Chiang Rai

We both came down with head colds and didn't sleep well on Monday night so we struggled to get up at 7.30 to get breakfast then get a songthaew to the bus station. The VIP bus certainly lived up to it's name; a bottle of water and a snack provided, reclining seats and foot rests. I thought I'd have a doze....an hour later I woke up, looked out at the forest whizzing past and promptly fell asleep again for another hour. Same again but this time I managed to wake up and come to 20 minutes before we arrived.

After dumping our bags we walked into the town centre, found our bearings and visited a few more temples just for a change! Another bad night sleep last night due to noisy people so we have changed rooms and keep our fingers crossed.

Scooter hire is such good value (£5 for 24 hours and when you fill up with petrol it costs 80p!), we decided to hire one today.

We drove 14km down to the White Temple or Wat Rong Khun which is a contemporary, privately owned art exhibit in the style of a buddhist temple. You will see from the pictures how unusual it is with odd things all over the show. You still observe the niceties as with other temples so shoes off etc.