It's been a long time since I've been to the north. But with it being Buddhist Lent and the King's Birthday, might as well use up that holiday! Our first stop was Chiang Rai. Fun fact, Chiang means "city" in Thai, and Rai comes from King Mongrai - so it just means "(Mong)Rai City". Similar to Nan, Phrae, and Lampang I visited few months ago, Chiang Rai started as its own kingdom in the 1200s, before the Burmese came and took it over. It remained under their control until the 1700s, after which they became a vassal of Siam, and then finally incorporated into modern Thailand in the early 1900s. I visited here once, about 10 years ago, and I loved it. Part of that is I was fresh off the heels from Chiang Mai, which I really hated (more on that later). So I suppose the only way to go was up. The folks of Chaing Rai have always gone above and beyond, being some of the kindest, most lovely people I would meet in Thailand, and this time was no exception. It was Ella's first time visiting, and I was impressed at how many things she found to do here. Well, most of those things were temples, but I gotta say, best temples of any city I've been to! Something special about Chiang Rai's temples is that they lean into a "rainbow" theme, with many each having their own distinct color. I don't know if this was planned by civic authorities, but I think it's really cool. I know that sounds odd, but just stick with me, and you'll see what I mean. There will be plenty of photos, so maybe you'll agree on how be-yoo-tee-ful this city is.

We flew in around lunch time, and our first "color" was actually near the airport. The Black Temple, AKA the Baan Dam Museum, is an odd art project by an artist named Thawan Duchanee. He lived and worked on this compound until his death, and while not actually a temple / wat, it is made to look like one. It has a sort of cowboy, macabre kind of feel, with alligator skins, horns, leather, and elephant bones. I knew going in it was going to be an odd one of sorts, but at the same time, the buildings were really striking. I don't know about the decor, but hey, I'm hardly the artist type. It's weird, quirky, impressive, and totally on brand for Thailand.

 

The next color on our list is the big guy, The White Temple, AKA Wat Rong Khun. I had been here once before, and said it was "one of the most intricate things I've ever seen". I stand by that, and maybe only Akshardham in New Delhi comes close to being as... wow as this place is. They added more in the past 10 years, though the temple still isn't scheduled to be completed until 2070. But I would say the things they've added are kind of ancillary though, with an art museum, plus a strange cave with lights that simulate you going from hell to heaven. While that is... fine, the big draw is the temple, which is still amazing. They are still incredibly strict about photos of the inside, which is a shame, because the walls are just bonkers. Stuff like Batman hanging out with Buddha, and Pokemon next to the World Trade Center on September 11th (yikes!). You'll just need to take my word for it and visit for yourself. But there are plenty of photos to share of the outside, which is great because it's a beautiful place. I'd go so far as to say it's one of my favorite places in Thailand, so I'll probably come with you if you go.

These are the RESTROOMS!

We're not done with the color themed temples though. Next on the list are the Red, Blue, and Rainbow temples. There is less to say about these, as they are just pretty wats, although I'm happy to post the photos. I trust you can figure out which is which.

 

Well that was a colorful distraction! Unfortunately the other temples don't conform to the rainbow theme. The first is Wat Phra Kaew, which actually could be considered the "emerald" temple I suppose. This temple is notable that it was where the Emerald Buddha, one of the most (maybe THE most) sacred of relics in Thailand was discovered. As the story goes, a bolt of lightning hit the temple, revealing the statue inside the walls. That statue has traveled all around, and is now residing at the heart of the Grand Palace in Bangkok. And now I can say I've been to every place this statue has been known to reside, giving the final check from my checklist that I didn't know existed until recently.

This one is a replica, of course

But the final temple of note is Wat Huay Pla Kang, featuring a giant Guanyin statue. And when I mean giant, I mean giant. It's 25 stories tall, with an elevator straight up to her forehead. Why? I don't know man, Thailand is weird. And to keep it going, this temple has a restaurant. I don't know why, but everything on the menu is 20 baht (~60 cents), and it's not even vegetarian. You'd think for that price it wouldn't be so good, but honestly, not bad! I'd eat there again. Anyway, enough about me rambling, you should see the pretty pictures.

Keep it weird, Thailand

After writing all that, I guess we went to see a lot of temples. That's okay though, because honestly they were some of the most beautiful I've seen in Thailand. But we did have some non-temple sidequests, such as the Hill Tribe Museum, which gave a lot of information (perhaps too much), on the roughly 1 million people who still live a pretty basic life up the mountains closer to the Laos/Myanmar border. It became a running joke that almost every ethnic group is originally from Yunnan, China (Ella's home province), with only a few originating from Laos or Myanmar. Not the most impressive museum, but they did give you a bracelet for visiting, and the proceeds go to education/civil works projects to help improve their lives. We also went to a few art museums - the Chiang Rai Contemporary Art Museum (meh) and the Singhaklai House (neat), which is an old European colonial style dealio.

