From Mai to Rai

We left Kanchanaburi and took a local bus to Suphanburi a couple of hours away, our bus driver flagged down the bus we had to jump onto which took us from there to Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya was ok, nothing special in our opinion to be honest! There were lots of temples, but we were a little templed so didnt go and visit them, the weather was unreal too - it was so hot whilst we were there. A nice enough place though, a bustling market and decent places to sit and have a drink or two...as for our guidebook saying that its a must do place...mmmm...ok!!

Chiang Mai

After Ayutthaya we took a government run bus north to Chiang Mai, the bus was comfortable, and fairly quiet, so we could recline our seats and be comfy for the nine and a half hour jaunt. The cities and towns dissapeared the further north we drove, in their place were green mountains, shacks and rice paddies, when we got to Chiang Mai it was dark and lashng, we got a tuktuk and checked in at a decent enough guesthouse in the old city. Chiang Mai was a nice enough place, our problem was, that we went there with expectations...never a good thing to do...we thought that it mightbe like SaPa in Vietnam - which was just stunning! It was to be honest just another city, nothing special at all, the monsoon has really taken hold too, and we couldnt even go to the night market...one night there we went out for food and were saturated! When it rains, it rains hard!

Sticky Maybe?!!

Chiang Mai province however, looked stunning, as we drove through today further north to Chiang Rai, we passed through the mountains on a sealed modern road, you can trek there which is what most people go for, but we already trekked to the hilltribes in Vietnam, and it was such a magical experience as it wasnt touristy whatsoever, we never even considered doing it here in Thailand, where it would be muh more touristy and just ruin the experience.

Chiang Rai - first impressions...much quieter and prettier than Chiang Mai....seems nice, we will be here about 3nights and then head over the border to Laos, where we shall take the slowboat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang.

Hugs

Ali n Matt

Sunset Ayutthaya

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Temples in Chiang Mai

Thai Noodle Soup in Chiang Rai