Black and White

We left Chiang Rai and headed back to Chiang Mai. I had always thought of Thailand as being hot and humid, and for the most part it is, however; our time in Chiang Rai certainly changed my perception. I had read that it would be cooler in the mountains, but I thought it would be Thai cooler i.e. it turns 70 degrees and they are freezing. I walking around sweating in shorts and a tee shirt and I see people wearing long sleeves and a jacket, but the mornings in Chiang Mai were downright cold. Again not Thai cold, but for real cold. One morning I had on 2 fleeces and my stocking cap, and I was still cold. When I went to breakfast at about 7:30am the fellow behind the desk was wearing a sweater, scarf and gloves. We were both laughing at how cold it was. I could literally see my breath. And they don’t have heaters in the hotel room, nor did the car our tour guide drove. The good thing is it doesn’t last long and by 9:00 it was perfectly fine. So if you come to northern Thailand in the winter, be prepared for some cold.

On the way back to Chiang Mai we made two stops. The first was to the Black Houses and the second to the White Temple. Both are fairly recent constructions designed by modern artists. One interesting fact is that both artists were born in the city and both were very successful. 

The artist

One of his paintings

The Black Houses are based on traditional northern Thai architecture, but the artist put his own spin on them. The houses are really works of art and they also hold the artists’ collection of objet d'art, some of it quite strange. Lots of animal skins and horns. One house was filled with crocodile skins,

One of the houses

another hand a long table with chairs made of animal horns and at each table setting there was a turtle shell. I

Main :Black house

Art?

saw zebra, wolf, bear, and other animal pelts and there was also a full set of elephant bones. The whole thing looked like something from a Tim Burton movie. Interesting, but very strange.

The White Temple was the opposite although it had its’ own strangeness. From the outside the White Temple is a pure white, concrete structure embedded with pieces of mirror. It is very intricate and dazzling in the bright sunshine.

The White Temple

Art

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On the inside there is of course a Buddha, but on the painted walls we saw images of Darth Vader, Minions, a burning world trade center and other contemporary icons. Unfortunately you cannot take photos inside.

broken spire

Four months ago there was a 6.4 level earthquake center near Chiang Rai which severely damaged the temple. You could see huge cracks in the walls on the inside, some of the wall mural had collapsed, one of the temple spires had broken, was bent over, and looked ready to fall. Like the Black House, the White Temple was interesting but strange. However both are worth a visit if you come to Thailand.

A restaurant and hotel...there are 4 others

A rubber suit

Close up

Next stop: Back to Chiang Mai