Thailand: Chaing Rai loop, Day 2 Phrayo - Chaing Rai, white Temple, Tik Tokers and cool mountain streams
White Temple, totally unique and popular with the tourists. Do yourself a favour come early to this place to escape the crowds.
Another lazy day on the road. After waking and seeking out a much needed coffee and some hydration to dull the misadventures of last night pounding in my head, we hit the road for Chaing Rai. Given we got a little geographically embarrassed yesterday on account of our hurried departure to dodge the mother of all storms, we opted for the direct route straight up Route 1 to the White Temple some 80km away.
Snail had the lead, she must have still had the techno beats in her head from last night at the Hollywood or the M150 (Thai energy drink) and coffee had kicked in as she was motoring down the Highway winding out her little scooter like a Turbo snail.
We arrived at the White Temple with only one little incident - I got a love kiss in the throat from a Thailand Bee that had me dancing around like a cat on a hot tin roof and expletives to match.
Our first point of call was the lavish golden dunny (toilet), never in my life have i visited such a fine bathroom. Clearly the artist who created this place, placed a high priority on its importance.
Buddhist hell, can you find the one that doesn’t give a damn that they’re in hell…
My first thought of the White Temple was ‘is that it’. A notably white temple with intricate artwork but the temple wasn’t as grandiose as I’d built it up to be in my mind. There were tourists clambering all over it all trying for the perfect Tik Tok reel. I was hot and bothered and quite frankly didn’t really feel it because there was no ambience and well you know me and my love for tourists.
Posing at the side gate, only took us several minutes to snap this picture because of all the damn tik tok creators struting around
Mind you our first point of call was a visit to a golden Dunny (toilet) of lavish proportions. Now this is a dunny fit for royalty. Just even contemplating going about your business there would probably be a crime against humanity, it was that fancy. But you know what, it had to be done and well what can I say it was a damn fine experience.
When exploring the White Temple grounds be sure to take a moment to enjoy the intrinsic nature of the sculptures. My favourite was Buddhist hell, all their lost souls reaching out of the pits of hell. Look closely and you’ll see a kindred soul there flipping the bird to the world. When I saw it, I laughed my arse off much to the dismay of the Tik Tokers and worshippers.
Having a few firm words with my newfound friend. He told me beer doesn’t go with Ice and the debate got heated.
This place will grow on you if you can just ignore the masses. We spent a good couple of hours wandering around looking in all the nooks and crannies. I tell you, the bloke who made this place must have been a grade A weirdo at Art school. But you sir I thank you for your twisted mind, it kept me amused for hours.
Were friends now and an example of the nature of the weirdness of sculptures in this place
Gulping down some food we set off for a waterfall down the road. The name escapes me, probably because we never made it to the waterfall but got distracted by a cool mountain stream with dozens of local people drinking beer and eating food to cool off from the sweltering midday heat. Well if the locals are doing it then it must be a sensible idea. So we simply parked up, stripped off the bike gear and went for a paddle, drank our first beers for the day, ate some more food and I unashamedly had a siesta. A perfect afternoon.
Chilling in a cool mountain stream to escape the heat of the day. Just a valid excuse for a beer and a siesta of course. if it’s good enough for the locals then who am I to complain
.We eventually pried ourselves from our shady retreat and hit the road for Chiang Rai. On the way we detoured to go back to the White Temple to check it out at sunset and you know what I loved it. The place was deserted and the sun was setting through the clouds. Sure, the temple was closed but it had a whole different feel to it without tourists. I almost seemed to come alive. Do yourself a favour come to this place for sunset, you will be blown away at the stark contrast.
Sun’s going down, tik toker free zone , the white Temple soaks up the ambience it loses in the crowds of the day
Arriving at Chiang Rai, I was actually surprised how big the place was. I don’t know where I got a sleepy little town mindset from but that was shattered. It’s not as big as Chaing Mai but it still has that small town feel about it. Checking into a quaint little guesthouse we grabbed a quick shower before… you guessed it, going out for food and more beers. We dined on the Kok river at a rather upmarket restaurant (for Thailand) called the Leelawadee. It had great Mojito cocktails, superb food and the ambience of the river was a nice place to unwind. The local band kicked off in a mixture of Thai and old school English songs and I do mean old school. Some I’d heard my parents play way back when I was a kid. When the band finally wound down it was time to seek out the local bar scene in the town. It wasn’t really heaving, and we weren’t looking for that after last night but a stroll around saw there were plenty of bars to suit all tastes centrally located near a giant golden clock tower that makes for a great photo opportunity.
Chaing Rai is beautiful at night be sure to drive around and soak it all up.
We tried for an early night but well that never happened and before we knew it we were woofing down our hangover cure at the local 711. For those that want to know how to avoid a hangover in Thailand, I’ll let you in on a little-known secret. Drink beer with ice all night (yes I know it’s sacrilege in our culture), at the end of the night, inhale two ham and cheese toasties (they make them for you at the 711’s) , wash it down with a bottle of Pocari Sweat (local electrolyte drink) and two paracetamol…. Hey presto no hangover, I shit you not
Sleepy streets and ambience abounds in the streets of Chiang Rai
Until next time friends, keep on living the dream. If you are liking the blogs, please support us on the social media channels by subscribing/following or you can buy us a beer or coffee to keep the creative juices flowing through the Donate button on the front page of the website. Thanks.
