Chiang Rai

Taking a cab to the airport, we found ourselves eating brunch while waiting for our flight. My last meal in Bangkok once again being green curry, perhaps I was eating too much of this even though the airport's curry was the least delicious and most expensive one so far. The flight was pretty relaxed and Chiang Rai was much more laid back than Bangkok, it gave off that provincial vibe and what was great is that Grab was still quite viable here. We got on a cab that took us to Pimaninn, a four-star hotel that still had an awesome pool. On the way, I spied with my eye more cannabis shops. Thailand was definitely going in the right location. We checked in at the empty hotel and left our things before booking another cab to Wat Rong Kun, also known as the White Temple.

On the way, the rain started to pour hard, like the heaviest rain we've seen so far throughout our whole trip. The sky turned dark and the surroundings fogged up. I was hoping for the rain to stop but we arrived at the temple and it was dumping even harder. We sat by the benches outside, watching the downpour and water creep up to us as it started to overflow the streets. It was somehow still quite a zen moment as we sat by wondering what we were doing all the way out here in the middle of this storm, without wi-fi to go back. I felt that it wouldn't last long though as I reassured Jasper. It would be gone in a few more minutes and just like that, the rain dissipated to just a light drizzle. We went inside to check out the temple but we couldn't enter yet because of the rain so we went around the perimeter taking whatever photos we could. The pictures definitely do give this temple justice as it was truly a work of art in a very modern take of Buddhism. As the name suggests, the whole temple complex was coated in white, a lot of its design resembled white fire with a lot of sharp points to it. There were several art installations all around but the most popular one was the Bridge of Samsara, surrounding it were hundreds of hands that were supposed to symbolize the earthly desires. We were soon allowed to enter the temple and I had definitely wanted to get some photos taken with the bridge. Luckily enough, there wasn't anyone at all so I was able to get a lot of cool shots. We continued our tour around the temple, stopping by the main hall were the Buddha was enshrined. Proceeding out back and stopping by a cafe that had wi-fi, we plotted our next move while Jasper bought some refreshments. Soon, the sun finally came out to play and bedazzled everyone by showing just how beautiful the White Temple could be with proper lighting. I didn't want to pass this opportunity up so I pestered Jasper to go in for another round with me to take a photo at the bridge for good lighting after I took some of his photos too, of course. Back at the cafe, we managed to find a cab after waiting for a while and were soon ready to be picked up but I realized that I had somehow lost my umbrella. This was crucial for me as I still had the whole trip ahead and I can't afford to lose it since it was given to me by my mom too and it had some pretty cool anti-UV tech. I urged Jasper to go on without me as I went back in to try and find it. Jasper begrudgingly cancelled the booking. Luckily, the ladies manning the counter had my umbrella with me so I was very relieved and ready to leave but we couldn't find another cab and had to wait for much longer.

Our next stop was Wat Huay Pla Kang. The main features of this temple was that it had a giant Guan Yin at the top as well as giant white dragons adorning the stairs leading up to it. We took our time going up and taking photos as we admired the sheer beauty eminating from the statue. The top provided us a mountain top view of Chiang Rai while temple music played at the background. I really enjoyed just sitting there and taking in the atmosphere, best of all it was all free! I was down to go to the next temple but Jasper didn't want to risk it anymore and decided to just go back to the hotel. I was fine with it but we still had to find a way back, Jasper asked one of the vendors for the wi-fi and he graciously agreed to share his hotspot. Jasper bought something as thanks even though the vendor told him it wasn't needed. I got the password from him and we both made bookings but it was hard to find any nearby drivers as we were in the middle of nowhere. I managed to snag a cab after a while on my phone and as we were on our way down, I lost the signal and forgot the plate number as I had closed the app accidentally. It was so funny, I ended up laughing pretty hard, I told Jasper it was fine and that we can find it by using our intuition and reverse-engineering the location from the photo the driver sent us. In the parking lot, it was pretty hard to see which cab was ours but one of the cars started to move and ended up bumping into the fence which was another funny surprise. Turns out, it was our ride.

At the hotel, I happily got ready to try out the pool which was even larger than the one we had in Bangkok. Swimming always made the fatigue go away, the realization that Jasper was leaving the next day also made me a bit sad as it was actually really fun to travel with a friend. I still had one more thing to check off the bucket list in Thailand and that is to get an authentic Thai massage. There was one near our place so after eating dinner, I made my way there. I passed by an abandoned airplane landing zone which at late afternoon turned into a sports park for the locals. I found the place based on Google Maps and booked a 2-hour session to get the most out of every single Baht. The whole session was overall pretty good, it wasn't the first time I had a Thai massage but it was still up to par with the one I had in Tokyo. After the massage, I had tea with my masseuse. Back at the room, I took a shower and had some final conversations with Jasper before getting a very rejuvenating sleep.Read more