Chiang Rai and stuck in Pai
Door: Danouck
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Danouck
26 Februari 2014 | Thailand, Chiang Rai
Hi everyone,
So, it has been a while since I wrote you something, cus I'm currently stuck in Pai..!
After Thaton, Chang Rai was the next destination. The city is know for the white temple and it's an impressive building indeed. The temple is so incredibly white, gave me some kind of a magical feeling. On the inside though, it's very small. The funny part is that the designer seemed to like batman and other superheroes, cus they take part in the interior of the temple. In the afternoon we went on to the black house. A student of the artist that designed the white temple, designed the black house and it's the total opposite! Very surprising; the space inside of the black house is so big.. a huge contrast compared to the interior of the white temple. The black house was surrounded by some kind of smaller white houses with creepy scenes on the inside. Big shells, a crocodile, chairs made out of black wood, horns and fur and so on... I think that visiting the white temple and the black house on the same day is a vital combination. The contrast was so big and unexpected...
The next day we went to the King's mother's palace on Doi Tung, a mountain north of Chiang Rai. We went there by scooter, a 1,5h drive. First we visited the hall of inspiration. It's an exhibition that explains why the royal family is so important to the Thai people. I found it very interesting, cus everywhere you go here, there are pictures of the King and other members of the royal family. Now I've been to the hall of inspiration, I realize why they're so beloved. The whole family does everything to make Thailand a nicer country to live in. In the North they helped farmers who used to produce opium to find new ways to provide for themselves. The complex also contains the palace where the King's mother used to stay and an incredible flower garden. The climate on this hill is very mild, so flowers from all over the world can grow there. It's one big get together of colours. I past my last day in the Chiang Rai province by doing my visa run to Myanmar.
On the 19th of February, it was time to leave Chiang Rai and to travel to Pai. Pai is some kind of a small 'hippie' town west of Chiang Mai. First I had to go to Chiang Mai, to catch a bus to Pai. I thought that I booked a minivan, but instead I booked the public bus. Not a hugh problem, but the only thing is that the road from Chiang Mai to Pai contains 762 curves! The minivan takes 3 hours to get to Pai, where the public bus takes almost 5 hours. At a certain point I though that we had to push the bus uphill, in the first gear it barely moved... and the bus had to stop once, cus we lost a piece of luggage when we turned a very sharp curve!
The best part of my stay in Pai is definitely the hostel where I'm staying; Common Grounds. It's in the middle of the city, nice place to meet people. If you would ask me; what did you do in Pai so far? It would be hard to answer. Actually we went out a lot with a group of people from the hostel, to a waterfall for example, the big white Buddha, the hotsprings, the canyon... but still it feels like chilling around the whole day, having breakfast, lunch, dinner, midnight snack .. wondering around on the scooters, playing ping pong or pool in the hostel etc. etc. Yesterday we went to a cave though, it was a one and a half hour scooter drive through the mountains. Very nice road, lot of curves and hills. The cave was incredibly big and pretty. We had to take a bamboo raft to reach certain areas. There were a lot of fish in the shallow water and up high there were a lot of bats making a lot of noise.
Pai... They call this 'stuck in Pai'... it's just such a nice environment to stay for a while. So I'm here for 7 days now, saturday I'll leave to Chiang Mai, cus on sunday I've a flight to Krabi and then the island part of the journey starts...
Check new pics in the dropbox!
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ejpwmguunb7idv0/t15lotHqD9
Liefs, Danouck.
So, it has been a while since I wrote you something, cus I'm currently stuck in Pai..!
After Thaton, Chang Rai was the next destination. The city is know for the white temple and it's an impressive building indeed. The temple is so incredibly white, gave me some kind of a magical feeling. On the inside though, it's very small. The funny part is that the designer seemed to like batman and other superheroes, cus they take part in the interior of the temple. In the afternoon we went on to the black house. A student of the artist that designed the white temple, designed the black house and it's the total opposite! Very surprising; the space inside of the black house is so big.. a huge contrast compared to the interior of the white temple. The black house was surrounded by some kind of smaller white houses with creepy scenes on the inside. Big shells, a crocodile, chairs made out of black wood, horns and fur and so on... I think that visiting the white temple and the black house on the same day is a vital combination. The contrast was so big and unexpected...
The next day we went to the King's mother's palace on Doi Tung, a mountain north of Chiang Rai. We went there by scooter, a 1,5h drive. First we visited the hall of inspiration. It's an exhibition that explains why the royal family is so important to the Thai people. I found it very interesting, cus everywhere you go here, there are pictures of the King and other members of the royal family. Now I've been to the hall of inspiration, I realize why they're so beloved. The whole family does everything to make Thailand a nicer country to live in. In the North they helped farmers who used to produce opium to find new ways to provide for themselves. The complex also contains the palace where the King's mother used to stay and an incredible flower garden. The climate on this hill is very mild, so flowers from all over the world can grow there. It's one big get together of colours. I past my last day in the Chiang Rai province by doing my visa run to Myanmar.