Another sidequest we had came across spontaneously. We were walking near the city clock tower (pretty) when we passed "Ella Bar". Ella Bar has 100b mojitos, and so our traveling for the evening took a sudden detour. The bartender joined in our excitement that "Her name is Ella too!", and in our tipsy stupor, we decided to search Chiang Rai for other businesses named Ella. We came across Ella Smoothie Bar a bit to the south, so we knew we had to give it a visit. Truthfully it was near the Red Temple, so it wasn't much of a detour, and was a pretty standard smoothie. We're going to be on the lookout for other Ella themed places in Thailand, to support the expansion of their business empire.

Sadly, our temply time in Chiang Rai had come to an end. We had to catch a bus to Chiang Mai, a few hours to the south. More fun facts, Mai means "new", so Chiang Mai is just "New City". Ever so inventive with names, the capital was moved from Chiang Rai to here by the same King Mongrai. I was hoping for a smooth ride, as I had heard years ago they were building a highway connecting the cities (yay!). However the key word is "building", as it is not completed yet (boo!). So it was anything but smooth, with the extensive construction meaning a lot of bumpy roads and swerving back and forth. I was pretty green in the gills by the time we arrived, but regardless, we arrived in Chiang Mai around lunch time. We didn't have as long here, but that was part of the plan. I am sure we will be back some day, as it is a big hub with lots of expeditions nearby. But also, I wanted to come to Chiang Mai to give it another chance. The first time I was here, it was during Songkran, and I absolutely hated it. The city was overrun with drunk foreigners, and the locals were rightfully fed up with them, and were a bit rude as a result. Now that is not crazy time, I'm sure that it's lovely, right?

Thankfully yes, the people are lovely. However, I wasn't terribly impressed with what Chiang Mai has to offer. It does have a great cafe/restaurant/bar scene, but as far as places to visit... meh. Our first stop was oddly enough to Chiang Mai University, which has an exhibit on traditional Lanna-style houses. You can walk in and around them, and while it is what it is, I couldn't help be a little disappointed by it. They are just plain houses, with no furniture or anything else, so it's just an empty room made of wood, followed by another empty room of bamboo. There are examples of traditional style houses in Bangkok, so maybe if they were new to me I'd be more impressed. Otherwise, it probably wasn't worth the detour. Another stop was the Chiang Mai National Museum. At 200b to get in, I felt that it was a little steep, but maybe it would make up for it? Gotta say, not really. They didn't have anything too impressive, and to top it off, there wasn't much there to see. We were done in about 30 minutes, so I wasn't exactly loving the Chiang Mai experience so far.

Ella would probably give you a different story though, as she was quite enamored with the shopping experience. We went to several places, which for sake of completeness, I'll list - Nong Ho Flea Market, One Nimman, Jing Jai Market, Chiang Mai Night Bazaar, and Wua Lai Walking Street. The Night Bazaar is easily my favorite of the bunch, with plastic stools and local bands playing covers of popular songs. After 5 different markets our bags overfloweth with little knick-nacks and gifts, and I was pretty shopped out. For two of them, I even sat out with a mango smoothie while she zoomed around. We didn't do as many wats this time, though we did visit the "main" temple, Chedi Luang. It's a massive complex, with an even more massive chedi marking the dead center of the city. It partially fell down in an earthquake some 500 years ago, but looking at the pictures of what it used to look like, holy cow. It was probably some 15 stories tall, which must have looked quite impressive at the time. Even at roughly half of its height it still is visible from much of the inner city.

The other temple of note was the Silver Temple, Wat Sri Suphan - aha, we're not away from the colors yet! But I can't really tell you what it looks like. Per Lanna tradition, women are forbidden to go inside. Okay, so I'll go and take photos, right? Well, I get my 50b ticket, only to find that there is some event where they are praying in front of the temple. I thought I'll just walk around and wait for them to finish, but instead I got roped into it, literally. A monk asked me to step over here, and me, thinking I'm in an area I'm not supposed to be in, followed him. He then gave me a rope that is wrapped around the hands of the monks, the Buddha statue, and the participants, as a sort of "guide" for the energy they're transferring. I thought "okay, this is nice, it'll just be a quick blessing." But it kept going. And going. And then more people showed up, and suddenly I'm front and center, with all cameras and tourist eyes on me. Umm, excuse me sir, I really just want to see the inside? So I'm standing there, surrounded by monks and a few other tourists they abducted. Without exaggeration, the chanting went on for about 20 minutes. Despite all the cameras on me, and me being the "rope holder", I was at my limit. I just had to get over my embarrassment, pass the rope to someone, and leave in the middle of things. I'm sure Tim from Iowa has a video of a very uncomfortable foreigner making a fool of himself on his holiday, so that's my gift to him. And who knows, maybe some day I'll be back to see this temple properly. But I couldn't help but feel a little cheated, as I paid to do one thing and wasn't allowed to do it. But conversely, you get to hear about my silly little story and me dying of embarrassment, so maybe it was worth it after all.

