the river Kwai in Kanchanaburi. It was a fantastic place to visit yet very sad when thinking about all the lives lost whilst working on the railway during WWII. We watched "The Railway Man" in preperation for our visit, which is a great movie whether or not you are planning on visiting (or have visited) this area.
We dragged Chon's Aunties on a tour where we visited Erawan National Park, Hellfire Pass, Wooden bridge and Kra Sae Cave topped off with an half hour train ride on the Death Railway. This is our last blog post before returning home. Thank you for showing interest, we hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed living it.
