Changrai

Well here I sit, late at night (it is currently 10.50 p.m.) with my trusty scotch by my side as I attempt to recap on my day, and what a day it has been.  I had breakfast in the outdoor restaurant overlooking a river this morning and on the coach for our 8 a.m. departure.  the weather is absolutely perfect and as we continue to be very lucky with so little humidity, everyone has become quite acclimatised to the heat which although I'm sure it won't make sense, the heat here is different for the same temperatures at home. Anyway, I'm even getting a bit of a tan and it doesn't wash off in the shower so the sun is certainly kinder to me here than at home.
We had a long drive to Chiangrai which is the northern most district of Thailand. Joe being the excellent tour guide that he is, only talks for part of the time, and only when it is relevant.  He is very knowledgeable on so many subjects, and no topic is taboo.  He makes even history stories interesting and making you ask questions wanting to know more.  He also has a great sense of humour and often jokes with us.
Only had 1 comfort stop along the way and I found a lovely little shop while the coach was refuelling, that had some lovely scarves in. As everything was in Thai I did my best arm waving, gesturing and pointing to find out how much they cost and as they were such a great price I started picking up a couple, but before I knew it I had created a frenzy amongst the kittens who saw what I was doing and I think the store ended up doing more business in 15 minutes than they would in a month!!! Joe had to come and hurry up the last one to get on the coach and on the orad again we went.  It was very mountainous area and one minue we were looking at very dense jungle and the next pineapple, corn, rice, paw paw and goodness knows what other crops.  I even saw a local leading a herd of water buffalo along the side of the road, but I wasn't quick enough with my camera to capture the moment so you have to take my word for it and use your imagination - come on now dear armchair traveller, you have to do something more than sit back and contemplate the fluff in your navel every now and then or you will go to seed!
We finally arrived in Chiangrai which is s very big city and headed to the Golden Triangle hotel which has an amazing view over the Mekong River so that you are standing in Thailand but looking at Myanmar (100 metres away across a canal) and Laos (about 700 metres away on the other side of the Mekong) . Lovely buffet lunch with excellent glass noodles amongst the many offerings. So much food that we are beginning to feel like battery hens being forced fed.  Even just sampling a little bit from each plate means that you have over eaten yet again.
Anyway, back on the coach for a very short ride to the port where we have the opportunity to do the trip I had asked Joe about and he promptly arranged for us where we got onto a motorised boat that took us very close to the Golden Triangle island and then to Laos where we were able to disembark and have a wander in their local markets for about an hour. Some of my kittens went berserk whereas i bought a cotton short for myself and hmmmm, not telling you what else as you may be on the receiving end of one of the items for Christmas (if I like you enough, that is). I also bought a postcard that I sent to msyelf so that I would have proof that I had been to Laos. As it turned out I could have saved that 80 baht as when we got back to Chiangrai side Joe picked up our passports from the Immigration office where we had to leave them prior to going on the boat (to make sure we came back- yeah right...I'm from Australia and I'm going to jump ship and claim refugee status in Laos)
Anyway, bless their cotton socks, as I found a brand new Laos stamp at the back of my passport - and the year shows 2558 because their calendar is about 500 hears ahead of ours!!!
So we all return to our coach and back into the city.  there is a lot of roadworks throughout the country that so that certainly slows us down and traffic is also very heave so we don't get to out hotel until 6.15pm.  We are staying at The Legend hotel resort which is a sister hotel to another Legend hotel we stayed in earlier.  It is a huge place but down a narrow road so how Chook managed to get the coach there safely is beyond me.  There are bungalows in every direction and they are spread out far and wide.  i finally find my room which is at the far end of one corner of the compound and as I go in I practically tumble over myself.  This room is in fact about 4 rooms and even has its own courtyard with a swing seat and outdoor setting.  The room is a 5 star suite of rooms.  The shower room is bigger than my first room I lived in for 2 years in the RAAF!  The 2 large single beds both have a four poster netting over them and the day bed has pillows scattered over it.  Ive taken photos but to see it is to believe it!
However I only have a few minutes in the suite before I head back to reception and gather my kittens as we head back onto the coach for dinner in the heart of the city.  Joe has changed our dinner venue to Ayes restaurant as it is directly opposite the night market.  He couldn't have chosen better, however we are all starting to feel the pinch of so much food at every meal and we all felt guilty that so much food was left on plates, but what we did have ws excelletn.  it is a 5 star Northern Thai restaurant, so everything was very spicy and hot which I love, however they put pineapple in a lot of dishes and I don't touch them.  After dinner we wandered across the road and had some time to wander the market but i think we were all pretty pooped as there wasn't much buying so a very tired but fully sated herd of kittens once agin scrambled onto the coach and back to the hotel where I now have come to the end of my day,and my scotch, so I bid you a sincere goodnight because i need to get some sleep!!!