Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world. – Gustave Flaubert
Further north of Thailand lays a district known as Mueang Chiang Rai. Here, we visited the city, Chiang Rai. Because it is relatively less busy, we thought it was a good idea to rent a car to visit around. We wouldn’t have been able to drive around Bangkok! It would have been a nightmare! So we took this chance!
The city itself is big, slightly cooler on temperatures and much quieter. We stayed in The Villa Chiang Rai and just opposite to our hotel were some local stalls. There, we managed to try some local “Som Tam Nua“, a super spicy green papaya salad. Be warn the level of hotness may be able to kill someone. I think I went through 7 circles of hell trying to even take more than 5 spoonful of it. PHEW!!! But it was probably one of the best “Som Tam Nua” I’ve eaten (even though I almost died). They even serve it with crab meat! WORTH.
Overall, I really liked my stay in Chiang Rai. It was more relaxed and very enjoyable. Walking around reminded me a bit of the small towns out of Melbourne in the suburbs. Not as walk-friendly but still pretty decent. We got a car and drove around a bit, it got us to a mall, some local stalls for food and some famous landmarks. The night market here is definitely worth a visit! They had two massive outdoor beer gardens in the market. One built with a stage with live music performance and the other one had a line of food stalls surrounding an open space area with a projector screen showing live football matches. I never knew that Thai people are huge football fans! Very much like Malaysia, they follow and love football as much! I enjoy a football match every once in a while so having spent some time in the beer garden was really rewarding.
THINGS TO DO:
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- When in Thailand, one of the must-thing to do is to EAT. It doesn’t matter what, because most things will taste good :) I dared myself to eat bamboo worms whilst I was in here, particularly in Chiang Rai. Though it may be gross for some (my boyfriend, that is) it actually wasn’t too bad!
- Make a point to visit the night bazaar. You can’t go wrong with football and beer, can you? :)
- Learn to appreciate the artistic culture of Thailand. Here in Chiang Rai, artists exhibit their works in galleries which they allow for visits. The only problem is that some of these places are hard to get to (unless you have a car) The best thing to do is grab a map and go from there. I’ve only managed to visit two during my time there. Wat Rong Khun (white temple) and Baandam Museum (black house – some people mistake it for black temple)
- Visit the reclining Buddha, Wat Phra Sing. It is beautiful and intricate. I came here and paid my respects.
- The best part about Chiang Rai is the easy-going feel of the city. Just head out, take a walk around and explore. You can easily rent a bike (guided or non-guided tours) and take your time to explore around.
I didn’t spend as much time as I could here in Chiang Rai. But I would love to come back here again. This time hoping to do a road trip up from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai instead.
Eat, Sleep, Travel, Repeat 