WANDERING WITH WILLIAM
  • Home
  • Blog

Chiang Rai & Long Neck Village

1/28/2020

0 Comments

 
We booked a tour to Chiang Rai for today. Originally I wanted to do a private tour but the tour guides were all busy, so we chose the small group tour closest to what we wanted to see.

​At 6:50 am we are waiting in the lobby of our condo building for our 7-7:30 pickup. That gives William enough time to visit our small coffee shop for an Americano. Several vans arrive and depart then finally a guide comes in holding a sign with our name scrawled in blue. We join two people already in the van and the driver pulls out into the light traffic. He navigates through the streets of Chiang Mai, skirting along Wararot market and further north into the fruit market area until we stop at We Briza Hotel and eight people from China pile into the van. All are wearing face masks.
Picture
​Our guide is Tim. He explains things in English for us and then repeats everything in Chinese. Our first stop is at a hot springs, about an hour’s drive through heavy-duty road construction. Thailand does not have volcanos, but it does experience earthquakes and there is a correlation. We grab a tea and coffee from one of the many vendors and walk around the area, which has some bubbling fountains of hot water and some pools where people are soaking their feet.
Picture
​Then it is back in the van for another 1.5 hours. Out the window we see mostly farmland and small towns. Our first destination in Chiang Rai is Wat Rung Khun, the White Temple. The White Temple is the project of a local artist, Chalermchai Kositpipat, who has privately funded the project. The Ubosot is the main building, which is reached by walking over a bridge with outreached hands below... perhaps representing hell or perhaps symbolizing desires which must be foregone to reach happiness. No photos are allowed inside the Ubosot, which is the main temple.
Picture
​There are six or seven other buildings in the project and we walk around enjoying their beauty. The gold buildings contain the toilets. It’s told that Chalermchai Kositpipat did not make them white because they are not considered pure. Hanging in a tree near one of the gold buildings are face masks of Hollywood characters. I don’t know why.
Picture
​Lunch is next at a local buffet-style restaurant just five minutes away and is included in the price of the tour. There’s a variety of mostly carb-based entrees, as might be expected. However, they do have a decent assortment of fresh local fruit, a highlight for me.
​
The Wat Rong Sues Ten, or the Blue Temple is our next stop. The Wat is still under construction, however the main temple was completed in 2016. The interior is an amazing blue containing a large white Buddha. Other sculptures on the grounds are mostly in blue.

Picture
​Tim suggests that one of the highlights of the Blue Temple is the home made coconut ice creams sold by the vendors. I stop by a stall that has a sign containing a variety of flavors. But it seems that the Thai woman mis-understands my request and the next thing I know I have a small waffle cup of coconut ice cream. Well, for 20 bhat (70¢ US) I accept it - thinking about my Cousin Randy who always teases his wife that he’s going to get a coconut ice cream cone so that she won’t try to share. I try the ice cream and it really doesn’t have much of a coconut flavor - soon I realize the waffle cup is empty.
Picture
Our last “temple” isn’t one at all. Baan Dam Museum, or the Black House Museum is the studio/home of the artist Thawan Duchanee, who died a few years ago. There are about 35 structures in the Lanna style of architecture as well as a few odd white orb-like buildings. The artist was fond of crocodile skins, antlers, buffalo horns and animal skins. He also collected drums and other musical instruments.

​Some of the more risqué things we see are the statues in front of the gift shop and the signs designating the men’s and women’s side of the toilets. We won’t include them here in the blog, but if you are easily offended beware - they are in our photo site.
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Hi.  I'm Anne.  I wander around the world with William.


    Enjoy Some of our Favorite Links below
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    RSS Feed


    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014


    Categories

    All
    9138
    Albuferia
    Alicante
    Ambato
    Antarctica
    Argentina
    Armenia
    Atlantic And Islands
    Barcelona
    Cambodia
    Cartegena
    Chile
    Colombia
    Costal Rica
    Cuenca
    Easter Island
    Faro
    Hungary
    Iceland
    Jaco
    Jakarta
    Knoxville TN
    Kuala Lumpur
    Lisbon
    Loule'
    Malta
    Medellin
    New Zealand
    Olon
    Panama
    Porto
    Portugal
    Santiago
    Scotland
    Seville
    Singapore
    Slovakia
    SouthEast USA
    Spain
    Taipei Taiwan
    Tavira
    Thailand Bangkok
    Thailand Chiang Mai
    Uruguay
    Usa
    Valparaiso
    Vancouver
    Vienna
    Vietnam Halong
    Vietnam Hanoi
    Vietnam Ho Chi Minh
    Vietnam Hoi An
    Vietnam Hue

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photo from A Vahanvaty