Next Stop Thailand
16 Jan 2019
After a great stay with Christine, Mark and Tanika it is is off to the airport. At last we are starting to get a rhythm of going through the Brisbane routine. We arrived about 3 hours before the flight. Sadly, Thai Airways has removed the Dreamliners from the Brisbane-Bangkok route due to engine issues, so today we were seated at the front of economy in a 777-200/300. Certainly not as nice as the Dreamliner. Steve and I celebrated with Chang Beer before settling into the 9 hour flight. Arrival at Bangkok has also become routine, and we had the fastest movement through customs etc we have ever had. Next stop was a hotel bus and a good sleep.
17 Jan 2019
Up early today as we continue the journey from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. Our hotel bus got us to the airport and we once again made our way through the gates in good time. Alison made a friend in the seat next to her and was trying to learn a little more Thai. Arrived at Chiang Mai at 10am and found a limousine to take us to our hotel. Hire rates have fallen dramatically since we were here 12months ago. That is a positive impact from the increased popularity of Grab taxis in Chiang Mai.
After checking into our usual room “403” at the 3 Season Hotel, it was off to get some tasks done. We had to get our phones working, organise a Thai bank account and ATM card, and most importantly, find some lunch. During our waking we came across a large garden of flowers which we explored. Love those sunflowers. Lunch was found at a small cafe and it tasted wonderful. After lunch we rested up a bit at our hotel before heading off to our small cafe for takeaway.
18 Jan 2019
Slept well last night except waking at 4am. Sometimes we find that the time difference takes a while to get used to. First job today was to get to Budget Rentals to organize the paperwork on our hire car, and organize for it to be dropped off at our hotel. To save our feet a little we waved down one of the local red taxis (called songthaews). After visiting Budget we headed over to the local shopping centre, before walking back to the old city. As it was lunch, time we found a plate of Pad Thai each at Cafe 88 on the way… so yummy! The rest of the afternoon we walked back through the city to the hotel, stopping at anything of interest.
Dinner tonight didn’t quite go to plan, as our usual cafe was closed, and we missed finding the other cafe we like. So we tried a new dining experience, which unfortunately ended in only average food.
19 Jan 2019
Another early start today. The mornings are much cooler, and we decided to walk to the centre of the old city and onto the Pang River. Around here are the large markets where there is much fresh food, toys and clothing to be found! From here we found a Grab taxi and headed to the BorSang Umbrella Festival. We arrived just in time to see the young people dressed in traditional Thai dress ride their bikes down the closed Main Street. The day was spent wandering the street, eating local food and drinking lots of water.
To return to home we took a white taxi, another Songthaew, back to the markets before taking a Grab Taxi the rest of the way. After a rest we ventured out for dinner at a local vegetarian restaurant called the Jay Mai JumJay Vegetarian and Vegan Restaurant!!! . (It’s OK …they do have chicken on the menu too). The food was pretty good and relatively inexpensive.
20 Jan 2019
We slept in a little later this morning, but must admit the colds we are both suffering at the moment is not making sleep easy. I am sure these will cure themselves soon. Budget delivered car this morning and it is now time to take to the road. We set our sights on Phitsanulok, about 330 kms away. After a brief stop in Lampang for some more cold medications and lunch, we headed off again.
We visited a small temple called Wat Phrathat Pu Tap before stopping at a much larger temple outside Phrae called Wat Phra That Suthon Mongkhon Khiri (such a mouthful). The Centre piece of this complex was a giant goose with a elephant head and a large reclining Buddha. Stunning! We decided at this point we would not be making our planned destination tonight and decided to head into Phrae. Because we now had a Thai debit card we were able to book ahead and reserve a hotel room. This means that we don’t have to rush to a destination to be sure of a room for the night.
As we were entered Phrae we saw an enormous wedding celebration, so we headed off to investigate. Just stunning! I think we were the only westerners there and we were invited to join the celebration. We stayed there for what seemed like a couple of hours, just soaking up the music and fun. It seemed like the whole of the town was joining in the celebrations!! We arrived at our hotel (the Hug Inn Phrae Hotel) after dark, which turned out to be next to the local jail. We headed out to the local markets for dinner before getting an early night.
21 Jan 2019
A breakfast is included with this hotel’s price, so we had coffee (milk we purchased from 7/11) and scrambled eggs. We hope this helps our colds. We drove only a few hundred meters this morning before stopping at our first temple for the day.
Wat Hua Khuang is a fairly simple temple, and its main feature was a very old brick Chedi, built around 1200 years ago. From here we headed out of town. It didn’t take long before we stopped at another temple. Wat Pong Sunan’s two centre pieces were another large reclining Buddha and a giant turtle!!!. We realised that we had been here last year in March. After a short visit we resumed the trip.
Our route today took us into some of the less driven roads and villages before long we arrived at Uttaradit for lunch. We found a reasonable food shop at the TT Garden shopping centre. From there we drove through the very green backroads of rice fields.
One temple we stopped at was the Wat Aeka. This temple was badly destroyed and is now looking like new again. A monk presented Steve with a hand of organically grown bananas for our journey ahead. It turns out he (the monk) is a Criminal lawyer on a period of self reflection.
Our next stop was Phitsanulok where we found a hotel (The Poonsook Resident Hotel), and set off on a walk to the local BigC, a supermarket. On our way back to the hotel we found a roadside cafe for dinner.
22 Jan 2019
After a good nights sleep, it’s seems our colds are on the improve! Breakfast was a little sparse this morning, but we are eating well generally. Once the car was packed we headed off to the local temples along the river. Came across a cool red coffee truck along the way.
Wat Nang Phaya is a part of a group of temples on the eastern bank of the Nan River and appears to be a large tourist attraction. The main attraction is Wat Phra Is Rattana Mahatthat, famous for it golden Buddha called Phra Phuttha Chinnarat. This temple was very popular and busy, but walking through the temple precinct led us to quieter spots, including Wat Nang Phaya.
From here we drove off to another ruin, Wat Aranyik, which is the ruins of an old temple from the Sukhothai period. All that remains is an historic chedi and a number of Buddha images. Next stop was on to a monument on an island (Buddha Monthon Island) The next stop for the day was Tesco Lotus for a bit of lunch and a petrol station for fuel. Our next temple we visited must have had a conference on, there were monks in tents every corner of the complex they were very friendly inviting us to share cold water and chat a little (Wat Khlong Rua).
From here there was a cluster of interesting sites to visit which are on top of a mountain ridge. These offer great views of the local area. Our next stop was crazy and we think it was a Chinese shop that sells temple decorations. From here we headed off to a major tourist site named Wat Phratthat Songkaew. It is so over the top, by temple standards, and sits high in the mountains.
Our last stop for the day after finding a hotel for the night in Lom Kao (The Sunnery Ville) was a local cafe where we met Mindy, a lovely lady from China, who made sure we had a lovely meal by ordering for us.
As we were trying to get off to sleep, loud music prevented it. So we got dressed and went off to investigate. After a walk of what seemed like a kilometre we arrived to find a band in a truck playing to a party. We were ask to sit down and we realised we had crashed the local police stations New Year party (which turned out to be the one year anniversary of moving into the new Police Station). Next thing we were being supplied with Chang beer and asked to join in the fun. A great evening!
