…The Great Northern Road Trip 2020 : Day 9
The story starts HERE.
My Trip Notes read “Pai to Chiang Rai. Difficult Drive.”
Now, that’s not a negative comment. To make the drive enjoyable, the more challenging the better, so long as I have plenty of time, and can enjoy both the wiggles and the scenery.
So, I carefully explained to Ms. Chuckles that I didn’t want to take the obvious route that went far too far south via Chiang Mai, but I really really wanted to take the northern route 107 over the mountains. She showed me which way we would be going and I gave her a gentle tap to confirm.
We were all set to take the blue route below, not the bottom gray one via Chiang Mai.
Things started well. The sun was shining, the mountains were spectacular, and about an hour and a quarter out of Pai, I stopped for coffee at the Witch’s House. Due to the roads, that was about 50kms. Anyhoo, it was a bit of en route fun…
But then, after about another hour and half of wiggles, I was surprised by how straight the roads had become. And then the road signs said “Chiang Mai.” That’s not right, I thought. So I stopped to check where the hell I was. You guessed it. Chiang Mai.
It seems Ms. Chuckles had decided the nutty farang didn’t really want to see any more mountains, and had rerouted me without so much as a squeak. By this point, going back would have been a time-consuming option, so we trundled on, got stuck in city jams, and eventually started heading north again.
I confess, I quite enjoyed the drive up to Chiang Rai. It was a four-lane road, under construction for what seemed like 50% of the way, but it wound gently through the hills.
I arrived early afternoon, and had plenty of time to visit the famous “White Temple” more correctly called Wat Rong Khun.
That story next.
