2020-01-21 – North From Chiang Mai
Today we started our trip north. Thai budget rent a car are just wonderful, they delivered our car a little early, the model we ask them to vary it to, and we the typical Thai smile and happiness. So at 10am we drove away from the hotel. As we drove up highway 107 we decided to visit the King naresuan monument. Our next stop was Wat Kuna Nusawn. Our next stop was the Wat Rahm Perng. This temple was under going a facelift and we were lucky enough to be invited to lunch. Before we knew it we had a beautiful soup with dessert and water, a couple of seats and some company. It was truely a great experience.
The next stop was the Wat Ban Pong temple. Our last stop for the day was the Wat Ban Den, another lovely temple complex which was huge. And they were building another temple! Wow. From here we headed out into the agricultural fields to explore some more before arriving at Chiang Dao for the next 2 nights. Dinner was a little average at a little local restaurant.
22-01-2020
This morning we were greeted by our host with a beautiful breakfast and fresh coffee. Breakfast was a range of fresh fruits, cakes and an omelet for Alison and a fried rice with chicken for Steve. Possibly best breakfast outside Bangkok. Thanks reset hotel!
Our first stop today was the Wat Don Si Sa At where a funeral was taking place. Such a young soul to be taken from this world certainly made Alison teary. From here we visisted a temple under construction and a temple under renovation. Our next stop around midday was the Chiang dao cave. Here we decided to take the cave tour which seemed to last about 90 minutes. It was interesting being guided through the system by hurricane lantern. Our next stop was the 500 step climb of Pha Plong Cave. There were many Buddhist quotations along the path as we climb to the temple. We then visited a half finished structure of Wat Pa Thara Phirom. The next temple for the day was one of the first temple we saw in this area 4 years ago Wat Phra That Pu Kam. We had thought this temple may be finished by now, but sadly progress has been slow at the site. From here we headed down to the local markets to taste some sweet potato chips and we found Pad Thai for dinner. Desert was Thai sweets before we headed off to Wat Phra That Doi Mon Ching to watch the sun go down. Then back to Reset for a well earned slow down.
23-01-2020
After another wonderful breakfast at Reset we headed off north again. We could see a field of sunflowers from the road so we were off to investigate.
About 30 mins later we passed some workers running we think a charf maker. It was nice to stop and communicate with the locals and share some smiles. The next stop for the day was the Wat Phuttha Phrom Pandora. From here we once again found ourselves at a market where there was fire works and Chinese laterns for sale. Chinese New Year should be fun we hope this year.
One of the temples we visited in the afternoon was a crystal temple where the entire centre piece was made from crystal.
A few years ago we visited Wat Tha Ton so as we were very impressed with the temple we headed back there again. The construction is amazing and the view is stunning down the Kok River. As it was getting late we stopped at a markets close by and then made a wrong turn which meant we didn’t get to our hotel until 7:30pm. Ops! Both of us couldn’t see too much in the local street for dinner so we indulged (if you can put it that way) with junk food from 7/11.