On the 19th of February, it was time to leave Chiang Rai and to travel to Pai. Pai is some kind of a small 'hippie' town west of Chiang Mai. First I had to go to Chiang Mai, to catch a bus to Pai. I thought that I booked a minivan, but instead I booked the public bus. Not a hugh problem, but the only thing is that the road from Chiang Mai to Pai contains 762 curves! The minivan takes 3 hours to get to Pai, where the public bus takes almost 5 hours. At a certain point I though that we had to push the bus uphill, in the first gear it barely moved... and the bus had to stop once, cus we lost a piece of luggage when we turned a very sharp curve!
The best part of my stay in Pai is definitely the hostel where I'm staying; Common Grounds. It's in the middle of the city, nice place to meet people. If you would ask me; what did you do in Pai so far? It would be hard to answer. Actually we went out a lot with a group of people from the hostel, to a waterfall for example, the big white Buddha, the hotsprings, the canyon... but still it feels like chilling around the whole day, having breakfast, lunch, dinner, midnight snack .. wondering around on the scooters, playing ping pong or pool in the hostel etc. etc. Yesterday we went to a cave though, it was a one and a half hour scooter drive through the mountains. Very nice road, lot of curves and hills. The cave was incredibly big and pretty. We had to take a bamboo raft to reach certain areas. There were a lot of fish in the shallow water and up high there were a lot of bats making a lot of noise.
Pai... They call this 'stuck in Pai'... it's just such a nice environment to stay for a while. So I'm here for 7 days now, saturday I'll leave to Chiang Mai, cus on sunday I've a flight to Krabi and then the island part of the journey starts...
Check new pics in the dropbox!
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ejpwmguunb7idv0/t15lotHqD9
Liefs, Danouck.
-
26 Februari 2014 - 14:28
Nienke:
Mooi verslag weer Danouck, erg leuk om te lezen!
Zo te lezen(en te zien aan de foto's) heb je het erg naar je zin, lekker genieten dus in Pai!
Welke eilanden ga je allemaal bezoeken binnenkort?
Ben al benieuwd naar je volgende verslag;)
xx Nienke -
26 Februari 2014 - 17:32
Sophia:
Hoi Danouck,
mooi verslag weer! Fijn dat je zo geniet van alles. Heb de foto's ook bekeken en wat een prachtig land zeg. De kleuren, het eten.... Fantastisch om te zien. Die foto, waar je je hoofd uit het treinraam steekt!!!!! Echt vrijheid!!!! Nog heel veel moois toegewenst. Pas goed op jezelf.
Groetjes Sophia -
26 Februari 2014 - 19:52
Evan Roberts:
Hi danouck
Goed te horen dat je aan het chillen was.Kan me voorstellen na 722 bochten met de dienstlijn.Maar dan kom je ook weer van alles tegen en dat heeft zo ook wel weer zijn charme.Ik heb nog even gekeken op google earth naar Chiang Rai big tower clock als dat ding hier gaat branden dan heeft die geen lang leven.Maar wel mooi om te zien .En dat is maar 1 foto.Laat staan als je zo al chillend door dat land begeeft.Je foto's waren weer van een schakel aan variëteiten.Mooi om te zien.Nog mooier om er te zijn.Het is allemaal boven verwachting.Blijf genieten.Take Care and look after your self.Ina en Evan!! -
27 Februari 2014 - 09:29
Jan En Gerda:
Hoi Danouck,
Leuk om je reisverslagen te lezen, en wat heb jij al een hoop gezien en meegemaakt. We vinden het fijn dat we nu op face book je mooie foto's kunnen bekijken .
Nog heeeel veeeel reisplezier, daaaaag!!
Lfs . jan en Gerda. -
27 Februari 2014 - 21:32
Mark En Nicolet:
Hoi Danouck,
Wat een geweldige reis maak jij.
Leuk om te zien en te lezen wat je allemaal meemaakt.
Nog heel veel reisplezier, maar dat zou vast lukken zo te zien.
Liefs, Mark, Nicolet, Dennis en Jim -
09 Maart 2014 - 21:55
Sylvain:
Hey Danouck!
Leuk verslag, goed om te lezen dat je het leuk hebt.
Er zaten wel wat grammaticale foutjes in hoor! :)
Veel plezier nog!
Gr Sylvain -
11 Maart 2014 - 10:49
Truus Van Der Gun:
Hoi Danouck. kwam je ouders tegen bij de AH en daarna heeft je vader deze link naar mij doorgestuurd. Ik ga het van het begin af lezen. maar ik heb al gezien dat er veel te lezen is. Veel plezier daar in Thailand en ik ga je volgen. Groetjes Tante Truus
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