Rob and Anna's travel adventure

CHIANG RAI

As mentioned earlier we purposely avoided Chiang Rai, and chartered our course to Chiang Rai instead in hopes of receiving a more genuine experience. I think we did. The town seemed mellow and real; there were other travelers besides us, but the numbers of them was pretty small. Despite of that fact, it was challenging to find a room (can't imagine what it is like when it is a high season). We settled for a nicer room which we felt was a better value. We had a pristine room with a hot shower, crispy clean towels, satellite TV, free internet (that means a lot of calling back "home"), and free coffee/tea/hot chocolate throughout the day (the room was around $12 per night). On our arrival day, a receptionist treated us with a basket of fresh bananas and huge sweet cucumbers from his village. Chiang Rai was definitely a worthwhile stop-over, and the only negative memory I have is the unpleasant interaction with a demanding spoilt-rotten family from Holland. I think I'd had it by then with obnoxious Dutch travelers (sorry about the generalization here, for the record I do have several dear to my heart Dutch friends). Anyway, that time I told them exactly what I thought about their behavior, which seemed to have gained a great respect among the Thai hotel workers (who probably also had enough, but couldn't afford being outspoken).
Going back to Chiang Rai as a city... We walked a lot around town. There are a lot of beautiful Buddhist temples and monasteries located in Chiang Rai; and on one of our walks through a temple grounds a chief monk greeted us and cordially invited us to visit all adjoining buildings, temples, and a museum (which at the moment was closed to the public). He was very excited to show us around, and he did it from his heart - no money, no tips in exchange. It was unusual even for Thailand, especially considering that the city was not off the beaten track. We still think warmly of our walk and the monk, and we feel grateful for that.

On another walk while visiting a Buddhist temple located on the edge of town, a rain storm suddenly started. We waited for the rain to stop in one of the gazebos, but eventually decided to start walking back to our hotel - the rain water was running in big volumes along the side walks. Once we reached the center of town, we realized that the streets were completely flooded. The vehicles looked more like boats navigating through the busy streets, and we were walking in the water above our knees. The flooding wasn't so much of a problem, but holes in the roads and sidewalks were dangerous. Luckily we managed to avoid them, and reached the center of town. The entire town seems to be flooded. We were wondering what we would find in our room, since we were staying on the first floor. The cross street next to our hotel was flooded as well, but to our relief the rain ceased, and the water wasn't able to reach our building... Now that I look back at that day, it actually seems like a fun (or at least unusual) experience, especially since all ended safe and sound. And, yes - it was the right decision to choose Chiang Rai over Chiang Mai, pretty sure about that.

PHRAE

Phrae is probably our most favourite stop-over in Thailand. People treated us very well, and there was an amazing degree of sincerity in our interactions with the locals. I especially remember one rainy night... We were in search of food, and stumbled across a night market. There was a tarp set up right in front of the magnificent ancient temple, and a local family were cooking up a local specialty - phad thai. We ordered a couple of plates, and while waiting, a bowl of warm soup appeared on our table. We mentioned that we did not order the soup (having being accustomed by now to be charged for things not wanted), but the person gave us a big smile and said "Free, free, to warm up", and he motioned to rain pouring on our table's tarp... On another food endeavour, we stopped at an old lady's cooking "tavern"... There were no vegetarian options, so I sat down to wait for Rob finish his meal. The elderly lady came up to our table, she couldn't speak English, but with gestures she was asking me why I did not eat. I explained to her with return gestures that I didn't eat meat, she nodded and disappeared. A few minutes later she appeared with a plate of phad thai with tofu; she motioned me to eat, told me "free, free!", and smiled with her toothless smile. I was very touched by that. We insisted to pay for her creation, she tried to refuse, but eventually accepted and thanked us for it. It might sound like not too much to some, but you have to understand this - after months and months of being over-charged and ripped off by locals, it sure was nice to be treated in a decent sincere way. This type of interaction is what makes us remember the good things about traveling...