The Golden Triangle

Before leaving - and almost missing our flight because our bus back from the days trip was so super slow we went to visit the last point of interest while in Chiang Rai: The Golden Triangle, which is the point where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet. This place used to be a trading-port for drugs, opium in particular. It was a strange feeling to have lunch while looking at three countries at the same time. It kinda blew my mind.

Myanmar

Or; Burma

The next adventure from Chiang Rai was a visit to Myanmar. We didn't have a visa so were only allowed to stay one day, but it was still very exciting! We caught a little local minibus to the boarder and then walked from Thailand and into Myanmar. We caught a cute little man with a tuktuk and he brought us around to see the scenery, some temple and the long neck village. I saw one of these tripes once before in Thailand (Chiang Mai) and it is a very strange thing. They wear rings around their necks to make them look longer, but it does not look very comfortable at all and if you were to remove those rings from a woman's neck it would most certainly break as it no longer has any muscles. 

Before leaving the country again in the afternoon we asked our driver to take us to a place for local food, which was easier sad than done since none spoke any english. We ended up in a little joint next to the street where Valle got some crunchy chicken-thing and I ended up with a really spicy squid salad which wasn't too bad.

When we returned to Thailand we had to wait for the bus back we went to a little fruit corner and bought one of my fav's: cumquats! They are not only yummy but are also so cute and have the awesomest name. These along with a big bottle of water later became my rescue in the over heated bus that took ages. In the evening we went for a live performance at a restaurant where we got amazing grilled fish and thai soup. A good day and a country that I must come back to with more time on my hands.

Wat Rong Khun

Or; The White Temple.

After Bangkok me and Valle went to Chiang Rai. One of the first things on my list there was to visit the White Temple, which my dad had recommended. While waiting for the bus we found a little Chinese group that were also going there, so we all decided to split a tuktuk. When we got there the driver asked us what time we wanted to be picked up for our return, and we asked to stay until after sunset to see the pretty temple in the night. When do the sun go down? The answer was around 5,30. 

We went inside and looked at the temple which is indeed gorgeous. It is completely white and filled with little mirrors that twinkle in the sunlight. Sadly we were not allowed to take any pictures inside the temple, which was also a very interesting sight. Inside were wall paintings of all kinds of cartoons, animation figures etc. There were super mans, batman's and spider mans. Transformers and angry birds. All you can imagine - apparently in an attempt to lure a younger generation to visit the temple. What a sight!

Outside the temple there were a lot of constructions being done, and it was beautiful to see all the hard concrete next to the white temple and the golden buildings next to it. We wrote blessings on little silver leaves and left them among a gazillion others hanging around the place. Beautiful!

Afterwards we stuck around to see the "light show" that we had heard about. After dark they were going to turn on lights that would make the temple twinkle even more in front of the night sky. And so we waited. And waited. At 5,30 when our driver returned the sun had still not set. It didn't do so until after 7. And then we waited again. Until we finally realised that there was not going to be any lights switching on, because they had started only doing it on public holidays. Bummer.

And now (about 2 months later) I got the sad news that the temple has been closed due to damage caused by a recent earthquake. Im so sad about this news, and so happy that I had a chance to see it.

Catching up

So as I realised yesterday I have a lot of catching up to do. And today it is just raining and raining and raining. Pouring down. I already finished my studies for the week so I figured I might as well get some writing done. Ready or not, here we go!

So...

Oh. My. God. I am so far behind on my new years resolution. It is just too damn hard to blog while traveling. Because 1. the wifi is usually not good. 2. even when it is I don't want to blog from my phone. 3. I don't have a computer. 4. So when I go to an internet cafe it is to study, and I prefer leaving as soon as possible. And most of all; 5. The sun is shining and I have so much else to do and see and smell and try and and and. 

I'll try my best to get better. Or well, I'll write sometime at least. Maybe. Or when I get back. Let's se..