Day 3 GAP:Chiang Mai While I had trouble sleeping (nothing unusual) we were all awake by 6am for breakfast and to get prepared for our arrival in Chiang Mai at 7:30.We had the rest of the day free to poke around Chiang Mai. I did a walk around the historic quarter filled with large homes and shops.That evening we took a minibus to Doi Suthep, a temple on the top of a mountain in time for sunset.We were able to listen to and watch the monks chanting as the sun went down. Quite beautiful. To my surprise, there were several non-Asian men in novice garb chanting along with the monks.
Inside the temple
After our ride down the mountain we headed off to dinner at a traditional Thai theater/dance place - built just for tourists was also quite beautiful - the traditional Thai food was on the spicy side but great.They gave everyone a variety of Thai food – no ordering off the menu.
Greeters at the restaurant entrace
The Dinner show
Then it was on to the "night market", which is a collection of hundreds of vendor stalls selling everything any tourist would love - unfortunately there were only about 10 different booths - the rest were all selling pretty much the same thing. I made it back to the hotel early - since I knew the way back, a couple from South Africa who were part of our group asked me to lead the way.
Entrance to our Chaing Mai hotel
Day 4 GAP:Chaing Mai to Chaing Kong An all day ride in a mini bus - very nice bus, air conditioned and comfortable seats. It was a seven hour drive with a break for lunch and a stop at a very odd temple built and painted all white. It was done by a Thai artist as a place for his ashes. Quite impressive....but odd.
The white temple
Dramatic sculpture at the entrance to the while temple
White Temple entrance
The ever present souvenir shop
The ride over the mountains was wonderful – the sights, the mountains and the people we saw along the way, some dressed in tribal costumes made the ride go by quickly. We arrived in Chaing Kong, our last town in Thailand at a guest house on a hill above the MekongRiver - looking across to Laos. I did a walk around the town looking for an Internet café.During the walk I came across a Buddhist temple where some women were doing their evening exercise dance.The monk was quite happy to have me watch the women then he invited me into the temple to have a look around.
