Contiki Asian Adventure Day 2-3
The next day when we arrived in Chiang Mai after the overnight sleeper train, We all marched to our way too fancy hotel for a spot of breakfast. I have to say all of the accommodation we stayed in while on my Contiki tour was better than I expected. Some places were a bit shabby but nothing was less than 3*, apart from when we stayed in a guest house sailing down the Mekong! For breakfast I had about 238373 waffles before heading upstairs to nap. While I did sleep on the train from Bangkok to Chiang Rai, I just needed a proper rest! I had the weirdest dreams while on the train, which I can put down to my malaria tablets!
In the afternoon we took a trip to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. Here we were blessed by monks and given string bracelets to give us good luck. The temple itself was just as stunning as the one we saw in Bangkok. I cant get over how intricate and decant each of the temples we visited were. Gilded in gold and bright colours it was an absolute treat for the eyes. I don't think photos really do it justice because seeing it for yourself is a whole different experience.
This was the day everyone commented on the fact I'd dressed like a Disney princess. Because we were at a temple we needed to wear Temple Dress (shoulders and knees covered) I'd already forgotten this rule and wore my polka dot White Pepper dress. Therefore I had to borrow a sarong... I ended up with the silky pink one. I looked like I'd just come from Disneyland rather than a temple. Oh well!
We didn't do anything during the afternoon as a lot of people went on a Tiger Temple Trip - For the record I'm SO against stuff like this. I'm totally against animals for entertainment (but not anti captivity, just the use of animals to do something unnatural to entertain people ie. dolphins doing tricks) I think I may have lost a few friends initially with my opinion of Tiger Temples. A girl admitted to me that she didn't go purely because she was worried what people would think of her. While I respect other peoples choices, no matter what I think is right or wrong. I just think there is something fundamentally wrong with going to see an animal in a zonked out drugged state. I have nothing against people going to zoo's or rescues but Aerys won't even let me spoon her and she's a domestic cat. It's just not natural.
That evening we took an optional extra for the trip and went to a Thai cooking class. I'm so happy I decided to do this as it was one if my favourite things I did on the whole trip. We were shown how to cook authentic Thai food from scratch and it was amazing. The Tom Yum soup we made was one if the best things Ive ever cooked and I'm totally giving it a go now that I'm home! It was epic. We also made a curry, chicken and cashews and Pad Thai. To finish we had mango sticky rice which just writing about has got me drooling over my keyboard. It was out of this world. Our teacher gave us a little book packed with recipes to try. Can't wait!
That night we headed out to a riverside bar after we strolled around more night markets. At the bar we drank too many pitchers of beer and laughed too much before heading to a local bar for a few more. Dean and Antonio were hanging off the back of our taxi and at one point the driver drove off without them. I was convinced one of them was going to die! The people in my group are honestly some of the best people I've had the pleasure of meeting. Not a single person on my trip was unfriendly or unwelcoming. We became a proper little family within just a few days! Even now looking back at the photos Im feeling a bit emotional as I already miss everyone crazy amounts!
Our third day in Thailand was when we headed up to Chiang Rai. First we stopped at the White Temple. This was an off plan stop but it was a really awesome place to visit! This was a temple unlike anything I'd seen before. Seriously. There was a statue of predator, paintings of minions, Harry potter and Freddie Kruger and a museum of lost property. It was so surreal seeing this religious monument, it didn't seem quite real. Kind of like Disney/film set type thing. So weird. I cant really explain and I dont have enough pictures to show you just how crazy it actually was!
That night we had a shit shirt party in a local bar. It was Joe's birthday so we had a little party for him and played a bunch of Joe related songs for him. The girls in the bar gave us full reign of the playlist so we played some of the worst mix of music I've ever heard. Even so it was a great laugh. I think Dean won as somehow he managed to squeeze himself into this tiny singlet which had a chick and a kitten on at said "I love you". Im so gutted I dont have a photos of it because it was actually HILARIOUS. He wore it later on the tour when he ran out of clothes as well which I couldn't stop laughing at. I wore a Grumpy Cat tee which wasn't that shit, even though I can't believe I didn't take a photo of it. In my drunken haze I must have forgot. When a vodka and coke is 100 baht... A girl can forget.
Following morning nursing a sore head from lack of sleep and too much booze we headed to the border to go to Laos! More on that tomorrow!
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