Chiang Rai - Day 2

Our morning got off to an early start, motivated mostly by escaping the sweltering heat of our motel room. We decided to make our way to the local TAT, which is the tourist office for the area. They are loaded with maps, brochures, and a helpful staff. Since Chris's latestest lonely planet book has turned out to be worthless, especially considering last night's roach motel (literally) was a top pick, we decided to stick with my Frommer's book. A short trip toward the city center got us to The Golden Triangle Inn. It's in the middle of the city, but it's quiet and loaded with trees.....and did I mention air conditioning? A little wheeling & dealing landed us a tour guide for our next 2 days. His name is Jane and he's a family friend of the hotel owners. $90 will get us 2 full days all over the region. Waterfalls, temples, the Golden Triangle, etc.

An hour later we were on the road to our first stop: elephant riding. About 40min outside Chiang Rai there was a small village in the hills. It was your basic pony ride setup, comprising a 45min stroll through the streets, side alleys, and skirting rice pattys. The final return section of the trek was along the banks of the river, which had recently swelled from flood waters. The elephant has memorized the submerged path, but the deeper water had him spooked. We thought we might be swimming the last section. It was a bit more touristy that we had hoped, but at least there were only 3 other actual tourists besides us there. We're hopeful Laos a.k.a The Land of 1,000 Elephants will offer something a bit different. We fed the elephants snacks at the end, which was a lot of fun. As you try to feed one elephant a banana, two other trunks are sneaking their way into your sack of fruit. We both got covered in dirt and slime from the trunks attacking us, which was fun and gross at the same time.

With the temps rising, we hopped back in the car and headed up into the hills for a waterfall trek. After about 2,000 vert feet and a mile or so into the jungle we arrived. It was thick rainforest with bamboo stretching upwards of 50' into the canopy. Aside from 4 local Thias, we had the place to ourselves. The water felt amazing after that hike, so we cooled off for a good half hour before heading back down.

Our final stop for the day was down South of Chiang Rai, to the "white temple" as foreigners call it, officially known as the "Chapel of Wat Rong Khun". Most all temples here are brightly colored with gold and sometimes red. The theme for this complex was entirely white. The artist who designed the place is one of the top 10 artists in the country. The interior of the temple was still being designed and there was a lot of construction going on to expand the temple complex. The head artist was actually there penciling in designs as we entered. There was a creepy wax model of a Buddhist monk in the lotus pose at the base of the Buddha. We couldn't take pictures. The art work was far from what you'd expect for a religious site. The back wall had small space shuttles and strange pop culture images hidden in the designs. It was a bit like playing "where's waldo"? Most all the tourist crowds overlooked a small art exhibition to the rear of the complex. It was loaded with his paintings and sculptures. The best I can describe is a Thai Salvadore Dali, but less LSD. His sculptures of Buddha, knives, and misc designs were incredibly intricate and symmetric.
By 4:30pm we were pretty worn out from our travels so we go cleaned up and wandered the streets in search of treats. We stopped by a small shack called Tee Pee Bar that was a run down shack loaded with junk and infested with spiders and overpriced cheap booze. The American running the place was like a Berkeley hippie, but add more filth. We had a quick drink and it was off to the night bazaar for mystery treats and cheap trinkets.
After a few trips around a giant outdoor food court with a huge stage at the end, we split off to load up and rally at a table with a good view of the cheesy lip-sinked performance on stage. We had one heck of a spread. Crickets, silk worms, tempura, tempura shrimp, egg rolls, bbq pork skewers, and a tall Singha beer. I popped 5 worms in my mouth and Chris stuffed his spring rolls full of crickets. The crickets tasted a bit like chicken with pumpkin seeds...interesting. I can't describe the silk worms except they were still a bit gooey inside. We filled up and decided to call it a night. On our way out we passed by the vendor selling 4-legged snacks. I think we'll try them tomorrow night :)