This morning I went to visit the white temple once more, it always looks great especially when the sun in shining.

The golden building is the best looking toilet I have ever seen.

A few years ago the temple got damaged in an earthquake but thankfully the damage was only superficial. When you come to Thailand it is easy to get templed out because they all begin to look the same, but in Chiang Rai the Blue and the White temples are certainly worth coming to for a look. I have visited the white temple a few times but it’s always nice to see it again.

Yesterday I got pulled by the Polis but as soon as I raised the lid of me helmet and he saw the old foreign face looking back at him he sent me on my way. 😊

I’ve had this effect on many people over the years.

I went to the Blue Temple and so had everybody else,

On the way there I passed another temple of a very different colour and there was almost no one here at all.

This was an amazing place, an amazing collection of art much of it using animal bones and skins. There are so many different pieces of art to look at that it would take quite a lot of time to describe and so I will let the pictures do the talking. But if you have time do a search for the Black House in Chiang Rai.

I had to go to the loo while I was here and they have a unique way of getting you to the right side of the building.

Mind you there were a two odd looking characters standing outside this small souvenir shop.

I landed in Chiang Rai just after one o’clock and got the local bus into the city centre within a few hundred metres of my hotel. My hotel is down a small side street near the golden clock tower but alas once again my choice of location is not good. The noise from the road is just too much. The hotel come hostel is comfortable but I just can’t get a good night’s sleep with this amount of noise. I’m used to sleeping in a very quiet environment.

The clock tower chimes every hour but that’s not a problem as the noise it makes is rather pleasant, but the noise of the tuk tuks and motorbikes and of course there just happens to be a bar not far away that will play all your eighties hits well into the wee hours.

At this time of the year Thailand is very popular and so the accommodation is booked pretty quick and of course the prices are high. I was trying to keep to a budget for this trip but I think in the future I will have to rethink the way I choose a place to stay. I feel that it is more unlikely that the reviews are honest.

The reviews very rarely mention the traffic noise but instead focus on how comfortable the bed was or how friendly the staff were and the location was perfect but I think that like many things in life they turn out to be fake. Fake reviews written because the host was friendly and you don’t want to say anything bad because even although you want to speak the truth you lie on the reviews and then someone like myself reads it.

In China with Airbnb I know that the host and guest will often discuss the review and agree they will say that each other was fantastic. This generates more money for the host and maybe the guest will receive a small discount. I often dismiss reviews that I read when the reviewer comes from America or Australia or the Middle Eastern countries because often their expectations are too high, instead I am more likely to trust a review from a New Zealander or a Canadian, but maybe these guys are falling foul of the fakery.

Anyway I went for a wander around the place, visited the night market, had some very delicious beef and vegetable curry and on the way home I went for a foot massage which was even more delicious than the curry. After my trek the other day my feet were in need of some R&R.

Today I’ll go to a few local temples and then to a small cafe that serves local coffee and that’s about it for today. Tomorrow I’ll leave this hotel for another one close to the bus station where I’ll get the bus to Chiang Mai later. I hope that the new place will be quieter because it’s difficult to function if you don’t get a good night’s sleep.

At the airport waiting for my flight to Bangkok where I’ll pick up another flight to Chiang Rai. For those of you that don’t know where that is, we’ll it’s in the north of the country and I’ve been here before but I want to go to a couple of temples that I haven’t been to and then I’ll head to Chiang Mai in a few days.

The weather should be a little bit cooler which will be good because I want to do some more hiking. Krabi had been hot and humid even although it’s winter and so it doesn’t take long to be a bucket of sweat, mind you I had the motorbike and so after about ten minutes my clothes were dry except for me arse.

I didn’t sleep well last night due to three loud and drunken Polish guests. They made so much noise and didn’t really care about anyone else. There was an English guy with them that I had spoken to a couple of times. First time I saw him was 7.30am and he was waiting for them to unlock the fridge so that he could have his first beer of the day. He was a tall lanky tragic looking character who was growing a forehead and he had extensions in the little rat tail that hung from the back of his skull, he said he was an English teacher…….aye right!

He told me last night that him and his wife had stayed here for three days and he had only left the hotel once and the rest of the time he has been drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. What a sad way to live your life, mind you if you had seen his wife you would have turned to the drink too.

So I got up at 4am to get ready for the bus and so now I’m at the gate waiting for my fight and the air conditioning is cranked up to, or down to I should say, to cold max. The seasoned travellers have jackets and extra layers but there are so many that are wearing very little and are slowly freezing too death.

The trusty steed took me to Dragon’s Crest out Khao Ngon Nak nature trail which takes you up to a height of about 600m. When you arrive you are encouraged to give a donation of 100 bhat and they will also take you details on a log. Everyone must register and sign in and out which is a good idea.

The trail is rated as hard and I would say that’s true. The trail is easy to follow and looks like a dried up river bed in places. Tree roots and an uneven surface makes it challenging at times. It’s about 3.6km each way but what I noticed today was that you really have no idea how far you are from the end as there are no distance markers and so you must keep plodding on. The other day in Singapore I walked around the reservoir and the distance markers seemed to make it less enjoyable and I also felt more tired, even although the walk was a lot easier than today’s.

