Reggae, Thaton, river cruise

The Chang Pai reggae festival was a fun evening, except the low temperatures after the sunset (lucky I took my woollen leggings with me!). Unlike the festivals I've been to before, the music didn't start until sunset although the listings indicated otherwise, so we had spare time to enjoy the sun and the festival feel (beer). The set I enjoyed most was by Kingkong Sound System from Langkawi - their music felt most relaxed and most reggae to me (I'm not an expert when it comes classifying music), stuff that I'd like to listen to. One of the guys I met at the awesome Diva hostel was there to see Easy Star All-Star who he really liked, but their dub covers of the Beatles and Pink Floyd just made me rather want to hear the originals.

On Sunday I braved a four-hour local bus from Chiang Mai to little town of Thaton. The leg space on the bus was tiny, but at least I didn't feel motion sick like the girl in front of me. Moreover, she was asleep when it happened, so her and people in front of her got a not-so-nice surprise. Thanon was surprisingly touristy, and in addition to numerous bungalows it had a Swiss chalet hotel/restaurant. The Wat Thaton area was definitely worth the climb up the hill, as it contained a number of impressive large buddha statues and beautifully painted stupa at the top of the hill. As I arrived in Thanon in the afternoon, I had a stroll up the hill in the low five o'clock sun that paints everything twice as pretty!

Today I took a long-tail boat from Thanon to Chiang Rai on Mae Kok river. The distance from Thaton from Chiang Rai is almost 100 km on road (probably shorter by river) and the boat journey took less than four hours with several stops at tribal villages and a hot spring. Travelling by the river is probably the best method this far (see all of the ones tried out in the post below) - fresh air, beautiful scenery and it is surprisingly cool due to the breeze. In Chiang Rai I've already seen the Hilltribe museum and now I'm planning maybe another trek in the hills before moving on to Laos. Also I've managed to spend a big portion of my today's budget on souvenirs handmade by the hilltribe women!