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 where we saw workers stopped for lunch.
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 and saw the sun set on the way back.
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 ….
We timed our stay to catch the Flower Festival which began with a two hour parade round the outside of the old centre, ending in a park where the floats could be admired close up and there was an orchid display and street market. We just took so many pictures of the fabulous floats, together with school bands and people in traditional costumes. Some of the large figures are covered in coloured rice, and a few of the flowers were dried and dyed, but most were fresh using a lot of chrysanthemums and orchids and the effect was stunning.
Doing a cookery class has become a regular feature on our trips since our very first class in Bangkok in 2009 and we spent a great day at Thai Farm. We started with a quick market tour and also a look round their organic garden at various herbs and vegetables, then starting cooking in the lovely open air kitchen. Between us we made Tom Yam soup, Pad Thai, spring rolls, curry paste lovingly ground with a pestle and mortar and made into red and green curry, a stir fry with basil, sticky rice with mango and coconut bananas. As there were choices of what you could cook, with a group of 10 it was a little more confusing than all making the same thing, but it all worked out fine. I was most pleased with the pad Thai which I intend cooking again and while I love the green curry, but it wouldn’t seem the same without the special Thai aubergines which I’d have to get from a specialist shop.
After all that eating, a bit of exercise seemed a good idea and our guesthouse organised for us to go for a trek in Doi Inthanon National Park, 90 minutes from Chiang Mai. In a small group of 8 we began with a stop at Wachirathan Waterfall …
Beginning at Phitsanulok Station, the train took us across the Central Plains with views of farmland as far as the eye can see, mainly rice, but also fruit, vegetables and flowers, punctuated with the odd building and town but then mountains started to loom all around, covered in trees and scrubby undergrowth.
From the lower terrace there are views to the city 300m below …
There are plenty of opportunities to gain merit through donation by writing a prayer or message on a gold cloth to be draped round a Buddha, on a bell to tinkle from the eaves or a new tile for the roof. And thankfully, the walk down is a lot easier.
It had been humid and in the mid 30s since we arrived, exactly as expected, but then we woke to a rain shower and a cooler day.
We are staying in W Home, a charming B&B in a neighbourhood of homes and local businesses just off Charoenkrung Road, the first road ever built in Bangkok.
Our comfy, if bijoux room, overlooks the lane outside and we were woken on our first morning by cockerels crowing.
When we were here before, Chris bought a couple of snazzy elephant handkerchiefs at the airport which said Jim Thompson on the label. Despite the guide book referring to him as the most famous farang in Thailand, we had not heard of Jim Thompson, but now know he was an American who came to Thailand with the army after WW2, fell in love with the country and returned to live. He was an adventurer and entrepreneur whose fame partly came from reviving the dying silk-weaving industry, promoting the silk in America where it sold well, especially after his company made the costumes for The King and I on Broadway, depicting the life of King Rama IV. He gained further renown by constructing the Jim Thompson house by dismantling six teak houses, all over 200 years old and reassembling them to make a home which he filled with Oriental art and particularly Thai paintings which he opened to the public. And then one day, while visiting the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia, he went for a walk … and never came back. His mysterious disappearance has certainly added to his fame. We went on a tour of the house and watched a demonstration of boiling the silk cocoons to extract the thread and spinning it and I added several new hankies to Chris’s collection for his birthday.
Our last day, and just time to take a turn round the main architectural feature of the city, Cardiff Castle. There are remains of a Roman wall, a Norman keep and a house that was started in 13C and been improved upon by successive owners until the 3rd Marquess of Bute transformed it into the gothic revival fantasy it is today.
Our trip to Cardiff ended where it started, with a cuppa at the Hayes Island Snack Bar … made with love since 1948 … before we caught our train home … catching sight of one last Dr Who reference!
Today is the day, our fourth anniversary, and we have now spent more of the time we have known each other married than not! Time just seems to be flying by while we have fun!
We wandered though the arcades, picking up some welsh cakes to take home and some Welsh Teifi cheese with seweed to try with a glass of celebratory fizz back at the Ibis. The cheese was very nice but we couldn’t detect the seaweed … that might have been a good thing!
After a good night’s sleep and an excellent breakfast, including Glamorgan sausages for Chris, we set off back to the River Taff, this time to follow the path southwards, passing the Millennium Stadium and Brains Brewery on the way.
We knew we were almost at the bay when we caught sight of the front of the Wales Millennium Centre, with the copper coloured front catching the light. It is a Welsh performing arts centre dedicated to music and dance and we will be visiting it tomorrow. Looking towards the bay, the area is dominated by a huge tower sparking in the sunshine, a 70ft high metallic water sculpture, constantly bathed in flowing water.
