Having spent a relaxing night at the Doi Fah Hompok National Park at Fang we somehow got everyone up and ready to hit the road again by 9.30 the next morning.

A slow drive back down to the main road showed us so beautiful views as we passed the nearby rice fields where the workers all stopped their toil to wave to the kids.

From here we wended our way up through Mae Ai and on to Thaton, a sleepy village right on the border with Myanmar, (where it is possible to get a 3 and a half hour boat trip to Chiang Rai.)
Our first stop in Thaton was to the Sitting Buddha above the Chinese style Temple where you are treated to some spectacularly beautiful views.

We spent a fair time enjoying the peace and serenity up there. Just below this huge Buddha is another, this time the rotund, happy Buddha with knapsack on his back standing in a wonderfully landscaped ‘garden’ at a corner in the road up to yet another Temple. Here the kids loved exploring the cave pathway to the Buddha.

Inside the cave were various figures , from animals to Gnome like characters, carved into the stone.

The terraced ‘garden’ overlooked by the cheery faced Buddha is truly delightful. Finally managing to drag Jamie out of the cave we headed to the riverside to find some lunch. Parking by the river we were immediately accosted by a group of Hill Tribe girls doing their best to sell their wares. My poor sister Theresa got hounded quite vigorously

Having managed to get the girls to try elsewhere after giving them 20 baht each for the photo pose, we sat for lunch at a very friendly Thai cafe.

You are welcome to visit our photobucket album here for for photos of this and other things to do in and from Chiang Mai.

If you would like to read the next part of this 3 day excursion to Maesai visit this link …