Heaven and Hell

This is the clock tower in Chiang Rai.  It's one of the first things you will see when you come into town, and, incidentally, just a few houses away from my guest house.

I flew into Chiang Rai at 8:30 in the morning.  Because I was a retard the night before, I'd basically only gotten 3 hours of sleep on a bench in the entry way of Don Mueang Airport.

I came to Chiang Rai for one purpose alone--to see the White Temple.  Ever since I'd first come across the image on an internet search teaching in Japan, it's been on my bucket list.  Better show you why.  Hush up and look at the pictures of it:

Lonely Planet says it's free, which the grounds are, but it basically costs $2 if you want to go inside the temple proper.  Lonely Planet is also wrong in calling it an art project.  Actually, no, it's a legit functional temple--you have to take your shoes off inside, no photos of the interior allowed, etc, typical temple stuff.  

It does happen to have been designed by an artist who was trying to create the most beautiful temple in the world using traditional Thai decoration in a modern context.  I'd say he succeeded...St. Basil's cathedral is the only thing I can think of that rivals it.

The entry way is lined with suffering souls and rotting ghouls, the torments of sinners.  White celestial beings guard the entry way; when you enter the temple, you'll see that it runs from damnation where you enter through a demon's mouth, to enlightenment and salvation where you exit on the Buddha's right side.

Steps to the back door.

Along the walls show the torments of life on earth moving to innocence and joy; everything in pink and blue and gold.  I wanted to stay there all day and just soak it in...but alas, the crowds were ushered on through.  

I'd show you pictures of what it was like, except, well, no photographs allowed.

Still, I have a guide book that has printed some of the artwork, and I can make liberal use of google's image searches, so here's a rough idea of what it was like inside:

I did not take any of these pictures myself.

You can also explore the grounds, which have plastered, glittering buildings in white and gold.  The place is actually a major tourist trap, so they have toilets and food and shopping, plus regular buses back into the city.

You can also purchase other works by the artist, including reasonably-priced T-shirts.

WORTH IT.

Also worth a trip, in the opposite direction, there is the Black House, another artistic creation.  This time, it's a village of dark buildings made of macabre imagery like this...

Just these very sinister buildings in the middle of this forest.  A local group of kids were playing funeral-style music in the opening exhibit when I first arrived, adding to the creepy effects.

The one caution I would make is that you have to get a bus, which drops you near by, but you've got to walk the last 800 meters to get to it.  That's like half a mile.  Not that awesome at 2pm in hot season when the sun is beating down on your sorry little Caucasian skin and brain.  Also the sheer multitude of loud, narcissistic Chinese tourists bears some comment.

Still worth it though, don't let my incessant negativity get you down.  Just use sense when traveling, unlike me.

The Guesthouse

There is also a Blue Temple, a Giant Buddha, and a lot of other cool things to do around Chiang Rai (long-neck people, hill tribes, elephant parks, etc.) but I was damn tired by the end of this.  I just went to my guesthouse and collapsed.