Crossing over to Lovely Laos21 Sep 2009
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The remarkable Wat Rong Khun 'The White Temple' just outside Chiang Rai
Entrance to Wat Rong Khun 'The White Temple' just outside Chiang Rai
Hell and damnation..hands screaming to be released from 'hell'
I had read about The White Temple a few days before reaching Chiang Rai and hired a red taxi to bring me to it. It was so worth the visit and incredibly it's not in the Lonely Planet??! This is a new temple - only 12 years old and the mastermind project of one of Thailand's best known buddhist artists - Chalermchai Kositpipat. It's a bit like a Gaudi project in that it won't be finished til 2070 so he is unlikely to see his life's work completed. This chap is from Chiang Rai so it's a bit of a mission for God, Buddha and Hometown for him.
After a while one does suffer Wat Fatigue so this White Temple is really memorable and stunning when I saw it in bright sunshine under blue skies. White being the symbol of purity. There is also an unusual bridge you walk over with hands flying up - representing hell and damnation I suspect. The message is clear. To get to Buddha, one has to go through lots of suffering.
You will notice the only gold building are the loos which were definitely the fanciest I had seen since arriving in Asia :-)
From there on it was a local bus to Chiang Khong to cross from there into Laos, into the border town of Huay Xai.
I spent a beautiful evening drinking LAO BEER and watching boat races on the Mekong. An Asian Henley on Thames without the finery. Overnight in Laos I became a millionaire as the currency is 12000 Kip to the euro so I had 2.5million Kip on me at one point.
