Chiang Rai

It was 38° again today!! So I avoided outdoor activity as much as I could.
I got up early so I could catch the 9.30 free tourist tram around the city to see the sights before it got too hot. Unbeknownst to me, where the tram started was different to online sources, and I couldn't get on. I did walk to the first stop, which was a temple, but gave up following it after that. Went to a cat cafe instead 🤣 It had aircon, WiFi, cute cats and good coffee, what more could you want!
After spending way too long at the cafe, I visited another temple, the original home to the Emerald Buddha (now kept in Grand Palace Bangkok) and the Hill Tribe museum. I would've liked to have visited a tribe in Northern Thailand but have heard mixed reviews, though tourism brings in money, it can be exploitive and destroys their culture a little. The museum was nice, a little outdated, but interesting. They explained the downfalls of tourism, like children in some tribes no longer wear traditional clothes as they are time consuming to make and get sold to tourists. But then the museum was also offering to book tours to visit tribes, so it was a bit confusing. I did learn a lot of the tribes used to (and some still do) produce a ton of Opium, and there are over 1 & 1/2 million people belonging to over 9 different tribes in Thailand, but the government doesn't recognise them as Thai citizens, even if they were born here (go figure that one).
Anyway, off to Laos tomorrow! I will hopefully be returning to Thailand later in my trip to do the south. I've got a 5am pick up tomorrow morning to get the slow boat to Luang Prabang.Read more