Hello Family & Friends!
Another amazing week has gone by! I’m a year older and extremely appreciative of my wonderful family and friends, good health and the blessings that I continue to receive from the universe. Thank you all for being a part of my life and for making me feel so special.
For my birthday, I decided to treat
myself to a short trip. I went up to Chiang
Rai – a three hour bus ride north. I've been to Chiang Rai once before. I was the photographer for the picture in blog post #1 of Bob, Marcus & Lauren in northern Thailand. We went to Chiang Rai on that trip. Some might say, "Been there...done that...why go again?" In 1986 we weren't there long enough for any of us to have a really good memory of Chiang Rai, so I wanted to make some new memories.
Here
are some highlights of my trip:
Davinci’s Italian Restaurant – Have I told you already that I LOVE Thai food? On Saturday, after I arrived
in Chiang Rai, I walked down to the “Walking Street” where they sell everything
that you can imagine, including Thai food.
I’m not too interested in buying more stuff…but I was able to munch my
way through the food stalls! Tasty!
Afterwards, I was feeling the need
for some cool air and a glass of wine. While walking
along, my eyes caught sight of some wine glasses, so I made a beeline for the
restaurant. Turns out it was Davinci’s. It’s on the main street where the foreigners hang out. The guy who seated me was nice, so we struck
up a conversation in Thai. After
ordering my wine, I decided to order a mixed salad. Surprise, surprise…it was the best mixed
salad that I’d had in quite a while!
And it came with some good bread! I ordered
another glass of wine to help it all go down well. I mentioned to the waiter that my birthday
was the following day. He said that if
I returned, he would do something special. I decided to return the next day mainly because that salad was SO good but also to see if he would remember. I had my salad, my wine and spinach ravioli
(delicious). The waiter surprised me at the end
of my meal by bringing out a nicely decorated brownie with birthday candles. No singing – that made me happy! Sorry – I failed to take a picture of the
brownie – or get his name! Nice way to
celebrate my birthday, though! And here's the link to a review - I couldn't find an actual restaurant website:
White Temple (Wat Rong Khun) – This temple was so sparkly, that it made me
blink. The artist is Chalermchai Kositpipat. Here's his wiki link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalermchai_Kositpipat
This link has great pictures:
This link has great pictures:
Here are a couple of mine:
The fish were amazing
Unfortunately the Golden bathrooms
were closed for repairs, so I didn’t get to have that “golden” experience.
Black House - Thawan Duchanee was the artist for this creation! Here's the wiki info about him: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thawan_Duchanee
This link has great pictures: http://www.neverendingvoyage.com/black-house-chiang-rai-thailand/
This link has great pictures: http://www.neverendingvoyage.com/black-house-chiang-rai-thailand/
The grounds where the Black House is located are beautiful. Here is a picture I took (there were several horses):
Wadthampla Maesai Chiengrai (Monkey/Fish Cave) - I'm stealing someone else's blog post...again! The pictures are so much better than mine:-( I'm beginning to think I need to take a photography course and buy a better camera. It would also help having someone along with me to take the photos (hint, hint)! Here's the link:http://ullanadventures.com/monkey-fish-cave/
There were so many "wild" monkeys at this temple! They wouldn't bother you unless you had food. Vendors selling food would give each customer a bamboo stick to "shush" away the monkeys. Not to hit them - just to hit the ground in order to scare them. It was neat to watch the monkeys carrying their babies, playing in the trees and eating. The peanut vendor was very popular. The monkeys would eat the peanuts right out of your hand! Not mine - I passed on feeding them. Of course, I did climb up to the cave. That was fun!
Here's one of my pictures (Monkey sitting to the right of the Naga heads):
Golden Triangle – Yep! So close I had to go. I don't know why, but I got a little anxious walking to this spot. There is so much history here...and the Myanmar election! For wiki info click here:
Here are a couple of pictures:
Looking at Myanmar
All in all, it was a great weekend! I’ll be in Laos next week, so will not
do a blog post. Look for
another post two weeks from now!
Make every moment count!
