Chiang Rai

On Wednesday night there was a terrific thunderstorm and downpour which cooled the temperature the next day. We went out to fill up the scooter (80p) again and stopped in a cafe for brekkie. The lady couldn't understand what I was asking for and asked me to write it down and despite my scribble she got it. The cafe was empty apart from us and every time any of the staff passed our table they bowed. We have found the Thais so friendly and helpful and today we chatted to a local who told us that the government constantly puts messages out on TV and radio about how the economy needs tourism so they must help tourists and be pleasant towards them.

We wandered into town and visited the market where stalls selling fish stood next to ones selling toys next to another selling spices.

We had a look around another temple and saw a monk bang the huge gong as it was 11am which is their time to eat. The monks ate in one building whilst in another members of the local community came for a meal. I was asked twice to join in with the latter and maybe if we hadn't had such a good breakfast.......

Later as a snack for lunch we bought a bunch of small but so sweet tasting bananas for 20p and had a chat with the vendor as he was learning English.

In the afternoon we walked quite a way to find a particular museum. Just before we found it we came across celebrations at a vocational college. It was their leaving day after completing courses such as Accountancy, ICT and Food Technology. It seems that it's tradition to give the youngsters artificial flowers, cuddly toys etc and the street was lined with stalls set up just for this purpose.