Yesterday I took a songthaew to a random point along the highway so I could hitch to Chiang Rai. I walked for about fifteen minutes before arriving at a gas station. I walked around the gas station asking if anyone was heading to Chiang Rai and found a ride with ease. They weren't going all the way to Chiang Rai but dropped me off about 10 miles out of Chiang Rai and gave me a bottle of water. I started trying to get another ride and someone stopped within minutes. The driver was a Thai woman but there was already a hitchhiker in the front seat so she cleared some boxes off the back seat and I got in. The other hitchhiker was a German guy named Sinan. Our driver dropped us off in Chiang Rai and we walked from guesthouse to guesthouse until we found a nice one and each got a room. We left our stuff in our rooms then got lunch.
After lunch, Sinan and I went to a motorbike rental place so he could rent a motorbike to go to the White Temple. The White Temple is a massive structure built in the tradition style of a Buddhist temple except it was built by an artist in the late 90s and it's covered in white glass and mirrors and surrounded by odd statues. The White Temple is something that I've been wanting to go to since I first read about it while planning this trip so I got on the back on Sinan's bike and we drove there. Unfortunately, we got the temple too late to go in so we were only able to see the outside from a distance but it was an amazing sight. I may go back today so I can go inside.
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| The most elaborate no smoking sign I've ever seen. |
I was hoping to stay in Chiang Rai for a few days but it doesn't seem like there's much going on here so I may move on soon.
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| Repairs being made to the Chiang Rai clocktower. |
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| This marching band walked through the street as I was writing this blog post. |
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