After a few beers to round off the day, that was it for our little whirlwind, 6 day vacation. We picked up Masala from the cat hotel we're back at home, and he has been stuck to us like glue ever since. I'm hoping to give Chiang Mai another (3rd) chance one day, as it is only about an hour away from Bangkok. Who knows, my opinion of it may improve yet again.

Reading my last blog, it's hard to believe I live with the same cat. Masala is completely back to normal, and it's actually a little sad to be reminded of all that he went through. He is no longer on any medicine or special treatment, and is back to his crazy self. In fact, because he lost so much weight through his ordeal, he has been on a "food plus" diet to get his strength back. Looking at him, he's getting a little chonky, so we're going to need to slowly cut back on his diet.

Please don't tell him that, though.

He has a 5 word vocabulary now. He recognizes his name, and will often come or at least look at you when you say it. He also knows "Pss!", a sound we make when he is doing something naughty, which usually makes him stop. He knows "Ah ah!", which is a sound I make when we can play. He knows "food", which will make him perk up and run to the counter. And finally "tree tree" (treat treat), where he will run to the fridge. Treats usually follow us picking him up or trimming his nails, two things he is not a fan of, but we're trying to get him to enjoy (or at least tolerate) it.

Unlike the last blog where we didn't have many adventures, this time we have too many. Like, I don't know where to begin? I suppose we'll start with a visit from my sister and nephews, who stayed with us for a month. While they made their own excursions, it was go go go for 30 days. Now sitting in a coffee shop on a weekend morning, it feels incredibly weird to have free time again. Whew. If you're the person who wants to have children, more power to you - but I think it's not for me. I like to go slow and at my own pace, and enjoy my quiet.

So let's talk about all the not-quiet things we did.

On the day they arrived, we put down luggage and went straight to Lumpini Park. Why Lumpini Park? There is a large monitor lizard population that lives there, and the boys wanted to see them. I mean, Lumpini Park is really nice by itself, but seeing the lizards there always gives me a laugh. You see, they're considered very unlucky in Thai culture, so much so that their name in Thai is a curse word. So instead, people colloquially call them "black and golds". When Ella and I first lived here, the government said that they were going to expel all of the lizards from the park. About a week later they declared victory, which had the same vibe as GW Bush standing on the aircraft carrier. They had decidedly not won that war, with the lizards mostly unfazed by the government's efforts. Now, Bangkok has completely given up. There is even a monitor lizard statue in the park, and they've just rolled with it that tourists like them, even if locals don't. Walking around you can't go for a few minutes without seeing one, especially if you hang out near the water. I admit they do look pretty cool, and we even saw one eat a field crab. The boys liked them so much they went back again the next day, and maybe a third time.

Actually now looking through my photos I just realized this is going to be a very animal-heavy entry. The next day we went to Chatuchak Market, in particular their pet section. I knew of the existence of a pet section at Chatuchak, but I did not realize how extensive it was. Pretty much any pet you can think of they have, and also some you wouldn't normally consider a "pet" - like a giant tortoise, raccoon, and meerkat. But we were awash with cats, dogs, hamsters, hedgehogs, snakes, rabbits, fish, sugar gliders, birds, beetles, and god knows what else. And of course, accessories and whatnot to go along with them. I want to naively say it's the largest pet market in the world, because it did go on seemingly forever, but I'm sure there is larger somewhere.

Trying Thai mango for the first time

But I mean, it's Thailand. So, wouldn't it be great to just play with animals, even something like a lion? Well, the L-7 Cafe has you covered. As long as you eat there, you get 5 minutes with their baby lion plus all their other animals. As unique as it was to interact with a lion, my favorites were the meerkats, who were really curious and cuddly. In fact, they climbed all over Michael, forming a cuddle puddle on his belly. They also have raccoons, which are another favorite of mine. Crazy smart and cute little guys, it would be cool to have one as a pet - until you remember they are crazy curious and dexterous as all get out, and that your house would be torn apart in no time. I'll stick to seeing them in someone else's house. Anyway, photos are more interesting than my musings, so best that I post a few.

