Thaton
A town near the border with Burma, Thaton is about a four-hour bus ride north of Chiang Mai. It’s a beautiful, quiet, laid back valley town with the Maekok river running through its center and surrounded on all sides by picturesque hills and mountains.
Thaton at sunset, on our way to dinner
The heart of Thaton is Wat Thaton, a Buddhist temple a located a short hike up the hillside.
The panoramic view of the town of Thaton from the Buddhist temple Wat Thaton
The temple had lots of statues, including a tremendous Buddha that’s visible over the trees from miles away.
Giant Buddha a little further up the hill from the Wat Thaton temple
After exploring the temple area, we took the rest of the afternoon to wander through side streets and scenic neighborhoods.
A farmer watering his field
Our accommodations were a small riverside bungalow at a place called Apple Resort, which proved to be a nice place to watch the sunset.
Sun setting over Wat Thaton–the speck of white you can see on the hill is the Giant Buddha
The journey from Thaton to Chiang Rai
Connected by the Maekok river, Chiang Rai can be reached from Thaton with a three-hour longboat ride. The scenery was incredible.
Going around a bend, trying not to get splashed
On the way we saw water buffalo, small cows, villagers and fisherman. We waved at most of them.
Little tree that looked like it belonged on the savanna
Chiang Rai
Our first impression of Chiangrai was pretty impressive
Chiang Rai is actually slightly older than Chiang Mai, which itself is almost 800 years old. There’s a lot of gold decorating the town, and the atmosphere is like a smaller Chiang Mai. We were lucky to be in town for the ASEAN Flower Festival, which we didn’t realize until we arrived. We just have all the luck.
After our songthaew dropped us of at the Chiang Mai clock tower, we wandered around a while and found a guesthouse nearby. We settled in, then headed back out to make the most of our 24 hours in Chiang Rai. We walked through the night market and came to the Wat Mung Muang temple around sunset, which made for a great photo op.
A mythical temple guardian with the head of an elephant and the body of a lion
Walking back through the night market, we found a street food stall selling chicken with sweet Thai chili sauce, which was thoroughly enjoyable. We also happened upon an incredibly friendly Thai family, who graciously let us sit with them when there weren’t enough tables to go around. We shared our drinks, and they shared their som tum (a sweet-spicy shredded green papaya salad). They asked if we wanted to go dance, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. It seemed as though we had accidentally crashed a huge Thai wedding, and we felt like the guests of honor.
Lovely Thai family who adopted us for the night in Chiang Rai
Doing our best to keep up with all of the dances. It was kind of like line dancing.
The following morning, we took a local bus out to Wat Rong Khun, better known as “The White Temple.” It’s located about 12 km from the city center, and was definitely the most touristy, strange, and modern-looking of all the temples we’ve seen in Thailand.
The crowds at Wat Rong Khun
Since the White Temple was more crowded than we’d anticipated, we didn’t stick around too long. Instead, we headed back into the city to take a look at Wat Phra Kaew, an older and more traditional temple with a longer history. Housed in this temple was an incredible Jade buddha inside of a really interesting jade-tiled room whose green glow gave it a science fiction feel.
The Jade Buddha room at Wat Phra Kaew
After Wat Phra Kaew, we spent our last hour visiting the ASEAN Flower Festival, an installation of thousands of flowers including lilies, tulips, begonias and roses, among others.
Jeff and Nāga the Magical Dragon… sounds like an old fairy tale
That evening we took a bus back to our Chiang Mai home base, and for New Year’s Eve we’re going to see the ladyboy cabaret. Should make for a fabulous evening!
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- Statues overlooking the hills and valley of Thaton from the temple Wat Thaton
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- The statues overlooking the hills of Wat Thaton with dramatic clouds in the background
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- Pretty little house next to the Maekok River in Thaton
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- Jeff enjoying the view from the Wat Thaton overlook
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- Sleepy pup at the Wat Thaton temple
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- A Buddhist saint keeping watch in the woods
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- Giant Buddha a little further up the hill from the Wat Thaton temple
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- He looks even bigger from up close!
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- Buddha is so serene and flexible…
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- Golden bird overlooking the town of Thaton
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- A ground-level shot of the palm house, with a little more river scene
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- A small orchard at the golden hour makes everything look like an oil painting
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- Glowing fuchsia-tipped plants
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- Humble little wildflowers, but so perfectly lit!
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- The view of mountains from our guesthouse
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- All lit up. very festive
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- Our first longboat trip, a little different than we’d imagined
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- Misty view of the mountains as we pass
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- Our first impression of Chiang Rai was pretty impressive
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- Temple we stumbled on while searching for the night market
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- Tiniest pineapple!
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- Wat Mung Muang in profile
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- Ornately carved elephant on the door of the Wat Mung Muang temple
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- The songthaews (local taxis) in Chiang Rai were all blue instead of red like they are in Chiang Mai, and this one was so small!
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- Learning how to properly bend the wrists
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- Doing our best to keep up with all of the dances. It was kind of like line dancing.
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- An enthusiastic and creatively costumed dancer. An unconventional costume for the flower festival, but it worked.
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- It felt like a tour of a Disney castle
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- It’s Hellboy! And Batman! And Freddy Krueger!
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- Museum at Wat Phra Kaew, constructed of teak
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- Kneeling elephant outside a temple
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- ASEAN flower festival in Chiang Rai
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- Tulips in the front, lilies in the back!
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- Ruffly white lily, close up
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- Morning glories and tiger lilies, oh my!
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- Thank you, we will!
