Chiang Dao
After Pai, we fast forwarded our roadtrip because we wanted to get to Laos sooner so we’d have more time for Vietnam. Our next stop was in Chiang Dao, where we stayed in a lovely little cottage-type place run by a local family. There wasn’t too much to do here, except for the Chiang Dao cave and the mountain, Doi Luang.
We ate at a hip restaurant for lunch that was quite pricey for what we got. It was around 3x the price we’d been eating at (but we eat really cheap) and it was definitely delicious, but not noticeably better than any hole in the wall place. This was confirmation for our wallets that more expensive doesn’t always mean better!
After our meal we set out for the cave and arrived around 4:30pm only to find out that it closes at 5:00pm. We still meandered around the cave for half an hour and saw some pretty neat things. The cave was huge and filled with Buddhas and other religious trinkets. They also placed coloured lights throughout the cave which was kind of cool.
We found it interesting that although this cave is religious, they put up huge electric signs sponsored by local telecom companies. Funny juxtaposition.
We had no idea what else to do after the cave so we kind of just drove around and ended up finding another street market. It was super local and had some interesting statues and figures around the temple nearby…
We continued our drive around town and came across another local street market which was even better. It was super cheap – each thing we got was around 20-30 baht ($0.80-$1.20), so we picked a few baggies, ate in our room and watched a movie.
Chiang Rai
Chiang Rai was our next stop (we originally planned to stop in two other places before this but cut them out). As soon as we got there we were starving and found a really great local place that specializes in khao soi. It was also a plus that it was super cheap. Our entire meal for two people cost about $6!
We were lazy this day and instead of checking out the famous white temple (Wat Rong Khun) we stayed inside and rested. We did leave the room to get food though, and of course we went to the local night market (happy street). The prices were right and there was a large selection from food to clothes. We realized it was going to be our last meal in Thailand, so we got pad thai for 30 baht ($1.20) plus the lady gave us a banana, and mango sticky rice for 50 baht ($2). Then we went home to eat it in our room to watch movies again.
Finally, the next morning on our way back to Chiang Mai we stopped at the famous white temple. Kim was looking forward to this throughout our entire road trip. Unfortunately it was so crowded with people that we just stopped to take a few photos and then left. It’s a truly beautiful and jaw dropping spectacle but the photos on Google do it more justice than ours.
Chiang Mai
We made it back to Chiang Mai mid-day, leaving us ample time to plan our departure for Laos. We scrambled around the city looking for a direct bus to Vientiane, but after no luck we settled for the local bus to Udon Thani. It was a pretty good deal ($20 per person) and we’d only have to do one transfer (Udon Thani then shuttle to the border). This bus experience was already way better than our Indian ones, we got complimentary water, juice, and cookies!
We really loved our motorbike experience through Northern Thailand. We would never have been able to see what we did without our trusty Dream. The roads were insanely curvy but also surprisingly well maintained and smooth. The views were second to none and driving through the small towns along the way was awesome. We hope to continue motorbiking through Laos!
TWO PACKS 