Chiang Rai

Dec 23rd, 2016

The next stop on our tour of Chiang Rai was Baandam (Blackhouse) Museum.  I am not sure how to describe it – studio/museum/house.  It was a collection of 40 or so ornate structures featuring the work of Thawan Duchanee, a Thai contemporary painter, architect and sculptor.   I have to admit, I am not a contemporary art fan, if someone has to explain it to me or if I look at it and I cannot figure out what I am looking at or why, I am not interested.  As I walked around, the only thing I was inspiration I felt was to leave!

Granted I was feeling a bit under the weather but I was having a hard time trying to figure out what the purpose any of this was.   There were these beautiful ornate Thai style buildings and then there was one in the shape of a whale.  The artist loved to use antlers to make objects and for decorations along with snake skins and alligator skins.  It was somewhat interesting to look at for 10 minutes but after that, I found it repetitive and pointless.  By the reviews on Tripadvisor.com and by the way the crowds of people acted, I guess I was in the minority.  I guess that is art and this was one stop I could have done without. Continue reading →

Wat Rong Khun

Dec 23, 2016

I unfortunately lost a day.  I was fine on Wednesday until the evening.  I spent most of the night with a bad fever. On Wednesday, I made a trip to the International Hospital and was diagnosed with a bad infection.  I was given strong antibiotics and although I was pushing it, I refused to lose another day of vacation.  I had booked a driver to see a few things.  The first stop was Wat Rong Khun and no, this is not a Winter Wonderland!

Wat Rong Khun known as the White Temple is designed and owned by Chalermchai Kositpipat, a renown Thai Artist.  The white signifies the purity of the Buddha while the glass symbolized the Buddha’s wisdom.  I have seen a lot of temples, I have never seen anything quite like this.  Then again, this is technically not a temple. Continue reading →

December 21, 2016

Got up early to catch our flight to Bangkok and then on to Chiang Rai.  I took a picture of the small hotel we stayed at called “Scent of Sukhothai”, it was really nice and the staff was very accommodating.  They even started breakfast a 1/2 hour earlier so that we could have breakfast before we were picked up to go to the airport.

We flew out on Bangkok Airways which we had been using for all of the internal flights within Thailand.  I have been pretty impressed with them. The call themselves the boutique airline.  This time the plane was an ATR-600, the same we flew out on.  These days it is not very often you see commercial planes with propellers.

We arrived in Chiang Rai, had dinner at Bella Pizza next door to the hotel and then went walking in the town.   At the center of the town is a big clock tower and hourly they light it up with different colors.  There is also a night market with plenty of souvenirs and plenty of food.  Sophon stopped to get his favorite snack.  I had to ask what it was thinking it looked like potatoes.  It is hot dogs, fish balls, tofu balls, and chicken balls cooked in hot oil.  With or without ketchup (which wasn’t served with) this did not sound good. Continue reading →