Our first modern temples

Today has been brilliant. We booked onto a tour that visited all the main sites of Chiang Rai, a method we always find helpful to see things we wouldn't be able to on our own. We started our day early with a visit to the White Temple or Wat Rong Khun as it's locally known. The renovated temple is only 15 years old and man who created it wanted to build a gift for the King. His ideas were laughed at so he borrowed money from his own family and friends as no one would help fund his project to renovate the temple. Now when they see the work he has created and the money the temple is bringing to the area he's had offers flooding in for funding all of which he declines. I admire him for believing in his design and idea so much that he made it happen and oh boy are we glad he did. This place is incredible. White ornate winding structures and statues all lined with reflective silver mirrors. Symbolic sculptures of hands rise from the floor near the entrance to remind you of the horrors that lie awaiting in the underworld. Traditionally temples are decorated inside with the story of the Buddha but he decided to honour modern heroes and icons in his own amazing art style. Now the walls are decorated with scenes including small characters of Michael Jackson, Harry Potter, pikachu, Iron Man and even Ben 10 amongst so many others. A large dragon's face is painted over the door and within the eyes he has painted George W Bush and Osama Bin Laden as a reminder that sometimes hell and evil lives on earth, so our guide said. The site also had amazing golden buildings which were used as the grandest toilets in the world, in my opinion. After spending time taking in how amazing this place and the creator is we headed to the Blue Temple otherwise known as Wat Rong Suea Ten. This temple was recently renovated in the past two years and has some incredible artwork inside on the walls. I found the colours and details of the painting in this temple so captivating that it has become my favourite temple so far. Next we visited the Black House museum which showed how local people lived and portrayed and very Africa/American feel and style with many bull skulls and animal skins shown. A tea plantation was next on the list and despite the rain the views were beautiful. We were able to sample some of the green teas grown there so that really added to the experience. We also visited a place near a cave where monkeys live. We didn't go in the cave as apparently the monkeys are quite aggressive and since we saw a girl get attacked by one we have become quite nervous of them. We were definitely happy when we left this stop. We next went to the boarder of Thailand and Burma where we could jump from country to country. This was followed up by a visited to the golden triangle where you can see Laos in the distance and to the right, Burma to the left and Thailand where we stood. All countries were separated by the Mekong River and it was so weird standing knowing you're looking at 3 countries at once. Not many people can say they've done that! We had a stop at a opium museum which was very interesting before one final view point before we returned back to town. Our guide was trying very hard to make it a fun and enjoyable day and he definitely succeeded. Apart from my beautiful trousers ripping we had a great day and managed to see so many wonderful places.Read more