There are more than 41,000 Buddhist temples in Thailand, of which more than 33,000 are actively in use. The term “wat” is a Thai word for enclosure, and now refers to any Buddhist or Brahminical temple. 95% of the 70 million people in Thailand are Buddhists.
In 2019, we were “templed out” on our last visit to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, so did not visit many of the temples there. The word “Templed” is in the Scrabble dictionary, by the way. The term “templed out” is found in guidebooks, and refers to the moment when you’ve seen so many ancient ruins that details all merge together in a cloud, eyes glazed over, feet and back hurts, and you develop a ho hum attitude to viewing more incredible architectural and cultural wonders. Yep, that described us in 2019, and we were closing in on that juncture again at the end of this trip.
Wat Rong Suea Ten, better known as The Blue Temple, is located in Chiang Rai, a four-hour drive north of Chiang Mai. The temple statues and walls are decorated in a brilliant blue hue of sapphire. This is quite unusual in Thailand, where most temples are decorated in gold. This temple was “technically” completed in January 2016, although it is still considered a work in progress, and we saw many construction scaffolds. This is the only blue temple in the world and one of the newest wats in Chiang Rai. It was designed by a student of Mr. Chalermchai Kositpipat, the famous designer who built the White Temple.
This is an active temple, with many visitors coming to pray (top row plus lower-left). However, there was also a rather bizarre side to this temple. All temples have some attempts at fund-raising, but this one lowered all decency standards to look like a carnival, or outright scam.
Of the many such sections, two particularly stood out to me. One had a person enter money to let a wheel spin (bottom-center). When it stopped on a number, the sucker pulled out a sheet of paper with an elaborately written fortune on it. Another was the almost cartoonish ghoul seen in the lower-right. He was a mechanical man that bobbed up and down ceaselessly, spouting religious drivel. People who were too poor to afford a “proper burial” (which is only received by paying lots of money to the temple) were to put money into the slot under this character, and thus receive blessings for their loved dead. Thus this scam was designed to take the last dime from those who had no money… ☹
Too bizarre to believe it is real, but here is a 10 second clip showing the plastic ghoul supposedly blessing those who give it money.
The immense white female Buddha (center) at the Temple of Mercy (Guanyin) is easily recognizable as it dominates the landscape at 90 meters, or 26 stories high. This temple complex sits on top of a mountain, surrounded by an array of green hills (top-left), which is located in the heart of Chiang Rai, just north of the Kok River.
Wat Huay Pla Kang is a Buddhist religious site that includes a representation of Guanyin, the Chinese goddess of Mercy. The design of this Buddhist complex shows its international influence from Thailand, China and Europe, and is still under construction. In addition to the tall female white Buddha statue is a 9-story Pagoda and a White Temple housing another white Buddha inside (lower-center). Chinese dragons guard each stairway (center and top-center).
In the white temple, a white statue of Guanyin reaches all the way to the second floor (center). Many locals and visitors come here to pray and get blessings from Guanyin, a bodhisattva who is associated with passion. When you go up the elevator of the white temple, you are greeted with guards dressed in red (lower-center) and elegantly dressed women. Sandalwood statues of Chinese divinities and Buddhas decorate each floor of the pagoda (top row).
By this time, we were templed out. However, our friend said we had to see one more before we left Chiang Mai. Wat Umong, built in the 13th century, is also known as the Tunnel Temple and is unique, being located in the forest with a network of centuries-old tunnels still used by Buddhist monks. At the ends of the tunnels are various Buddha images (center and top-center). The temple was built to accommodate the semi-lucid mad monk Thera Jan. The shady temple grounds are quiet and a good place for monks to meditate, since it is rarely visited by tourists. Near the top is a black statue (top-left) of a very thin fasting Buddha.
Thailand has been invaded numerous times in its long history. Many of these invaders tried to destroy the existing Thai temples, as a way to eradicate the existing culture. In each case, the invaders eventually left, and the Thai people restored their temples and lives. Wat Umong was abandoned during the Burmese rule, and then brought back into active service most recently in 1949.
One part of Wat Umong is what best described as a cemetery for broken idols (top-right and bottom row). This is an area where the heads of statues are lovingly placed in an orderly manner, allowing the monks to continue to revere them.
The White Temple, aka Wat Rong Khun, is a privately-owned living art gallery. It’s in the style of a traditional Buddhist temple mixed with modern art including mythical creatures, and modern pop culture heroes such as Batman. We saw it on our tour in 2019 and had a chance to meet the artist, Mr. Chalermchai Kositpiptat, who opened the exhibit in 1997. We quickly passed by on this trip, on our way to other Chiang Rai temples.
We had a chance to connect with other expats who chose to live in Chiang Mai. We now know two couples who moved from Cuenca to Chiang Mai recently, and are loving the experience. We asked why, and heard about the quality of medical care, low cost of living (especially with the strengthening of the US dollar), low cost regional air fares, healthy diet and life style, warmer temperatures, and the friendliness of the Thai people. There’s a badminton league, easy-to-use Grab taxis, quality water color painting classes, Amazon Prime and great variety of top notch cuisines. Thanks again David and Yao (top-center) for introducing us to your new life in Chiang Mai and showing us places we would not have seen on our own!
David had heard of an interesting light show at the clock tower in the center of Old Chiang Rai, so we went there one night to watch it. After seeing the light shows in Singapore, and earlier ones we have seen in Dubai and Las Vegas, this was a bit underwhelming. The 35 second video above gives a sense of what it was like.
This is the last of our Summer 2022 odyssey! It was a consolidation of two years of prepaid tours delayed by Covid. We started by traveling through the Balkans last May. We then spent two months in Indonesia, visiting Bali, Kalimantan, Java and Toraja. Next we went to Malaysia, spending time in Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and Penang. After a couple days in Singapore, we finished here in Thailand. It is now time to return to our home in Honolulu, and try to catch up on a ton of image processing and writing. See you again soon! ☺