6 Months in Kuala Lumpur: Exploring the Nearby in Chiang Rai: White Temple, Black House

Shortly after the new (Western) year, while the kids were off school, Heinz was home and his mother was visiting, we decided to take a road trip to Chiang Rai, Thailand's northernmost "large city", as per Wikipedia.com: roughly a quarter million inhabitants. It is a relatively easy three and a half hour drive away through rolling hills so we headed there for a few days to check it out.

We stayed in a lovely hotel along the river and the January weather was warm enough for outdoor activities.

Conrad tended bar.

Palm trees provided a poolside oasis of tranquility (if one could overlook the running, screaming children).

We ate our meals with Grossi on the terrace beside the Kok river.
Conrad discovered a love of ping pong and wanted to play endlessly.

He never did win a game, poor love. But he was winning more and more points by the end.

Although Chiang Rai has a fairly long history, established in 1262, there is not much left of the old city to warrant sight seeing in town. Instead we headed a few kilometers south to see the temple for which it is most known: Wat Rong Kuhn, the "White Temple", a modern Buddhist Temple complex being built by local artist Chalarmchai Kositpipat. Taken from TourismThailand.org:
One of the "most beautiful temples built in this century. A masterpiece of artist Chalarmchai Kositpipat, {a Chiang Rai native} , famed for his extravagant and unique Buddhism-related paintings, Wat Rong Khun reflects the artist's grand visions of heaven, hell, and Nirvana."..."Look closely and you'll see pictures of international heroes like Spiderman, Sailor Moon, and even Ben 10 hidden in the murals....Donations are welcome but should not exceed B10,000 (about 310 USD) as Chalarmchai doesn't want to be under the influence of big donors, even though he's spent more than B40 million (roughly 1.3 million USD) of his own cash."

We ended up visiting twice as we arrived late enough the first evening to miss touring the grounds. The stark white buildings are quite striking against the bright blue sky of the late morning and the pink sky of an evening sunset.

According to Thailandforchildren.com, "departing from the expected gold, Chalermchai chose to construct the temple in white, symbolizing the purity of Lord Buddha. The mirrors embedded in the structure reflect light, representing the Buddha's wisdom shining out across the Earth and Universe."

The entry bridge to the temple is intended to symbolize rebirth, crossing into a higher realm.

The surrounding temple grounds span the gamut from the extraordinarily decorated to simplicity and grace.

Thai angels sculptures.

As parts of the complex are a functioning monastery, we did see many brown robed monks walking the grounds. Some appeared to also be visitors, some seemed to be going about their daily business. My favorite aspect of the complex were the prayer-card trees.

The Buddhist version of a prayer card:

these beautiful metal leaf ornaments, inscribed in Thai, are hung around the temple grounds on "trees" and from the roofs of the covered sidewalks.

But the elegance deteriorated for me as we entered the temple itself. The entry bridge, guarded by a demon,

spans a very graphic depiction of the pits of hell, complete with tortured souls, grasping and writhing as they try to escape the underworld.

I understand that the artist's intention is for this to be a Buddhist temple but it seems to me that it's his own warped art project. And $1.3 million is no small sum of money to be spent! Referring to the mural mentioned above, most Buddhist temples include murals on the interior walls depicting spiritual stories or scenes from the life of the deity being honored. Unfortunately we were unable to photograph the murals here but they were definitely, shall we say, unconventional, including many modern, non-spiritual characters. Seeing Michael Jackson, Neo and Agent Smith from the Matrix, Stormtroopers from Star Wars, 20 and 21st century political figures, tends to lessen the **spirituality** I, for one, might otherwise feel. He may not be under the influence of rich donors but I'm convinced he is under the influence of something because much of the sculpture around the property is just bizarre. And a bit monstrous.

Even the traffic warning cones, "witches hats" for my British and Aussie friends, lean on the darker side.

While there, we entertained ourselves by taking pictures of each other taking pictures of each other....(a twist away from our sport of taking pictures of the locals taking pictures of the kids!)

I guess this means drooling dogs are not allowed...good thing we left Ginger at home.

I'm never quite sure which I think is worse: sharing shoes with strangers or walking barefoot in a public bathroom.

You may notice that the building housing the toilets is gold, not white. According, again, to Thailandforchildren.com, the artist used this departure from the white used elsewhere to depict the worldliness of this building and its functions.

The next day we headed north to the other modern attraction in Chiang Rai: the Black House, equally striking and dramatic, both the colors and the architecture, but also creepy in it's own right.

Taken from ChiangRaiTourism.com:
"The Black House (Baan Si Dum)...is an entire complex that includes many 'houses' just north of Chiang Rai. Artist Thawan Duchanee {also a Chiang Rai native} has spent many years building and improving the site-which happens to be his estate...Some say the Black House is the complete opposite of the White Temple. They would be right. While the White Temple is quite literally white, full of glimmer and gaudiness, the Black House is dark, quiet and has an organic feeling. By organic, we mean the entire complex is made of wood, dead animals and landscaped in a very calming way. Where you might have to endure crowds at the White Temple, the Black House is relatively tourist-free and peaceful."

This first house at the entrance to the site is the largest of the houses.

From what I can tell, it's a dining hall with tables that could easily sit 200 plus people.

With really interesting tableware. Perhaps King Triton dines here.

This chair made me think of the Lord of Darkness from the movie 'Legend'. Cue the Tangerine Dream!

The architecture is truly striking; again, like the White Temple, very dramatic.

And the statuary on the grounds is interesting.

Animal skins, skulls, bones and horns are everywhere you look. Some of the tropical plants one finds in Southeast Asia are the most frightening part of all. Don't get to close to that thing Vivienne, it might eat you up!