Chiang wierd

Late on the 19th, we eventually managed to cross from Laos into Thailand. If it had been Europe, we would have been in our hotel 90 minutes earlier . We went past our hotel on the boat and had to get off on the Laos side. Then take a touk touk to the border, go through Laos passport control, then take a bus across the bridge which switches from right hand drive to left hand drive using a clever loop, then Thai border and finally a touk
touk again. Never let anyone claim the EU is burocratic. Traditional borders are great for criminals and grifters. According to our hotelier, the whole mess hinders tourists and profits politicians in far away Vientiane.

The good thing here in Chiang Khong and the following 2 days in Chiang Ria is the amazing hospitality of our hosts, and we don't quite understand how it can all be so cheap. 2 rooms for 6, with breakfast, dinner, and lunch for less than $80. The Thai dishes are excellent.

Our activities are severely subdued because Flo and Lola are still unwell. Nevertheless, we managed one temple visit and one street market.

The white temple "Wat Rong Khun" is something special. It's not at all old, dating from 1997, and it was designed by an artist who built it with $1M of mostly his own money. It's the Thai equivalent of Neu Schwannstein/ Herrn Chiemsee as a modern opera stage set. Clear? I guess not quite, but the skulls, ghouls, monkeys, and fake caves filled with stuff are simply weird. Apparently, the King likes it, so there is that, which holds more weight here than my opinion.Read more