I've not done much in Chiang Rai. I think I'm getting tired of travelling the north - I'm looking forward to the beaches and islands in the south. There is quite a lot to do up in this part of Thailand, including trekking, visiting hill-tribe villages and going on to Burma or Laos. I think I'll have to come back here sometime and do some of those things.

There's a couple of important temples in Chiang Rai, including Wat Phra Kaew which is where the emerald buddha image (which is made of jade) that is now in the temple of the same name in Bangkok originally resided a few hundred years ago. I visited Wat Phra Kaew and Wat Phra Singh, as well as one other Wat, the name of which I don't know.

I went for a long walk around the city today. Being Sunday, most shops were closed, but there was a large market with everything from fresh fruit to toys to caneware. Chiang Rai is a pretty clean city really. Some of the streets in the main shopping area reminded me of Shepparton in country Victoria. I found my way to the Mae Kok river, which is the way I was originally planning to get into Chiang Rai - by boat from somewhere further south. Maybe I'll do that some other time as well.

I got lost, as I pretty much expected I would. One of the good things about Thailand is it's public transport system is so comprehensive, (even if some of the vehicles are on the slightly un side of roadworthy). This means that if you do get lost somewhere, it's usually a simple matter to hail a tuk-tuk or a songthaew or a samlor or a taxi and ask them to take you to the place you're trying to find. This time around, I didn't need to do that, as I eventually found my way back to the guest house.

Tomorrow I'll be taking the bus back to Chiang Mai, where I'm going to catch the night train back to Bangkok, and from there catch another train south, maybe to Surat Thani first.