{"id":2330,"date":"2026-02-19T01:55:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T01:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aerowalsh.com\/cr\/?p=2330"},"modified":"2026-02-19T01:56:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T01:56:24","slug":"wed-18th-feb-chiang-rai-to-doi-mae-salong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/?p=2330","title":{"rendered":"Wed 18th Feb – Chiang Rai to Doi Mae Salong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DW: I could see it in Caitlin’s eyes. As we walked around Chiang Rai in the dry afternoon heat yesterday she was disappointed. I believe Caitlin picked this city because it sounded like Chiang Mai. It’s not. It’s quieter (about the population of Coffs Harbour) and at times, just kind of a town. As a result we pivoted. We have hired a driver for 2 days and went up into the highlands for a night and will explore the Golden Triangle tomorrow. The driver turns out to be a good idea regardless. In a town like Chiang Rai the experiences are separated apart out of the main city and you can’t feasibly walk to them all. I was initially disappointed Caitlin didn’t give Chiang Rai a proper shot, but after an intense evening of  planning we arrive at a 2 day itinerary that I was convinced had sufficient vision and executability. I am pleased to report Day 1 exceeded expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CR: Thank you Declan for the above. I appreciate it (DW: If this statement sounds like it was written under duress, it was not. Apparently I was “nice”). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We ended up with a day of two halves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first half was driving around the sights of Chiang Rai. Each location is about a 15 minute drive on a motorway from the previous. As Declan noted, the car ended up being the only feasible way to see them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then we left the city and headed up the hills for about an hour and a half. Declan’s original plan was to visit a tea plantation and then walk 6km to our accommodation. The driver, hitherto completely unconcerned with how we chose to spend our time, wrote furiously in Google Translate. “The tea plantation and the hotel are like teachers. You cannot simply walk between them.” Thank god he did so because when we arrive it is abundantly clear, like teachers, you cannot simply walk between things. We know we’re going somewhere a bit ‘road less travelled’ when the driver, on an unpaved stretch of road winding steeply through the hills, starts filming the road ahead presumably for insurance purposes (DW: Everyone in Thailand seems to either own a bomb ute from the 80s, or a brand new Toyota that they obsess over and cover in minor cosmetic decals and custom trim. Our driver was the latter. His wince going over potholes was painful.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
DW: The White Temple is challenging my understanding of what a temple is. It seemed to be partly a counterculture art installation, but also a legitimate temple where people come to pray. It was definitely a vibe. We were tempted to skip it, thinking it could be another touristy temple, but it completely exceeded expectations and was a good start to the day.
CR: I loved this place. It was some unbelievable project from one man to dedicate an artwork to the nation, all self-funded. As you walk into there are bones of arms reaching up from the ground as if trying to ascend from hell into the temple. Inside, the frescos have depictions of 9\/11 and Batman sitting under the Buddha in all his glory. It was an absolute mind explosion. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
CR: I was in favour of deleting this photo but Declan was oddly attached to it. Is this a closer representation of how he sees his spirit than his actual body?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
CR: Next stop on the tour after White Temple was Big Buddha.
DW: There is a lift to the top of the Big Buddha (for small donation). You can look out of the Urna (mark on the forehead) over Chiang Rai. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get this image square. I suspect the entire floor could have been on a slight lean.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
DW: I needed multiple rounds of help at this machine at the Big Buddha (small donation). Initially my donation note got stuck. A common issue it seems, hence the ruler being provided. I was not jamming it in enough though and a man folding envelopes came to assist.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
DW: I’m not sure how to interpret my fortune (if it is that, it seems more like an aphorism). I originally thought it was giving me a lucky number of 14 until someone pointed out a secondary table I needed to cross reference. Reading this more carefully if everyone is rich, does that imply everyone is miserable?
CR: I am impressed with the prescience of the fortune. Declan is a miser in Thailand. He often chides me for not haggling on our payments enough – to the tune of A$5. Also, when I do my rice donation he cooly remarks that it cost four times as much as his game machine donation. Just remember Declan, rich people eat alone (DW: that sounds quite relaxing actually come to think of it).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
CR: Blue Temple yesterday, White Temple this morning and then finally Black Temple. Black Temple is actually a ‘museum’. It is sick. It’s 40 different black structures filled with these incredible pieces of furniture, set up like the base for an abandoned demonic tribe. I have no idea why it exists. The pamphlet only has one paragraph explaining what it is and that is insufficient to its scale and oddity. I love it.
DW: This is basically Caitlin’s vision for what the weird space under our house should end up looking like. The Black Museum is basically some land owned by an artist who just vibed out some spaces. This means a lot of animal skins and a lot of wooden statues of phalluses.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
DW: Caitlin’s work deemed her photo of her kissing a wombat statue at Trentham too non-professional for her Teams avatar. I propose this from the Black Museum an alternative.
CR: Leo and Pauline, Declan’s referring the photo you took of me kissing the wombat statue in Trentham. For years it was the little picture that comes up when someone calls you on Teams and for that reason alone many people to this day talk to me about wombats. We even recently had an application released and it was called Womby indirectly because of that photo. But then after the first few years of set up, as we started to actually take client meetings over Teams, I was politely asked to update my corporate photo. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
CR: If I open this, I unleash Evil.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
CR: A sacrifice has definitely happened in this room.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
DW: Mae Salong is famous for Oolong Tea (a specific type of black tea). It sits at about 1200m above sea level, is covered in large hills and is relatively cool for Thailand.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
DW: The actual township of Mae Salong has a more Chinese feel due to some Nationalist KMT soldiers retreating here after the Chinese civil war. It is Chinese New Year and we eventually figure out the large bangs we sporadically hear are fireworks people are lighting as the sun goes down.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
CR: Wonder what he is thinking about. Probably LLMs.
DW: This chair made me feel like a bird in their little nest. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
CR: We saw these monks walking at the bottom of a hill with just their small orange packs and then we drove up, checked in and then they were at the top of the hill. Where did they come from? Where are they going? What is monk life?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
CR: Mae Salong, where we are staying tonight, looks peaceful but don’t be deceived. There are the firecrackers set off constantly. Some of that noise is present again at 7am accompanied by strained, guttural screeches which makes me think actually some of it is gunshots. When we pull into the hotel there are three little fires on the forested hill metres to our left with a few people yelling around them. They are not present in the evening, so I guess all good? And at night as we try to go to sleep there is an absolutely pumping karaoke party somewhere very close thundering through the valley. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
CR: A little cheeky lemon and ginger soda before dinner. Our sugar consumption is through the roof in Thailand. I think my heart is beating at least 20% faster as a result.
DW: Caitlin actually wanted a beer, but the store didn’t have any and redirected her to the 7\/11 up the road and then come back. We ponder Thai regional economy for some time as the sun sets. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Driver.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thailand-laos-cambodia-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2330"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2392,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330\/revisions\/2392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}