This is what about 30 hours of travel looks like
So we landed in Bangkok and had a flight out to Lampang, which like I said was about two hours driving distance from Chiang Mai. Well, our flight from Bangkok to Lampang was delayed!!! Every minute counted...so we were ancy. But we finally got on the plane and ended up talking to this really nice man named Roland the entire flight. He was a middle aged African American guy with an awesome sense of humor from San Diego! He was a doctor and he would come to Thailand from time to time to set up different clinics. He was actually staying in chaing Mai too So he had some Thai friends that were picking him up when he got to lampang. When we arrived in lampang it was about 5pm. No way we would make it to chaing Mai by 6:30!! On top of that, the entire airport was about the size of a McDonalds, a small one, and there were no taxis anywhere. We grabbed our bags and were walking around aimlessly for a second trying to figure out what we were going to do when I got a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and it was Roland. We had already said goodbye and he wished us luck on getting to the festival, but when I turned around he said "follow me guys, I checked with my Thai friends and they have room for you to drive up to Chiang Mai with us!" We were so beyond happy to hear this!! The catch was that the pick up truck was full and we would be riding in the back with the luggage. No problem!! In fact, this turned out to be the best seat in the house! As we drove along to Chiang Mai and it got dark we could see lanterns spotted all over the sky being launched from different cities. It looked so cool!!! Almost like giant fire flies flying everywhere or little flashes of actual fire gliding through the sky. On top of that we were going through tiny cities with lots of cool little houses and jungly stretches with trees that smelled amazing. I'm so glad we got to do that drive in the back of a pick up - even if it did look like we had been down a wind tunnell to hell once we got to the hotel. Roland and his friends drove us straight to the hotel, which we were a million more times grateful for once we realized it was miles away from a bus stop, down a narrow road with fields everywhere, and learned that no taxi will go there. So basically what could've been a major disaster turned out to be one of the best and easiest quests we've had, all thanks to Roland. We were so grateful for him! Id like to send him a Christmas goose.
Chillin in the back if the truck - Wish you could smell the amazing trees and see the speckles of lanterns in the sky but unfortunately our camera can't capture that. So you get to see our faces instead.
So although we weren't able to make it for the initial launch of thousands of lanterns or light one ourselves that night, we got to see the after math! We got to our hotel around 7:30 and because it was so close to the launching point we were able to see this by a nearby field, it seriously looked like fireballs!!
Like a rocket blasting!
We found out it really didn't matter too much that we weren't there for the first lantern lighting, the festival continued for three days and lanterns were lit every night! Although just not as many all at the same time like they had the first night. But we got to light our own lanterns and send all our burdens and cares up to Buddha in the sky! We set it off over a bridge that was flooded with other people launching lanterns. I have never in my life seen anything like this before!! It was nuts!! And so much fun! The lanterns were massive and if they didn't get released at the right time (once it was completely filled with hot air from the flame) sometimes they hovered right above your head. A few times I was pretty sure my hair was going to catch on fire. And soo many lanterns got caught on tree branches or electrical wires and then burned until they fell to the ground - sometimes almost right on top of people!! Haha so much chaos but so much fun. We kept thinking - this would never fly in the US they'd have so many rules against where you could launch these. Man I love foreigners! Oh and they had tons of huge fireworks that went off sporadically through the night too!! Fires all over the sky!
And when masses lit their lanterns at the same time,..you'd get this!!
The city of Chiang Mai is nuts during the festival. Day and night. They had beauty pageants (which We were thinking would end up being a tranny show), parades, giant lit up floats and statues all over, markets galore, and way more people than the city is used to handling. Some were tourists like us, but many were other Buddhists from other parts of Thailand that come to Chiang Mai to celebrate. Hotels were sold out everywhere in the city.
No idea what this is trying to say but I appreciate the colorfulness
Even without the amazing lantern festival, Chiang Mai would still be one of our favorite spots in Thailand. It feels less touristy and has way more of an authentic feel. Really old, awe-inspiring golden temples laced the streets everywhere. They have some crazy temples and crazy statues. What is the spiritual significance of a seven-headed dragon or a sharp fanged half lion half goblin?? I have No idea, but they look cool and make great guards for temples I guess.
And of course lots of these!
We loved exploring this place and you really can't get around on their small streets unless you rent a scooter. For about $8 a day. We rode that hog all over - went to a tiger kingdom, saw monkeys on tricycles, all the stuff you gotta see when in Thailand. This place had the most amazing street food ($2 pad Thai) and the best juice vendors - everything fresh! and of course five dollar massages which we did every single day we were there. It was by far the cheapest place we went to in Thailand. And we loved that it had less of a touristy feel than other places - our favorite thing is exploring local markets, trying local foods and just blending in with our white skin, tan lines, blue eyes, and my blonde hair.
We barely got out of Chiang Mai before it got buried under water. The days consisted of beautiful sunshine and just enough humidity to feel like you were constantly bathing in sweat, But the last two nights we were there it rained hard. And non stop. Which, in an area where the streets are narrow...this is what happens:
Both nights we were out on our scooter and had to drive/swim home in the pouring (hot) rain! At least we weren't freezing but the worst part of it was that my unibrow and my mustache smeared :(
Crazy rain!!
Yes, I drew a mustache and a unibrow on myself and wore it around an entire day in Chiang Mai. No real reason, but i do love social experiments. It was funny to see what people did or didn't do. I got some compliments on it, some confused stares, some people didn't even give a second glance, and my favorite was when old Thai ladies would just start laughing. I don't know what it is but I think I look pretty good with a unibrow, I'm kind of getting hooked. Robby says I look great so I'm considering making it a permanent thing.
After Chiang Mai we hopped on a lovely night bus to Bangkok for just "One Night in Bangkok" before heading to Cambodia. But don't worry, we would be back for more.
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