I took a few selfies as you do but was not as keen as others that were getting so close to the edge. For me the walk is the challenge and the goal, not to trying to get a picture of me doing a hand stand on the edge of a sheer cliff. I left before I got caught up in a potential disaster.

I rode about 100 km today and I’m feeling pretty knackered. The head wind at times was really strong and so I had to hang on tight, but I made it back to the restaurant where I hired the bike and had a late lunch dinner and now I’m sitting outside enjoying the sunset and cool breeze.

Tomorrow I head to Chiang Rai.

Day one was very lazy, had a wander around the place and then back for a siesta. I set my alarm for one hour but didn’t hear it go off because my Bluetooth headphones were still connected and were in my bag, but I guess I needed the nearly three hours that I was snoozing for.

I did go out for a walk in the evening for an hour and then back to the hotel. Spoke at some length to our Egyptian host.

Today I went to Tiger Cave and temple. The temple is on top of the hill and you have to climb 1237 steps to reach the top. Now it’s still winter here but the temperature is over 30c. I was covered from head to toe because I hired a motorbike to get around for a couple of days, I didn’t want to end up like the many tourists that are wearing virtually nothing catching the sun. Even when they are riding the bikes there is so much skin on show.

You are warned before you climb to be aware of the many monkeys that roam around. They will steal anything they can get there hands on and they are very capable of unscrewing the top from a water bottle or anything else for that matter.

The stairs are very steep, in fact unnaturally steep which makes the going slow and of course the monkeys are lying in wait. When I went up this flight of stairs there would be about ten of them. I wore my backpack on my front and put everything inside it. I stepped over two monkeys and then this one grabbed my trouser leg and then my backpack, I slapped it hard on the shoulder, it’s wee eyes told me it did not expect that… I slapped it again and it let go and I also told it to bugger off. It crawled away with its pride in tatters. From my left I heard a woman saying, “he hit that poor monkey, I like monkeys” seconds later the same voice said “its taken my water”

A small snigger and onwards and upwards trying hard to not look at the number on each of the landings and then before you know it I was at the 1000th step. A quick breather and a slug of water and then the final push to the top.

The view is spectacular but the top was so busy that I made my way down after ten minutes or so.

So many people on the way up looked like they were about to have a heart attack and I wonder how many do, it’s a tough climb.

I headed for fossil beach, apparently there are fossils there. The 200 bhat entrance fee stopped me in my tracks after I went on line to read a few reviews and look at a few pictures. I decided I would rather spend 200 on lunch.

Ao Nang Beach was my next port of call. A beautiful tropical beach, picture perfect. The planet has turned up and so I left. I was imagining lunch at the beach before the long ride home but it was not to be.

I returned to Krabi old town and had lunch and then back to the hotel to where I am at the moment swinging on the chair watching the world go by on Hogmanay. I believe it will be a very quiet evening for me. I’m not sure what Krabi is doing for me year but I won’t be going too far from home.

I checked out of Johor early and headed to Chiangi Airport. It’s an amazing airport and there is a lot of things to keep you amused while you wait for your flight. I haven’t been here for many years and it’s changed quite a lot.

You can go to the Chiangi Jewel, which is where you can spend many hours feeding your face or just wandering around looking at the HSBC glass waterfall or the maze or canopy walk, you can even see a movie.

The flight is short but no matter how short the flight we still have to get on board and it never ceases to amaze me how thick as pig shit many of the passengers are, for example….. let’s try and find my seat. Oh what number does my boarding pass say? 34 that must be near number 1 or 2 shouldn’t it. This must be one of the easiest things to do when flying, I mean you have managed to find the airport, checked in, got to the correct gate and you have also approached the guys at the boarding gate to see if the plane is boarding yet even although there are about two hundred people sitting waiting in the lounge waiting to board the same plane that you are asking about……… Breathe in, breathe out!!!!!

This is course is a consequence of cheaper air travel and will only get worse even although the facilities and services on offer are better. levels of customers will also increase, this is all to do with the natural selection phenomenon of today, the planet is becoming more stupid even although we have got access to more information than at any other time in history. In days gone by they would have never survived to their twenties and we as a species would be better off a result.

There was one Russian family and the macho father wasn’t happy when the young Thai security officer told him that he had to fill out an arrival card. Because of this slight detour he had lost his place in the queue, but that did not stop him from jumping the queue and pushing in…. Can’t lose face in front of your wife and two sons after all.

Even although he was through before me the baggage god gave me my bag first and he was still waiting.

I always feel like the tourists are just lambs to the slaughter when you arrive at a small airport because you have no options and have to run with what’s on offer even although everyone concerned knows that the prices being charged are too much.

Note to self, remember that inflation is part of the problem and don’t get upset when everyone is asking you the same question. Remember that you do know the answers but because you have had very little sleep and you are just a grumpy miserable old bastard due to your travelling companions…. Try to keep clear headed when buying the sim card or the taxi, because due to your stupidity you picked the wrong ones.

I love travelling 🤔