Journey to the West - Updated Travel Mode in Chiang Rai

Summary: Due to tight schedule, change of travel mode from cycling to backpacking.

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Our Experience

We are very glad that our travel gears allow us to separate from our bike for a while and make us to backpackers.

The reason we wish to travel light without the bikes for the next two months is because we wish to meet a friend of Mathilde in Bangkok on the 15th of August. She will travel with us together for about 3 weeks in Thailand. So, until early September we cannot travel to the places we wish to go without making the concession of leaving the bikes behind.

We found a motorbike shop named Piston Shop M/C in Chiang Mai, which agreed to store our bikes together with more than half of our luggages for 2 and a half months at a price of 3000 Baht, which was at the time about 90 USD. We could have negotiated it even more because he agreed too quickly to that price. But we were happy to have at least someone agreeing to store our stuff since we tried it with our hostel and another tour guide company. Both didn't want to help.

Immediately after we left our bikes we headed towards Chiang Rai with the following planned itinerary:

Chiang Mai ➡️ Chiang Rai by 🚍, Chiang Rai ➡️ Huay Xai by 🚍, Huay Xai ➡️ Luang Prabang by 🚣, Laos travel southwards by 🚣 and 🚍, enter Vietnam by 🚍 and 🚂, enter Cambodia by 🚍 and 🚂, return to Thailand by 🚍 and 🚂, then ✈️ to Turkey and 🚲 to France. In the middle of it, we try to hitchhike as much as we can to save money.

We figured, due to our knowledge of ourselves, that our plan would change substantially soon again, so this is just an illustration of how we wish to make it happen, sort of. We wish to stay flexible. That's why we have our backpacks with us so we can enjoy some time hitchhiking, traveling by bus, boat and train in addition to cycling.

After a 3 hour bus ride from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, which cost us 130 Baht each, i.e. about 4 USD per person, we arrived at Chiang Rai. It used to be the capital city of a kingdom in the North of Thailand founded by King Mangrai. Chiang Mai was then established a bit later because it was closer to the centre of Thailand.

After some experience of traveling, we now focus solely on the most important three attractions of a place we stay. The most interesting and popular attraction in Chiang Rai is the White Temple, Wat Rong Khun. It was established in 1997 by the artist Chalermchai Kositpipat who was everywhere to see as paper statues inside the temple. First, we thought who was that guy? Then it turned out that he privatley constructed and owns that sight.

There was the most elaborate sign of no-smoking that I have seen.

Then I was sitting with a scary statue on a bank.

Some quite scary sculptures of hands coming from the underworld that reminded me of Doctor Strange and Harry Potter movies. Did you spot the interesting detail here? Be sure to comment if you found out.

Numerous architectural details.

Then there was this statue of the Buddha which was very peaceful. It depicted the moment when the Buddha got enlightened under the Bodhi tree.

People put their wishes on silver plated and attached them meticulously on the ceiling of stupa or corridors.

We made our wishes by flipping coins into this well.

When we got hungry and thirsty, we went to the cafe next door. It was super delicious since they cooked everything by hand. The Latte was amazing.

After the visit of the White Temple, we went to the Singha Park. It was utterly beautiful and it was connected to a local traditional village which we later also visited.

It was here that I first saw kautschuk and how it was produced from trees.

Have a look at this lovely picture that Mathilde made for me.

Then we went to the hidden village at the back of this park and close to the mountains. I fell in love with that place. It was so peaceful and beautiful. The houses were not as shabby as we expected. Some of them were very well built and fancy.

Our day ended with a feast of fish, veggie hot pot, rotee and a peak into a cat Cafe.

You cannot miss the rotee when you come to Thailand. It is the most delicious dessert ever!

And this is the expensive cat Cafe. We didn't go in cause we did not take out enough cash from the ATM at that time.

How did you like our trip? Did you go to where we went? Share with us your advice and experiences in a comment. I always reply to your comments.

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Read even more from the Journey to the West series. Start from the top.

The Begin
Donated Rear Panniers
Last Shopping
Buying Supplies
The Map
First Day of Ride
If it Rains, it's Not Laziness
Long Ride in Shenzhen
The First Mistake and How We Fixed It
Don't Give Up the Bike Tour
Last Days in China
Biking Thailand Starts in Chiang Mai