King for a Day

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By Christina

We blew into Chiang Rai after a three hour bus ride from Chiang Mai. We had decided to break up the journey to Laos by stopping in Chiang Rai for a night and settled into a little guest house that was clean and quaint, with a lovely garden setting. Plus, at about $9 per room, per night, the price was right. Since Chiang Rai has no “must see” tourist sites, we focused on pleasure instead.

First stop was Da Vinci’s, an Italian restaurant in the center of town that we stumbled upon while searching for food. With a wood burning oven and San Pellegrino on the menu, this place was darn close to the real deal, and without question the best Italian food we have had since Italy. The pastas were homemade and the pizzas were served piping hot from the oven. Despite the gelato on the menu, no one had room for dessert and we waddled out of there very content.

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Our bellies full, we went in search of our next source of pleasure: massages. I had told the kids that I would treat them to a massage as a thank you for being such great sports on the trek. (By the end of the hike, Grayson was walking with bloodied feet and still carrying his pack, but never once complained). We found the perfect spot that offered up both the standard Thai full body massage along with the add on of foot massage (for me and Abby) and head/neck/shoulder massage (for Grayson). The massage ladies were real pros and did a great job working out the kinks and stretching our sore muscles. We left there very relaxed and mellow.

We capped off the day with a movie on our portable DVD player. This was tougher then it sounds. The volume on the computer is pretty low, even at its highest setting. So, in order to hear the movie, we had to turn off all of the fans in the room. Even at 8:00 at night it is darn hot in this part of the world (90+ degrees), so the room quickly became a sauna. Cold showers and being nearly nude helped, but it was still sweaty. We still enjoyed the movie, however, and went to bed sated from our pleasurable day.