November 29th to 30th
Up from Chiang Mai – 3 and 3/4 hours by road – is Chiang Rai, famed for temples and waterfalls. After the madness and crowds of Chiang Mai during Yi Peng and Loy Krathong it is an oasis of calm and laid back vibes. Any town with a mad gold clocktower that becomes psychadelic at 7pm each night has to be interesting right?. There are plenty of travellers and toursists here and at least 2 Irish bars are clocked within the first 20 minute walk around town but it feels like an established and relaxed mix of working town and visitors, of whatever guise. Of course much of the working town is to enable travellers and tourists. We negotiate our way, using google maps and translate (invaluable), to our peaceful colonial hotel and settle to a sunset before dashing out to see the town. We only have a scant 24 hours here and already I feel this is an area that is worthy of much more – a minimum 3 week stay – maybe next year, with scooter and hiking boots to really get out and about. This town feels welcoming and easy. We avoid the Irish pubs and make for Cat Bar – something of an establishment here. The other fairly obvious reason for the laid back feel could be the high nimber of cannabis ‘joints’ selling medicial and recreational weed. Legal here although a crackdown is rumoured. The air alone smells fairly heavy and heady.
In our 24 hours we manage to see 3 temples. At least they are all known as temples but only 1 claims any heritage or ancient relics. The White temple (Wat Rong Kuhn) is listed in Wiki as a museum and it is the vision and concept of the artist Chalermchai Kositpipat, made real in the 1990’s. The plans are not completed even now and building continues – despite this it is Chiang Rai’s most famous attraction. It is not a completely new temple as there was an original Wat Rong Kuhn on the same site which had fallen into disrepair.
From a distance and even up close it is fascinating. It really does shimmer and glisten giving an overall impression of purity and cleanliness. But the devil is in the detail quite literally as nearly everything is designed to example Buddhist teachings of how to overcome the evils of the world and move toward higher planes of being . The reliefs and sculptures detail evil scenes and warnings. Hands reach up to grab you from sculpture pools but there is a bridge to help you over them toward enlightenment. There are references to modern day superhero’s and villains everywhere confirming again the need for good to denounce bad. You cannot take pictures inside the main temple or ubusot, and in fact the inside does not match the opulence of the exterior. There were murals though and it was fun to see who could spot the most modern good/evil references. Elvis was there, Superman, Batman, Neo and Pikachu amongst others.
Back in the centre of Chiang Rai the Blue Temple (Wat Rong Sua Teng) was built in 2005 but only completed in 2016. Again it is on the site of a previous temple and was designed in modern style at behest of the local community. The artist or sala took inspiration from Kositpipat and the elements of grand scale and impact are similar. Everywhere is blue – exterior and interior. Inside this contrasts with the serene white Buddha who seems look down with peaceful bemusement. The modern feel to this temple is emphasised with the opportunity to make light bulb offerings. It is custom in Buddhist temples to make practical donations to keep the temple functioning. In other temples we have entered this could be gold leaf, candles, incense and the like. Here you could purchase and then offer pack of 8 light bulbs. The pack comes with a suggested offering prayer. I do love the pragmatic approach in Buddhism. It is about striving and offering in order to ask for good fortune and benefits – all leading slowly toward enlightenment. There is no shame in asking.
Lastly we managed to squeeze in a viewing of Wat Doi Ngam Mueang. This is a 14th century temple which holds a stupa containing the relics of King Mengrai, the founder of Chiang Rai. It is far more toned down – more wood and less gold. The stupa is ancient and brick. It is quiet and rather lovely
From Chiang Rai mid afternoon we are reminded to work on our own path to enlightenment and remain good natured and patient while we wait for the 2pm bus to leave. We arrived at 1.45 and for few joyful minutes between 1.58 and 2.10 thought we may be on a half full bus. Oh no – we waited for more and more people – mostly travellers with big backpacks like us. The 2.30 and the 3 pm bus left and eventually at about 3.15 we moved out with backpacks everywhere and the last traveller sitting in the rear footwell with his legs hanging over the side! 2 hours 30 minutes later we arrive at Chiang Khong for an overnight stop before the border tomorrow.
The Jam cafe provided us with supper – stir fried crispy chicken with garlic (although I do think it should have been named the other way around such was the amount of garlic!). It was gorgeous – beautifully fried garlic which was crispy, tasty and not the slightest bit bitter – no easy culinary skill. The owner chef here was short, round and smiley. She more or less told us what to have and then her hapless help took the plates to the wrong table. We managed to swap plates as necessary.
Back to our hotel, very full and admittedly a little garlicky to the nose. Laos visible from our balcomy – Huay Xai to be exact and where we were meeting the boat to take us down the Mekong tomorrow.
Nikki