My Travel Adventures

This weekend, Reese and I travelled to Chiang Rai, a city nestled in the northernmost corner of Thailand, and so far north that local agencies offer two-day boat rides to Luang Prabang in Laos. Chiang Rai was founded in 1262 by King Mangrai, who named it after himself: the word “chiang” means city, so a loose translation of “Chiang Rai” would be “the City of (Mang) Rai.” Heir to the kingdom of Ngoenyang, Mangrai unified the city states (or mueangs) of northern Lanna and present-day northern Laos, establishing the Kingdom of Lanna.

I imagine I would have passed a pleasant night in Thimphu, as it was warm under the covers and cold above them, but I made some bad choices yesterday whose consequences caught up with me by around half past four in the morning. There is a dish in Bhutan called ema datshi, which is traditionally made of chilli peppers, onions, and a liquid form of yak cheese. It is delicious, but the unusual combination took my stomach completely by surprise, and I spent the rest of the day dealing with the consequences at various pit stops.

As our tour group was supposed to arrive some time before noon, my dad and I made a trip to the more modern, eastern part of central Kathmandu in the morning. We walked to the Narayanhiti Palace (which does not open until 10:30 on most days), after which we headed south to the Clock Tower and the Jame Masjid. Despite no longer housing a royal family, the palace receives heavy armed protection nowadays, which is ironic considering it witnessed one of the most shocking massacres in modern Nepali history when the king was still in office.

We arrived at the train station in Salisbury in the evening, so we quickly checked in and ate dinner. As my friend had never been to the UK before, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to immerse him in the local culture: not only did we have dinner at the local Wetherspoons, we stayed the night in the adjoining King’s Head Inn Wetherspoon. Before going to sleep, we made a quick excursion to Salisbury Cathedral, which was beautifully lit up and peaceful (I resisted a few disgruntled calls to be spontaneous and just walk in any direction for an hour).