Chiang Rai, Thailand: Road Trip

After Myanmar I made plans to return to Chiang Mai, Thailand and stay with Freddy who I had previously stayed with in Bandung, Indonesia. He is the one who went to Banda Aceh a week after the tsunami, I posted some of his pictures earlier. He is now in Chiang Mai volunteering with a humanitarian organization dealing with the Burmese. I had originally planned to hang out and play poker for a few weeks but after "Black Friday" that was no longer an option

Freddy was hosting a few other Couchsurfers and they invited me to join them on a road trip to the Golden Triangle. They intended to do the Mae Hong Son loop as well but I had already done that so agreed to accompany them for the beginning of their ride.



Chiang Rai is only a few hours by bus from Chiang Mai but some how we managed to take 2 days to get there, stopping everywhere along the way, not that anybody was in a hurry








Chiang Rai is now best known for Wat Rong Khun or "The White Temple" as foreigners know it. It was designed by Chalermchai Kositpipat and construction began in 1997. The White Temple is like no other temple in SE Asia


When completed, the construction project of Wat Rong Khun will consist of nine buildings: the ubosot, the hall containing Lord Buddha’s relics, the hall containing Buddha images, the preaching hall, the contemplation hall, the monk’s cell, the door façade of the Buddhavasa, the art gallery, and the toilets. Chalermchai Kositpipat doesn't expect it to be complete for another 60 years


The human world. Hell and suffering


The bridge leading to the temple represents the crossing over from the cycle of rebirth to the Abode of Buddha


The white represents purity








Inside the temple is where it gets interesting. The back wall contains a mural depicting globalization and the horrors of war, consumption, power, greed etc. On the right side of the mural shows 9/11 as missals rain down on NYC , all the super heroes are there but nobody can save the day.


The left side of the mural, complete with Neo


This is the top of the mural, above the 2 pictures above. You cannot see it here but in the eyes of the demon are George Bush and Osama Bin Laden. The murals on the side walls are not yet complete and technically you are not supposed to take pictures inside but it is carriages leading to the front of the temple where a shrine to Buddha is. There are 4 artists working on completing the murals


The clock tower in Chiang Rai was made by the same artist as the White Temple. I don't think it matches the city but w/e


Just outside of Chiang Rai is the Black House which is the gallery of a different Thai artist Thawan Duchanee.


This place was really a pleasure to visit


Death is everywhere. Skins, carcasses, skulls etc.






It is a fairly large complex, the artist lives on site


It is really cool to see people who devoted their life to something and followed their passion




I don't know what this means, you tell me


yeah


This is cool because the skin on the chairs doubles as a drum and the acoustics in this room are awesome




They were carrying on to the Golden Triangle and then towards Pai which is a few hours into the Mae Hong Son Loop. I orginally planned to go to the Triangle and before they turned for Pai hitch a ride back to Chiang Mai. Instead I met a girl at the guest house in Chiang Rai who was headed to Esan, a province in Eastern Thailand. I wanted to go because they have some really good food. We decided to hitchhike there. We stopped in Phayao on the way


I was really intrigued by the girl which is also why I wanted to go. She was super interesting and one of the smarter people I have come across. Ridiculously well read for her age, only 20. Actually we first hit it off by discussing some Plato who is my favorite author. Anyway, her father was very high up in the Somali government in the 80's. He helped write their constitution and was the minister of culture and education. When the government fell in 1991 she went as a refugee to Kenya. Then to Europe and grew up in the Netherlands. She was a really cool girl, awesome to meet her


From Phayao headed to Udon Thani.


We wanted to hitchhike to Sukothai and caught a ride. We had to get off at a junction but the driver kept insisting he wanted to drive us to Bangkok which was several hours away. I think he just wanted the company. So we said fuck it, why not. Once again I was in BKK, always seem to end up there!


One of the many malls in Bangkok. This one is popular with tourist since it is "Asian style". Almost like a massive swap meet.




Victory monument in Bangkok


The next couple pictures are from when I was in Bangkok a few days ago, makes more sense to post them now. The rest of this trip report is from a couple months ago.


The BTS or sky train in the background


selling offerings


We split ways and I returned to Chiang Mai. Went to a couple temples I hadn't been to before


This is the entrance to the Sunday Night Market in Chiang Mai. It is a walled city, if you pass through the gate the road becomes a market on Sunday nights


On the day of the Buddha's birth/death thousands of people do a pilgrimage to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, a temple on the hill that I wrote about and posted pictures of earlier (Chiang Mai).


We left at about 7pm. It's a 10 mile walk up the mountain. There is free food and drinks along the way


Some music too


monks giving blessings




monk using technology, bad monk!




From Chiang Mai I returned to Bangkok for one night. Then flew to Macau where I spent 53 nights in the gambling capital of the world and poker capital of Asia




EDIT: I returned to the White Temple in Chiang Rai again several months later with a new camera. I'll add two more photos. Wat Rong Khun

Rented a scooter in Chiang Mai and did the return trip to Chiang Rai in one day. Sunset on the way back to CM