“Wat” is Going on in Thailand!

Sawadee Krup! Mitch here.

    Wat Rong Khun (White Temple)

Okay, Bryn figures it’s about time for another blog update; I feel that we still have a bit more adventuring to do to justify another post... but I do as I’m told. 

Currently, we are at Cat Bar in Chiang Rai watching an ignorant, drunk “forang” be surrounded by lady boys at the bar across the street. Here’s how we got here:

We left the Gold Coast on the last possible train to the airport, which meant we were about 4 hours early for our 2:30am flight with Emirates.  On the positive tip, we were able to find some comfy couches to sleep on for a couple of hours before boarding our more or less empty plane to Singapore.  As such, we were able to get a significant amount of sleep in this haul between legs of our trip and landed in Bangkok with some life left in us.

Bryn’s family friend, Gerard, rescheduled his flights to meet us in Bangkok so we could spend the night at their sweet apartment before taking another flight to Chiang Mai.

While in Bangkok, we got new SIM cards, ate some VERY spicy food and took a river boat to the Grand Palace and Reclining Buddha. It was only 28 hours, but we’ve gotten quite good at packing a lot into a short amount of time. Little did we know, it was a Buddhist holiday so getting around took much longer than google maps had anticipated. We ended up scrambling for a wild TukTuk ride to the subway before literally running back to the apartment. To make matters more interesting, our first cab broke down on the way to the airport! The driver was benevolent enough to hail another cab for us in time to enjoy some of the Bangkok Airways lounge.

Busy Bangkok streets and wires


Wat Pho (Reclining Buddha)

Domestic flights are a piece of cake so before we knew it, we were acquainted with Bruce McFee and Gerard Soh’s beautiful home in Chiang Mai and already drinking wine in the comfort of their home (no sale of alcohol permitted on this same holiday).
 [Bruce grew up with Bryn’s mom, Bernie, in Merritt, and had many great stories about their adventures together]. 

We were once again astounded by the incredible hospitality and generosity of our hosts, who seemed to put their busy schedules on hold while helping us get grounded in Thailand. Not only were they kind enough to show us around their wonderful city, they treated us to meals and gave us inside tips on how to make the most of our time in the North. They also taught us some basic Thai, do’s and dont’s, and history behind some of the Thai culture.  

The Buddha atop Doi Khum in Chiang Mai

Walking street market in Chiang Mai


Cutie at the bottom of 306 steps leading to Wat Phra Doi Suthep


Gerard, Bruce, their orchids and us

Thais are very humble and kind people, and though I’d like to try to speak to them in their native language, I feel that my debauchery of the pronunciation is doing more harm than good...

As of Sunday, we’ve more or less been independent, having sorted out Uber and rented a car to drive as far north as the Golden Triangle—where Thailand, Burma and Laos borders intersect via the Mekong River.  We also got to take in some of the smokey mountain views at a local tea plantation. We are in Chiang Rai for one more night before hitting the road to who knows where, tomorrow.  We have to be in Chiang Mai again on Monday night, but we’re hoping to fit in a hot springs visit and a cooking class in Pai before we head back. 


Another shot of Wat Rong Khun

Handholding signifies friendship and is more customary than opposite sex public affection




Choi Fong tea plantation 

So for now, we will enjoy some drinks in Chiang Rai, contemplate our best move and spectate the middle aged men get swooned in Thailand.

Until next time...H̄ĕn khuṇ nı p̣hāyh̄lạng
(Yeah, good luck pronouncing that!)

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