[CHAING RAI DAY 1.]

I couldn't think of a cool name for this post so all it got was the towns name. Today we left Phrae and headed to a bigger town called Chaing Rai, we are in the most Northern part of the country now. We have two nights at this  hotel and we are very excited because they have wi-fi and a blow dryer (its the little things in life :)

First stop today was for coffee and tea at a local shop somewhere between Phrae and Chaing Rai. I got a Thai Iced Tea, which you can get back in the States I have seen it before, but its iced tea mixed with milk. It was soo delicious! My mom got a lattee and she said it was the best one she'd had so far in Thailand. She also picked up some really cute tea cups to bring home with her!

The next stop was the beautiful White Temple, Wat Rong Kuhn. The style was very different from all of the other temples that we have been seeing here and the color was all white. The artist/desginer of the temple was actually there when we were. He was taking pictures with locals and tourists and giving away autographs. I did get a picture with him but I did take his picture. His style of painting was much different from anything else you see in Thailand. Since I posted about a million pictures of the White Temple on Facebook I'll spare you on here. Like I always say the picture really doesn't do it justice. The temples are so large and they are so detailed but you really can't tell in the pictures.

This was one of my favorite I have seen so far and I think because it's so different from all of the rest! I seriously took so many pictures of this place! Okay just one more :)

After the White Temple we headed to a different temple where young monks attend school. This was also the temple where they found the Emerald Buddha. The Buddha is no longer here and is in now in the Grand Palace. There were lots of young monks walking around the grounds and some of them were kind of chubby. We were laughing because the monks only eat 2 meals per day and they are not allowed to eat after 12 (noon). I thought that maybe they just became monks so they haven't been doing the diet for that long? Who knows! Women are not allowed to touch monks in Thailand but the men are.

Then we got to see the temple of the "fake" Emerald Buddha. They have a replica Buddha inside which was cool to take photos of because I wasn't allowed to take photos of the real Emerald Buddha at the Grand Palace. We donated 30 Baht and got some orchids, a candle, and some inscents. First you give your flowers (or whatever other offering you bring) and place them on a special plate.

Then you say your prayer and bow to the Buddha.

This temple had the inscents outside of the temple in a seperate area so we walked over there and first lit the candle. You then place the candle onto the metal holders, which is way harder than it looks because you have to drip the wax on the metal so the candle will stick in it but I couldn't get it! After you get the candle to stick....5 minutes later hahaha, you say your prayer to the Buddha. There is another Buddha statue out here and I wasn't sure if you were supposed to say the same prayer or not so I kept it short and sweet. After you pray you light the inscents and then stick it in the sand. Then you bow to the Buddha and go about your way. I have made a new friend here in Thailand she is the one who was showing me how to do all of this! Her name is Ying and she works in the Bangkok office for the company we are traveling through. Every once in a while they go on the trips to experience what their travelers do!

After the temple we had some free time at the hotel. I uploaded, edited, decided which ones to keep, then uploaded to facebook all of my pictures from the past few days. It was nice to just relax for a little bit. My mom went and got another foot massage but this time real reflexology she said. I think I am going to start a foot massage count for her. Thats #3! :) Right before dinner time it started pouring out so we decided to just eat at the hotel. Nothing to interesting to write about but we did have a yummy tapioca dessert that had coconut milk and corn in it. I never thought I liked tapioca but tonight it was really delicious mixed with the milk. Tomorrow we are headed off to the hill tribes to see the long neck tribe which should be really interesting!

Sawasdee kah! :)