First full day in Chiang Rai

I finally have net access once more, sorry about the lack of updates folks!.. Ill try to write up the rest of the Luang Prabang entries when I get a chance...

Today, I hired a moto and sped off north from Chaing Rai with Kirsty as my trusting passenger! We found numerous caves along the way filled with large Buddha images and bats... which also meant and abundance of bat-crap on the ground: We were not amused when were told to walk barefoot in one of the temple caves!

We also went to the "Monkey Mountain". This place was FULL of the most vicious simians I have ever encountered. Whilst offering a banana to a muscular monkey, he grabs on to my shorts and when I pull away he punched me! Then his mates started advancing at which point we chucked all the fruit in the air and thankfully they followed. The location also featured a temple with some large solid-gold buddha images and a large cave complex with some amazing natural lighting effects inside. Reminded me of a few scenes in the Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom film.

Finally, while just about ready to collapse we made the last push forward and went all the way up North to the Myanmar border at the town of Mae Sai!! This town featured some amazing Burmese handicrafts including large traditional marionettes for only 2 dollars! I wish I could have been able to buy a few.. but one day in my backpack and the things would be smushed. Ah well maybe Ill buy a few when I head to Myanmar. This town is also the northernmost point in Thailand, a point we made sure to remember by taking photos under the "This is Thailands Northernmost Point" sign

Tommorrow its more break-neck speeding fun on the bike... well at least they provide helmets here!