All packed and ready to go, another bleary eyed early morning bus ride awaited us. It was a short hop, our only option was a VIP bus for the three hour journey, of which we slept most of the way.
We had booked a hotel up in the hills of Chiang Rai, hoping for a relaxing time. We took a tuk tuk from the bus station and haggled on the price, only to feel a little guilty as it was a long half hour ride away. Bless him, the driver even gave us some tamarind to eat on the way.
We arrived in the middle of nowhere, at the Naga Hill Resort (www.nagahill.com), to be met by stunning views of the surrounding hills and green rice fields in the distance. We were shown to our cabin which was a rustic two storey Thai style house. Our bedroom being at the top, resting on stilts, an open-air bathroom downstairs, practically in the jungle, and a nice decking area underneath the bedroom with a hammock and Thai style cushions. We think we've done good this time! We arrived just in time for a delicious lunch and the afternoon was spent by the 25 metre pool overlooking the hills.
We spent five whole days here, relaxing by the pool, having our private hammock time and going for walks around the countryside. One afternoon we bought some fish food from the local Wat, which was perched on the edge of a huge lake near our resort and fed some enormous catfish. We have never seen fish as big or as ugly as these were!
Spending so much time by the pool enabled Adam to build up his confidence in the water and he swam 50 metres, bearing in mind the deep end was a massive depth of 12ft! Another plus point was that Clare managed to dive into the pool without her glasses on this time!
The restaurant here was amazing, with great views over the hills and the best food we had eaten so far, including Burmese curry and banana flower salad.
Naga hill was complete luxury for us and at a mere snip of £16 a night, if it was not for our Thai visa expiring soon, would have definitely stayed here for longer.
On a side note, "Naga" means a mythical serpentlike being with magical powers - which would explain all the stone serpent heads around the grounds!
Being so far up in the hills we have had our fair share of wildlife here including, toads, lizards, flying beetles and a takachan (the biggest and weirdest bug you'll ever see). All of which at one point or another seemed to take up residence in our bathroom!
In the morning another bus awaits to take us to Chiang Khong, the border between Thailand and Laos.
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