Wat Rong Khun

Back at the bus station, I enquired and learned that a southbound bus would soon depart, and that it would stop at Wat Rong Khun. I boarded that bus and disembarked along the highway after a 20 minute ride.

Wat Rong Khun is also known as the White Temple. It was certainly very spectacular, but I couldn't decide if it was cool or if it was kitschy. The white temple was designed to reflect Buddha’s purity. To get to it, one had to walk through a nightmarish sea of hands protruding from the ground. Once past the hands, one crosses a bridge to the dazzling white temple with tiny mirrors inlaid. I guess this was a metaphor for rejecting temptation or evil, and then crossing a bridge to achieve purity. Anyway, the temple was quite spectacular, if a bit overrun with tourists. Indeed, it took ages to cross the aforementioned bridge because there were so many tourists taking pictures or selfies on the narrow bridge.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wat-rong-khun

After exiting the temple, I chanced across a sawngthaew driver who had just dropped off a passenger and was willing to accept a reduced fare so that he did not return to Chiang Rai empty. I took his offer - it sure beat standing by the highway waiting for a bus. He took me back to my guesthouse.

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