The White Temple

6^th of November

This morning was spent packing and stressing over travel. Our original itinerary had us leaving Chiang Mai and continuing on to Laos, however, it turned out that there was no room for us on the bus leaving Chiang Khong in Thailand to Luang Namtha in Laos. We were faced with the prospect of staying in Chiang Khong, a tiny border town for four days or making own way to Laos so we decided to do it alone. It was less of a decision and more of a choice that was thrust upon us by Stray which we are realising isn't quite as flexible or organised as advertised!

Anyway, we left Chiang Mai and made the four hour trip to Chiang Khong, stopping briefly at the White Temple. It was completely different to all the temples we've seen thus far but I quite liked it. The outside is very striking and inside the actual temple is really trippy. You can't take pictures inside temples but there was a massive dragon painted in the wall and in the eyes were George Bush and Osama Bin Laden. The wall was also full of murals of the twin towers coming down and then cartoons like Batman, Superman, Angry Birds and Michael Jackson.

The temple was designed and funded by some famous Thai artist and boasts his unusual style, which Rory and I were a bit unsure about but it was still worth the 30 minute stop. After that we arrived at our accommodation which was pretty basic but very impressive. 

The view was right across the Mekong river and surrounding hills and it had a lovely wrap around balcony. I would recommend staying here is you're ever passing through Chiang Khong but you'd really just have to pass through, there's not a lot to do as it really is just a border town. We had a group meal together and had an earlyish night – we're due to cross the border at 7.15am tomorrow!