While the boys stayed here, they discovered a place called Harborland, and went probably a dozen times. They're a staple at every mall, and I knew they were some sort of entertainment for kids. But I had never been in one before (obviously), and wow, I'm impressed - imagine a McDonald's playplace, except the size of a football field, more extreme, and they even tuck in little amusement park rides. It's a padded climbing gym where you can just kind of go nuts, and I totally get it. For the parents, they even have a cafe with wifi and plugs where you can just chill - and the kids cannot leave without passing through the cafe. I can totally see the appeal of just letting your kids run around like monkeys for 3 hours while you sip coffee and remember what time was like when sleep was a thing you had. But as for me, I still like going on slides and swinging on ropes. Would it be weird if I went without having a kid with me?

Yes. Yes it would.

But we also went to Siam Amazing World Amusement Park, which I gotta say was just okay. There was one very fun rollercoaster, and the water park was decent, but the rest of the park was a bit tired. Michael was exactly the minimum height with his shoes on to get on the "big kid" rides, but they made him take off his shoes and gave him a kid wristband. I mean, I get it, rules are rules, but they have shockingly few rides in that category. About half were shut down, so I can't really recommend Siam Amazing World except for riding the big coaster if you're tall enough. Or just the water park. But actually that was about the extent of our bloggable outings with Kristi and the kids. Ella and I were both working, so our interactions were mostly meeting up daily for dinner. Of course they did a lot more, and even took a few trips around Thailand, which I'm sure she posted on her Facebook or whatever social media people use nowadays. But eventually our time with that came to an end, and we were free again.

In a weird twist of the calendar, pretty much everyone's birthday is in June and July, so there was a lot of merriment during that time. While many were just dinner and drinks, a shout out to Lillie, who decided to mix it up with an interactive game room thing? I kind of don't know how to describe it, there are colored lights on the floor, and you need to jump and run around to push all the other colored lights. I had a blast, it was a good workout, and I think gyms should just be this from now on. Maybe it's better just to put up a video, you can decide for yourself. I never knew about this place, and unfortunately we went about a week after the boys left. But hey, it's just something for next time.

Now, for Bangkok adventures, Ella and I went to a few different places. Actually I'm currently writing another blog entry of "100 Things to Do in Bangkok", and finding it very difficult to limit to to just 100. I think this city may be the most jam packed of stuff to do of anywhere I've ever lived, maybe in the world, so let's take a look at two places on that list. One is Wat Prayurawongsawas Worawihan (say that three times fast), a rather unassuming place in a Bangkok suburb. The main appeal though is they have a garden full of turtles, and you can feed them fruit. And they are happy to eat it. While the wat is fine, the garden is quite pretty, and wow, lots of turtles. After we visited the nearby Queen Mother park, a cute little place built in honor of King Rama IX's mother. It has a small museum about her, and is just a nice green space. It's also next to a coffee shop and Chinese temple with a nice view of the river, so it was a nice afternoon excursion.

Another adventure was to the Coin Museum. Located right next to Khao San Road, I bet a lot of backpackers skip past this place without knowing it. It's in a very beautiful old building which is nice enough to look at, but also has a ridiculous amount of, well, coins. Mostly Thai coins, but they also have a lot of things from East and Southeast Asia. There's also a lot of commemorative and other special series of coins from around the world, some being really beautiful. For me, my favorite part was the room of modern currency from countries around the world. I didn't know what an Egyptian pound looked like before, and now I do. I think overall, Maldives, you've got the prettiest pretty currency. You should take commissions from other countries.

Now the last adventure was something I was (past tense) going to put on my list of "100 things", but it has very much been demoted. Ella and I visited Wat Khun Samutrawat before, 10 years ago. It is a temple on the bay of Thailand, that is slowly falling into the ocean due to rising water levels. It was an adventure to go there, because you had to take a boat through (over?) a village which is now submerged. When you finally got there, it felt like you discovered something unique and cool, something well off the tourist track. Now it is decidedly ON the tourist track, as the boat is no more, its access cut off by a winding road. You need to take your own private vehicle out there, or pay an extortionate rate for a tuk-tuk. While the temple is free to visit, its higher tourist profile may have gotten it donations, and they built another larger, albeit pretty, building next to the old temple. While I'm happy for their success, the "undiscoveredness" and the unique journey to get there was most of the appeal of this place. Now that there's a parking lot full of coach buses, I really can't recommend it any more, and this will be the last time we visit I suppose.

Whew! I feel that I left out so much, I'll need to sort through photos for Facebook later. I would say you're all caught up now, but not at all. This week is Buddhist Lent and the King's Birthday, so Thailand added an extra day or two of holiday to make it a week long break. With our newfound time Ella and I ventured north to Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai. But this entry is long enough as is, so let's stop here and save them for next time.