After a few days of bustling Bangkok, we flew for an hour on Thai Airways up to Chiang Rai.
We loved our hotel – Le Meridien in Chiang Rai – on the banks of the Kok River, with its open air lobby, infinity pool, balconies, comfy beds, and beautiful gardens.
We started our Chiang Rai adventures with a quick visit to the Hill Tribe Museum to learn about the Hmong tribe. My favorite part was watching the woman weave and then having her teach me how to wear one of the absolutely gorgeous, intricately designed scarves – which I bought.
One of the interesting aspects of Thailand were the many posters, billboards, and signs for the princess. There were some for her brother, who has since become king; but, it was very clear that the princess was the favored one.
After learning about the tribes, we went to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Although the original Buddha is at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, this is the site in which the original Buddha was discovered in 1434.
Tuesday’s child relaxes!
After a day of cultural visits, it was time to visit a delicious, local, hole-in-the-wall restaurant that made our favorite Mango smoothies.
Then for a visit to the clock tower and night market, where we bought some soaps and strings of elephants that Aliya fell in love with.
The next day was our day of bizarre local sites. It started with a visit to the Wat Rong Kuhn (the “White Temple”) which was the craziest collection of images I have ever seen thrown together in one white world. It felt as if we were entering a surreal world of disturbingly sculpted, sparkly icing.
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Fortunately, we had asked our driver from the hotel to come back for us after a little while to take us out to Sinha Park, which was an odd combination of tea plantation, zoo, and nature park.
We hopped on the little open air bus, filled with Monks, for a tour of the property
We stopped at the far end of the park to feed the giraffes
which Asher loved.
But of all the things we did in Chiang Rai, I think the breakfast buffet was the kids favorite part.