Colourful sights in Chiang Rai

Storyline: Home to home westward

A Black House Museum, a White Temple and a Blue Temple. There is a connection between these three and it is exactly in this order. If one walks through them and observes, they’d notice the similarity of the visual art on display that moves from the dark side of the Black House through the surreal almost Gaudi-like White Temple to the whimsical calm beauty of the Blue Temple.

Wat Rong Khun (The White Temple) is fascinating, even if you are not into visual art, Buddhism and its symbolism or both. The ornamental structures outside;

the Temple itself – surrounded by a moat; and the lush gardens full of mythical creatures, are all highly symbolic. We took our time wandering though the gardens, using every shady space possible for relief from the burning sun. It is a contemporary structure designed and financed by famous Thai artist Chalermchai Kositpipat. It replaced an old temple, which apparently was beyond repair.

The white colour represents the purity of Buddha, while the glass pieces embedded in the plaster and glittering in the sun represent Buddha’s wisdom. The temple was badly damaged during a 2014 earthquake.

It’s amazing how quickly it has been restored. We did not see any sign of the damages, although there was some work in progress – which could have been regular maintenance – in the temple entrance.

Some compare this temple to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, and I can thoroughly see why. Outside the main grounds and the moat there were heads hanging from the trees, monsters sitting on benches, deformed figures and arms reaching up.

Crossing the moat via the “Bridge of the cycle of rebirth” and walking through the “Gate of Heaven” to the Ubosot (the main prayer room) you are surrounded by unorthodox religious interpretations. Photography was not allowed inside, but one could spend hours marveling at the art on the walls, if not for the crowds herding you on to make room for others.

We could have spent hours here if we hadn’t visited it as part of our day tour. But we only had 2 days in Chiang Rai so a private day tour made sense.

The Baandam (Black House) Museum was another interesting site. When we were trying to decide on the bundle of activities for our tour, we initially thought we’d select the elephant refuge over the Black House Museum. Glad we didn’t.

Again one could spend a day on the museum grounds, wandering around the gardens and black-painted buildings hosting sculptures and structures created by using animal bones, horns, skulls and skins, silver and gold, even old rifles and swords resting on the deer skulls, and paintings inside the main building. All were created by the famous Thai artist Thawan Duchanee.

Interestingly enough, he was the mentor of Chalermchai Kositpipat, the creator of the White Temple. One can easily see the connection. Some consider his art rather dark, but we found it more humorous and engaging than truly dark. Alex says that much of it made him think of “Game of Thrones”, whatever that is.

Wat Rong Seur Ten – The Blue Temple – is very new, with the main building finished only in 2016. There is still construction on the grounds. It is mesmerising with its sapphire blue and gold inside and out, and its stunning pearlescent Buddha with blue reflections from the walls.

One can spend lots of time contemplating the details in the paintings on the walls and ceiling, similar to those in the White Temple. One could also take photos here and entrance is free, but there were plenty of opportunities to donate to a range of development projects. It was well-carpeted and overall created a warm and inviting feeling.

We asked a lady to take a photo of the two of us inside the temple. She was apparently an important figure and she was somehow related to the artist who created the temple. She pointed to a man on the opposite side as the one who created it.

If we understood her well (I seem to understand Thai English accents better than Alex), we were in the temple when the artist was there. Unfortunately, the English that people speak here, if at all, is very basic – even those who work in the tourism industry. So we felt uncomfortable trying to carry on a conversation. No name was mentioned, but later we found that he was Phuttha Kabkaew, a student of the White Temple’s Chalermchai Kositpipat, whose influence was apparent, and completes the linkage between these three superb northern Thai sights.

By the way, the name Wat Rong Seur Ten has nothing to do with the popular name Blue Temple. It actually means “Temple of The Dancing Tigers”.

I wouldn’t mind seeing the finished work of both. Yes, both artists have expressed the intention to expand their work.

The work of White Temple is estimated to continue during the next few decades (Sagrada Familia anyone?) and be carried on by others after the artist’s death. The Blue Temple is still in the works with only the main building finished.