 | Superstar breakfast Today, we got up early to catch the 8am bus to Chiang Rai. We had breakfast at a eatery at the bus station and were all charmed by the handsome cook. He was very good looking. He was wearing a leather jacket and a scarf, and cooked with style. We were all happy to be served by a superstar chef. |
               | Wat Rong Khun Wat Rong Khun was the main reason I decided to make a northbound trip after visiting the Northeastern part of Thailand. The temple is relatively new and the guides books do not have any information on the temple. I searched the internet and figured out that it was just outside Chiang Rai, along the highway between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. We asked the bus to drop us at the temple. The temple is well worth the almost 3 hours bus ride. It is a awe inspiring and very beautiful temple. It sparkled under the sun and dazzled all the visitors. Bus loads of tourists (most of them Thai) came to this temple. The temple is still under construction and is estimated to take another 60 years to complete. The murals in the main shrine was very beautiful. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed in the shrine. The shrine hall was simple. There is statue of a beautifully carved Buddha in the center. A huge golden Buddha was painted on the center wall. Mara was painted on the entrance wall so that anyone one wanting into the hall appears to be walking out of the mouth of Mara. There are many interesting elements on the wall murals. You can find spiderman, superman, handphones, spaceships etc. There is a Master's Works Gallery which showed case the art work of the artist behind the temple: Chalermchai Kositpipat. The art work is simple awe inspiring. It made me wanted to pick up my artistic skills again. I had not drawn or painted for quite a while and here I found the inspirations to start drawing again. What I liked about the temple was the way it raised funds. Given the popularity, it could easily charge an entrance fees and aggressively sell all sorts souvenirs. But there was no charges, even for the foreign tourists. There is a donation box outside the gift shop. The gift shop sells postcards and prints of Chalermchai's art works as well as some T-shirts. What is interesting is that there is a limit on the amount of donations the temple would take. They would not take from another one more than 10,000 baht (about SGD 450)! We spent more than 3 hours wandering through the temple and the gallery. I bought 3 t-shirts and a stack of post cards. Directions to Wat Rong Khun I had a hard time figuring how to get to Wat Rong Khun and kind of piece the information together. Wat Rong Khun is a few kilometers from Chiang Rai. If you are heading to Chiang Rai from Chiang Mai or doing a day trip from Chiang Mai, the bus will definitely pass by Wat Rong Khun. Tell the bus driver to let you get off at Wat Rong Khun. If you are doing as a day trip, you should buy the tickets ahead. We bought the tickets at Chiang Mai bus station for both ways the day before (8am departing Chiang Mai and 5.15pm departing Chaing Rai). The super VIP bus (non-stop with toilet on bus) for 263B per person each way. The bus ride was very comfortable and it took about 2.5 hours getting to Wat Rong Khun. There is a sawngthaew service that runs from Chiang Rai to Wat Rong Khun. We saw the sawngthaew waiting at the junction where we got off the bus and that was the sawngthaew which we took to go to Chiang Rai. It only costs 20B per person! However, I am not sure where the sawngthaew starts in Chiang Rai as we asked the driver to drop us a Wat Phra Kaew instead. Since the temple in not too far from the city, I think it probably would cost only about 100-200B for a tutuk trip. Alternately you can check at the bus terminal if there are any local buses heading towards Rong Khun village. Warning! There is now a new bus terminal in Chiang Rai and the long distince buses departs from the new terminal. This is not found in the guide books! In my last trip I remember I took a Bangkok bound bus at the bus terminal in the city center. However, when we got there, we found only a few local buses. We were told to go to the new terminal. There is a sawngthaew service plying between the two terminal. We had to give 100B to the driver to get the driver to leave for the new terminal immediately (it was about 15 min away) and only got there just in time to catch our bus. It was a nerve-wrecking 15 min ride to the terminal for we would have to spend the night in Chiang Rai if we missed the bus. |
  | Wat Phra Kaew This is one of the temples that once enshrined the famous Emerald Buddha that is now found in the temple of the Royal Palace in Bangkok. |
  | Wat Chet Yot This temple has the same name as the temple in Chiang Mai because it also has the similar seven spire stupa. However, this is not as beautiful as the one in Chiang Mai and there are no stucco ornaments on the stupa. What is interesting is that you can get up to the stupa. There is small chamber where a reclining Buddha is enshrined. On the sides of the chamber are two narrow stairs that provide access to the upper terrace of the stupa. However, there are signs which prohibit females from accessing the upper terrace. Another interesting feature of this temple is the fresco on the ceiling of the front veranda of the main viharn. It features the Thai astrology. |
The bus terminal was just a short walk from Wat Chet Yot. However, when we got there at 5pm, we were told that the Chiang Mai bus was at bus terminal 2 (it's new). Our bus to Chiang Mai leaves at 5:15pm and we had it was a "Amazing Race" to the new bus terminal. We barely made it in time. The bus left the terminal 2 minutes after we board the bus.
When we arrive at the Chiang Mai bus station at 8pm just in time to meet the girls (Eileena and Yvonne). We were splitting ways here, as the girls wanted to head to Bangkok for some shopping. We had dinner back at the eatery we ate in the morning but the superstar chef was not there any more.
After dinner, the girls boarded the Bangkok-bound bus and we headed to the Saturday night market that was just outside the southern city walls. The street market here is different from the main night bazzaar. It features a lot more handicrafts and art work. And we chanced upon Wat Sri Suphan which is now modelling itself as "The Silver Temple". We decided it was interesting enough for another visit the next day.
No comments:
Post a Comment