CHIANG RAI - FISHING, WATERALLS AND TEMPLES

After a couple of circuits of the town for a look, we headed back to the outskirts to find Khieng Doi Fishing Resort, about 8km out from the town center in the direction we had just come in from.  At 400bt a night, we checked in to a great wooden cabin set on the other side of the fishing pond, almost in the forest with an awesome feeling of being far from civilisation and close to nature.

Before the day’s dust had time to settle, I was rigging up a line and getting a few casts in at the pond, over a well deserved large Chang, 180 bt to fish here with their rods, 80 bt if you have your own gear with you.

 The place was packed with locals and we were all consistently catching fish, though it seemed there were only average sized pla suwai in here, after getting a late start at 6pm I still managed 4 fish in under 2 hours with minimal effort.  After destroying that first Chang I ordered a small bottle of Sangsom and was making quick work of that also, a far greater priority over fishing at this stage in the day. 

But it was a nice park with good rooms, a big pond that seemed to fish fairly easily and quickly, in a great location at good prices – a lot to like about the place. 


Our room at Khieng Doi Fishing Resort

The next morning we headed south west from town to check out the famous Wat Rong Khun, or 'The White Temple', which is more of an art piece than a place of worship but definitely worth the trip especially when entry is free! 

Continuing on this road, we rode another 20 or so kilometers to Khun Kon Waterfall, a really great spot to visit and almost the perfect waterfall.  By this I mean it was a good hike getting into it, no concrete paths but a well worn jungle track, about the right distance with a few hard hill sections, barely any other tourists there and a rewarding waterfall at the end which you can swim at.  Once again - no entry fee, definitely worth a look.

After that we rode far and wide just exploring the area and then town itself, we had planned to take the boat trip on the Mae Kok river to Tha Ton but needed to take the scooter with us.  After scouting many places we found it was certainly possible but would cost around 2800 bt to do it, tickets are normally 350 bt but we would need to charter the whole boat.

It is supposed to be a great journey boasting excellent scenery, with options to stop in different villages along the way and I’d still like to do it, but this time was a bit more than I wanted to pay, considering we would have still had to ride from Tha Ton to where we were going after the boat ride.

Back in town we stopped at some flower park/entertainment venue type place, Noi loves flowers so she really enjoyed it, plus I'm quite a keen gardener, more so into my foliage design rather than flowers, but it was pretty amazing the way this place was designed.  

Then we scoped the night market which was pretty good, definitely a cut above most Thai night markets, plenty of great eats and shopping to be had here.

For those that don't know, many places have public toilets that you pay 3-5 baht to use, but this was the first time I have ever seen this coin operated turnstile being used!

Some really tasty roadside Thai food on the way home at a whopping 80 bt for 2 people and we finally rolled back into the fishing resort sometime after 8pm, no fishing for me that day and we would be checking out in the morning.