Chiang Rai, 200km north, may have history and even some wats, but we arrived to go trekking and left more impressed with the contemporary art.
This started with the very modern and colourful Na Rak O Guesthouse where we have a huge comfy room and can make our own breakfast of toast and eggs in the kitchen.
They have taken the concept of what I would like to call "Thailand Cutie" to a new level! The first time we noticed this decorative style was in the palace in Bangkok, there were some ceramic ornaments of cute babies which would have been used to adorn the table for state banquets, dating back to 19C. Since then, we keep noticing them, cute and quite often truly ghastly ornaments in small patches of garden outside homes, shops and businesses, even ornaments you can take home, and not even the railway station is exempt!
You can’t help but compare the White Temple, a gleaming white vision of heaven and the Black House, dark and full of death. Both were created by Chiang Rai native artists, each of whom combined traditional Tahi Buddhist temple art with contemporary images causing controversy, but both have gone on to exhibit worldwide and also paint murals in various overseas establishments.
Chalermchai Kositpipat then became a monk and rediscovered Buddhism in a big way and began his life's work, Wat Rong Khun, or the White Temple. The temple is white for Buddha's purity and inlaid with twinkling clear glass for his wisdom and to reach the Abode of the Buddha you have to cross the bridge representing the cycle of rebirth with the pits of hell below containing all those as yet unworthy with outstretched hands representing unrestrained desire. The Gate of Heaven is guarded by two creatures representing Death and Rahu who decides the fate of the dead.
The temple has classic elements like a tiered roof and naga but everything is very white and sparkly ... Then you enter and face murals on the side walls of happy people floating upwards towards the statue of Buddha whereas behind are swirling orange flames depicting the various threats to spirituality coming from globalisation such as pollution, technology and many references to popular culture ranging from Elvis, to Superman and even a minion. The moral is clear - people are wicked.
Following the white theme, pretty silver discs can be purchased either as a souvenir, or to leave a prayer, and these huge chedi, are made up completely by tightly packed prayers.
Baan Dam, or the Black House, is the estate of Thawan Duchanee and comprises a huge Lanna-style vihara of charcoal black wood as well as many other small buildings spread out in the peaceful gardens displaying his collection of artwork – sculptures, wood carvings, and furniture created by him, and collected from around the world. This isn’t your usual art collection though. It has an organic feel with wooden structures housing many animal skulls, bones and skins and also little white pods containing more bones, shells and a little happy chap! Not really sure what the significance is ... read into it what you will, but it obviously all inspired his painted works.
Trekking is another of those tourist activities that can be a mixed blessing to local people. In fact we were reading that the "long-neck women" are virtual prisoners in an artificial village for the convenience of tourists and the last thing we wanted was to visit. We chose a day trek with the Mirror Foundation as it seemed to focus on walking in the jungle and visiting everyday hill tribe villages that weren't putting on a tourist show and we were happy for our tourist baht to help support the community causes the foundation runs. Our guide Pat collected us and took us to their office where we saw a short video about their work and watched girls painting clay whistles for sale in the shop. Our hike started around 11.30 and we walked for 2hr, walking past rice fields first then climbing through a rubber plantation under planted with pineapples.
We stopped for a rest in a village where Lahu and Akha tribes live then walked another 30mins to a waterfall. A man from a local village had built a fire and took our vegetables and cooked them in boiling water one length of bamboo and beaten egg into another. We had this with sticky rice and some little pork kebabs and finished with tea. It was interesting to see how versatile the bamboo is, and how easy to fashion cups and spoons as well. Unfortunately, despite having bought vegetables especially because Chris is vegetarian, they then added pork stock powder, so knowing it was there, he didn't feel able to try them!
The itinerary said we would be walking for 2-3 hours, and having already done that, we were surprised to have at least another hour's walk to the final village, where we saw a 75 year old Akha grandmother spinning thread.
We were very pleased to be returning to the comfort of our hotel, rather than staying overnight in the village or even in the forest, which had been an option. None of the above quite mentions how gruelling the day was even at a slow steady pace, the heat, steep steady climbs and some treacherously slippy descents with scree underfoot where I resorted to descent by bottom, not elegant, but no distance to fall! We were also slightly disappointed that our guide didn't impart a little more to us about our surroundings, the nature and villages. Most of the paths offered no view apart from being surrounding by jungle and on reflection a very disappointing experience.
We are as far north as we are going now, and the choice was either 2 days travel by bus/train or should we fly down south ....
Contemporary Art in Chiang Rai
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Chiang Rai, Thailand
Other Entries
-
1Birthday in Bangkok
Jan 2120 days priorBangkok, Thailandphoto_camera24videocam 0comment 2 -
2Wats & Water in Ayutthaya
Jan 2417 days priorAyutthaya, Thailandphoto_camera53videocam 0comment 0 -
3More Wats & Water in Sukhothai
Jan 2912 days priorSukhothai, Thailandphoto_camera45videocam 0comment 0 -
4Yet More Wats and a Moat in Chiang Mai
Feb 028 days priorChiang Mai, Thailandphoto_camera50videocam 0comment 0 -
5Flowers, Elephants & Trekking in Chiang Mai
Feb 028 days priorChiang Mai, Thailandphoto_camera64videocam 0comment 0 -
6Contemporary Art in Chiang Rai
Feb 10Chiang Rai, Thailandphoto_camera42videocam 0comment 0 -
7Jungly Jungle in Khao Sok
Feb 122 days laterKhao Sok, Thailandphoto_camera44videocam 0comment 1 -
8Taking it Slow in Ko Kho Khao
Feb 188 days laterKo Kho Khao, Thailandphoto_camera28videocam 0comment 2 -
9Birthday in Phang Nga Bay
Feb 2414 days laterPhangnga, Thailandphoto_camera34videocam 0comment 0 -
10Fish Spa in Krabi
Feb 2616 days laterKrabi, Thailandphoto_camera34videocam 0comment 0 -
11Scooters & Snorkeling in Ko Lanta
Feb 2919 days laterKo Lanta, Thailandphoto_camera45videocam 0comment 0 -
12More Cocktails in Krabi
Mar 0423 days laterKrabi, Thailandphoto_camera21videocam 0comment 0 -
13Last Night in Bangkok
Mar 0524 days laterBangkok, Thailandphoto_camera12videocam 0comment 0
2025-02-10