Nam Mae Tak

The final stop of our month in Thailand was in Chiang Rai (not to be confused with the previous stop, Chiang Mai 🙃). We entered the country at one of the southernmost land borders a month ago, and Chiang Rai was the last stop before exiting from one of the northernmost border posts (see our next post for a watery border crossing).

The city itself is quite small, but its economy is clearly adapted for backpackers and tourists. There are a lot of western-coded bars (Steve’s Hangover Bar, Siam Corner, etc) and international restaurants. The markets are mostly full of souvenirs and mass-produced clothes made in China. The major temples are apparently exceptional examples of contemporary spiritual art and seem heavily geared for tourists and photo ops. That said, we definitely took advantage: Dan got some new clothes, we enjoyed a rare Italian dinner (a traitorous decision on our last night in Thailand), and visiting the modern temples was a *UNIQUE* experience.

The two big landmarks in Chiang Rai are the Blue Temple and the White Temple. Both are relatively modern, and that means the decor is extremely strange (or, at least, not what we expect when we think ‘Buddhist temple’). The Blue Temple is surrounded by a large car park, and is full of what appear to be AI-generated portraits of the Buddha, as well as huge fibreglass statues covered in skulls. It feels like a Disneyland parody of Buddhism.

The White Temple, somehow, managed to be even stranger. It was designed by 'nationally renowned artist', Chalermchai Kositpipat, who accepts no donations over £250 so that his artistic vision remains untainted by big donors. His vision is so untainted that it is blinding. The whole place is incredibly intricately adorned and startlingly white, with tiny mirrors embedded in the plaster, so that it looks like a bleached coral reef on land. To enter, you cross a bridge between two massive fangs, over a pool full of demonic grasping hands. A recorded voice shouts ‘Do not stop on the bridge, please keep moving’ in English, French, Spanish, German and Mandarin, on repeat, at volume. Very spiritually profound. Once inside, the real fun begins: the deep red interior is overlaid with a mural of Buddhist symbology and religious figures interacting with various icons of Western pop culture, including Yoda, the Terminator, Harry Potter, Spiderman, the Minions, Pokémon, Angry Birds, Michael Jackson, and many more. It’s like stepping into a twentieth century pop culture-themed vagina. To really bring the point home, the mural also includes a painting of the 9/11 attacks, the planes soaring out of oil wells. We snuck a photo on the assumption that the spiritual purity of the place couldn’t be any more sullied than it is by MJ moonwalking across the back of a guardian naga serpent while the War on Terror begins.

For regular readers, you may remember we are keeping a 'spiciness index' for each country we visit. We can now include Thailand too. In descending order:
- Malaysia: 9/10
- Indonesia: 8/10
- Thailand: 7/10
- Singapore: 4/10
- Timor-Leste: 4/10
- Australia: 0/10

Our overall review of Thailand: there are some really beautiful areas of this country, the food is delicious, and it's very affordable. However, we struggled to get past how touristy a lot of it is. Obviously we are tourists, but we prefer places that arent entirely oriented to providing for our needs - we want to have to learn a little of the local language, be forced to figure out how things work, not totally mollycoddled. We often found ourselves among crowds of visitors, overwhelmingly white, which made a lot of the experiences feel inauthentically adapted for a Western gaze. There is clearly a richness to Thai culture which we caught glimpses of in the quieter areas, especially Ayutthaya and Chiang Mai, but often it gets obscured by the easy, western-friendly hospitality industry. For a relaxing family holiday or a beach resort break, it is surely one of the best places in the world. But for a more involved backpacking trip where we want to be immersed in the local culture, it left something to be desired. We much preferred Indonesia by comparison! It will be interesting to see how the rest of Southeast Asia compares... we'll report back over the next few weeks.Read more