Get to the airport early: We typically reach an airport three hours prior to our flight, just to get through the process with time to resolve any issues. We were flying from Bangkok to Chiang Rai in the far north of Thailand. Our pre-arranged taxi picked us up at 9:00, plenty of time for a 50-minute ride to the airport. But just as we were arriving at the airport, Sara realized that the taxi was about to drop us off at the wrong airport. The service had given the driver the wrong information. Happily, the driver changed course and still got us to the correct airport at 10:00, in plenty of time for our flight. We were glad that traffic was reasonable on this Monday morning because of a national holiday, and glad that we always plan to arrive early.
It was a short flight, about 1 ½ hours. We were met at the airport by our driver, Tony with whom we would spend the next two days. He was a lovely young man, who drove us to our hotel in Chiang Rai and prepared us for our long day of sight-seeing on Monday and a long drive to Chiang Mai on Tuesday. Along the way we learned that Tony grew up in one of Thailand’s “Hill Tribes,” the Akha people, and became a monk for ten years. We enjoyed traveling with him very much, and he helped us to understand Thai Buddhism, the country’s primary religion.
Dinner in Chiang Rai: In the evening we walked the town to find a restaurant, Barrab that was fantastic. Our hostess spoke English fluently and fully explained the menu to help us order. The food was great and amazingly inexpensive. Our total bill was about $20 including drinks. This was the food of northern Thailand, of the Lanna tradition, different from the food of southern Thailand.
Walking back to the hotel, we stopped to see the Clock Tower, which sits at a roundabout in the center of town. It’s an ornate golden structure that features music and a lightshow as it hits the hour. Very nice and entertaining.
Chiang Rai Highlights Tour: With Tony as our guide, we enjoyed a day filled with temples and more. Since this tour was designed with Temples in mind, I should summarize what we learned about temples:
So what’s a Temple? We begin with what we know, and then we make assumptions about what we don’t know. That’s why we often get it wrong. In the west, we know about churches and cathedrals. So wouldn’t a Buddhist Temple be like a cathedral? A large, ornate building where people pray and worship. Just as many in the west think that Buddha is a god and that Buddhists pray to him – not true. Buddha is very unlike our western God or Allah. And a Thai Temple is not like a Western Cathedral.
What we learned: First, a temple is not a single building, like a cathedral. It’s an area dedicated to the Buddha. A surrounding wall separates the temple area from the outside world. Within that wall may be any number of buildings and monuments, all ornately and beautifully decorated, with many sculptures of the Buddha, both large and small. There are temples all over Thailand, in every village, and many in each city. Within just the walled one-square mile that is the Old Town section of Chiang Mai, there are some thirty+ temples. Within a central building there’s usually a major figure of the Buddha, almost always facing East. Buildings often feature multiple Buddhas, as well as statues of prominent monks/teachers. Temple buildings are ornate and richly colorful, both inside and out. At the gates to the wall, and at the entrances to many buildings, will be large figures called The Guardians to protect the space. Sometimes Guardians are dragons, snakes, or fierce warriors with blades drawn. Temples may also feature large outdoor images of Buddha, most often in gold, that can be seen (on a good day) for miles around. Buddhist temples in Thailand are remarkable for their beautiful artworks and for their peacefulness, their serenity.
Temple Hopping: Our first stop was at The White Temple, (Wat Rong Khun). It’s as much art exhibit as a temple, still owned by the artist who built it, Chalermchai Kositpipat. This is not an ancient religious site, but a remarkable art exhibit opened to the public in 1997. So now it’s also a tourist attraction bringing visitors to the north of Thailand. It’s a wonderful blend of traditional and the new, with a sense of beauty and humor. The pictures will give you only a glimpse.
Our next stop was The Blue Temple, (“Wat Rong Seur Ten” which means “House of the Dancing Tiger”). It’s also quite new, having been completed in 2016 by Putha Kabkaew, an artist who once apprenticed with Kositpipat, the creator of the White Temple. This too was amazing, like the other, but far more colorful.
Next was the Black House Museum, Baandam Museum, the work of national artist Thawan Duchanee. It’s a collection of around forty small brown and black buildings, mostly wooden, that feature the artist’s collections of paintings, sculptures and artifacts from around the world. Duchanee’s work explores the dark side of nature and humanity, so some view this trip as including both the “heaven” of the White Temple” and the “hell” of the Baandam Museum.
After a great lunch near the Black House Museum, Tony drove us up to the Golden Triangle where the Ruark and Mekong rivers meet at the borders of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. On a longboat ride on the river, we saw construction activity on the eastern, the Laotian side, where Chinese money is funding a large resort and gambling complex, but it still looks pretty empty.
On our return to Chiang Rai, we stopped at the Chiang Sean SkyWalk. Normally we would have enjoyed a great view from this mountainside, along the river and well into Laos. But there are no blue skies and no great views today.
Our final stop on this tour was one more temple, Wat Huay Plan Kang, featuring a huge hillside statue of Guan Yin, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. We climbed up the steps outside and took the elevator inside to look out across the valley below through her eyes. Even inside, the sculpted walls featured fascinating figures, all in white.
Why No Blue Skies? Notice that our photos all feature bright, white skies. The weather reported these days as clear and sunny, but we saw no sun, and really no clouds. These pictures should have reflected lovely blue skies. Here’s why they didn’t.
We knew about Thailand’s “rainy season,” so we planned to avoid that. But no one warned us about “the burning season.” Between January and March, many farmers burn their leftover vegetation as a quick and easy way to clear their fields. Sometimes the effects are so prominent that you smell the smoke in the cities, as we did in Chiang Rai. Weather reports said the skies were clear, but we saw no blue skies. Atop the mountains we looked for great views, but we saw only hazy skies, visibility was so limited.
From Chiang Rai we travel 4 hours by car to Chiang Mai. Along the way we stop at another beautiful temple. Wat Saeng Kaew Phothiyan is one of the most beautiful temples in Northern Thailand. While not heavily visited by foreigners, it is very well known throughout Thailand.
