On arriving early in Chang Mai, we headed to get a bike for the drive to Pai. We had heard that it is horrible on a bus and Kate had driven it with a company transporting your bags for you. Unfortunately, the early train is too early and so we spent quite a while sat on a pavement waiting for the office to open. The glamour of travel! It was worth it though as the drive up was beautiful despite the hair raising bends- all 762 of them! The hotel was lovely and Pai itself very chilled. We had a great first night chatting with people over street chicken ( best ever-KFC had better watch out), listening to a father/son band and then, on Callum’s insistence, joining the 20 somethings in a lively bar. It was fun and we were “adopted” by some young Danish girls who wanted to know all our plans.

The next day, we pootled about visiting a canyon (Callum was very under-impressed) and a lovely bamboo bridge that was built over a field for the monks to walk on. We were accompanied by a lovely dog and the temple was so serene. It was our favourite things there, along with its puppy which we really wanted to bring home.

The drive down to Chang Mai was not the lovely one we had been expecting. Over breakfast, we had torrential rain which became drizzle but never stopped so we bought rain ponchos , dropped the bags and set off for a very long drive. It had taken nearly 3 and a half hours but we think we may have the record for the slowest ever on the way back. Many of the roads say “slippery when wet” which is not ideal on hairpin steep bends with an anxious passenger on the back. It drizzled/ poured all the way down but our only injury was a static one when I got caught up in my delightful poncho and fell over much to Callum’s hilarity- jolly sore!

We stayed one night in Chang Mai where we had planned to visit the Saturday night market. We’d been there 4 years ago with the kids and had to leave as it was so claustrophobic and insanely busy. This time, there were very few stalls and it was really quiet and a bit sad. Probably the starkest pre and post COVID difference we’ve seen.

The next day, we got a bus to Chang Rai to arrive for the Saturday market (which didn’t happen). We knew there would be a lot of temples but even Callum enjoyed them. All of the ones we saw here were new or still being built. They were quite amazing and all very, very different. The White Temple, which we had saved to last thinking it would be the best, was definitely the least religious (having superheroes inside) and seemed to the only one without any monks or people praying which was pretty strange. We felt it was so touristy and it didn’t really have an atmosphere at all. Even the toilets were created for effect which were a very stark contrast to many we have used over here.

Wat Huay Pla Kang with the huge Goddess of Mercy (Guan Yin), a temple and pagoda, was amongst the top ranking of the many we have seen. It was only finished very recently after just being a hut for a monk in 1997. You could go inside to see intricate carvings all in white as well as visit the other parts. There was a lift to take you up and we were saluted in and out of it by the uniformed lift attendant which perplexed us somewhat (so much was both saluted back😂- awkward!)

We also went to very strange museum Baan Dam Museum which houses exhibits from a famous controversial artist Thawan Duchanee. There were many strange thrones, crocodile skins, skulls, , paintings and rude objects. It was certainly a change from the temples!

For our last stop in the north, we headed to Lampang the closest town to the Sky Temple or Wat Chaloem Phrakiat Phrachomklao Rachanuson. This is a new temple/ pagoda which was begun in 2004 on a mountain. What makes it amazing is the monks carried everything up by hand to build it and it was quite a climb even with the stairs. We were quite amazed by it despite the views not being good because of the burning.