Today is finally the day! After all these years coming to Chiang Mai, we are finally getting off our duffs and going to Chiang Rai. Every time we are here we tell ourselves we’re going to go, but no. We never do. This time we planned well in advance with bus tickets and hotel reservations, so there’s no turning back now!

We get a Grab taxi early and head to the bus station 20 minutes away. Of course we are early there, but that’s ok, we can wait patiently (ok, well sort of patiently). We check in with the ticket window, figure out which bay the bus will be in, then grab a coffee at the kiosk in the station and hang out with a ton of other people waiting for Chiang Rai or Bangkok or other buses. We’ve elected to take the “VIP” bus to Chiang Rai, which is an express bus, but also has assigned seats and snacks. Sweet! A bunch of other buses make local stops and take longer, and this was only a couple of dollars more, so why not? The other buses arrive and leave, we figure out which line to stand in and finally our VIP ride arrives. Ok, it’s not like a limo bus or anything, it’s old and squeaky, but it is clean and there are snacks! And we are right up front which makes for a very smooth and comfortable 3 hour ride.

Arriving in Chiang Rai right on time, we manage to wind our way through the bus terminal and surrounding markets to find the Nakaraj Princess hotel – a wonderful Golden building tucked into the back of a little soi off the main road. This place is great! The lobby is all gold with traditional throne-like chairs, the reception clerk is so sweet and gets us checked in easily. We head up to our room – which is amazing, huge with opulent furnishings – but it isn’t what we booked. We booked a suite with a balcony – which is supposed to be even bigger than this room. Hmmm….back down to the sweet desk clerk, he doesn’t know what is wrong, so he calls the manager who will be here in 20 minutes. Oh, ok. The manager arrives and eventually we sort out that the suite has a problem or something and isn’t available – which is fine, except we paid extra for the suite. The manager apologizes and tells us she will adjust the charge and we’ll only pay for this room rate. All solved – the room is still fabulous, the hotel lovely and we’re here. We’re all good!

Now it is time to explore! Off we go into the streets of Chiang Rai looking for a place for lunch. You’d think that would be easy to find, but not so on a Saturday afternoon. First off, we discover, this is a much more local town, less tourist dependent, thus there are a lot more local street food type places. Which are fine, but we want a more traditional restaurant where we can have an afternoon beverage as well. We end up walking down to what I’m going to call the ex-pat area – where all the different tourist-frequented restaurants are to be found. As well as the all the ex-pats! We end up settling for O’Kane’s Irish pub. Yeah, well, I can get Thai and Ed can get a burger and they have wine. Sold! It is actually a pleasant little place with a lovely staff. We feel right at home!

Now it is time to wander the town. We head back out to the really cool clock tower that lights up at night (we’ll come back tonight for certain) and off through the streets filled with shops and construction. There are Wats here and there, plus some colonial and government buildings, but we have our sights on the Blue Temple, Wat Rong Suea Ten, which is across the river and about a 40 minute walk from the restaurant.

It is actually a nice little walk and all goes according to plan until we reach the river. The bridge going across is vehicular only and we can’t figure out to save our souls how to walk across. There is an underpass, but it appears to only be a u-turn place for cars. It totally perplexes us, so much so we end up giving up and calling a Grab! Thank God for ridesharing apps and services! Our Grab driver shows up in no time and quickly whisks us across the bridge and down to the Blue Temple. As we drive, we see there are in fact stairs that reach a walkway across the bridge, so all is not lost. We’ll just walk back!

The Blue Temple is indeed blue! Everything is blue, from the statuary outside to the thrones that Buddha sits upon to the mosaics and tiles inside the Wiharn. It is a new temple, built on the grounds where an older temple stood, and where at one time tigers roamed freely, thus the translation of Wat Rong Suea Ten is the Temple of the Dancing Tigers. Rebuilt beginning in 2005 – and finished in 2016 – by a student of the artist who created the White Temple, this design is fairly contemporary, incorporating the traditional gold construction with the blue. The blue color was chosen for the symbolism in the Buddhist culture of purity, wisdom and lack of materialism. It is definitely a feast for the eyes!

Inside the Wiharn it is just an overload of blue. Seriously. While absolutely gorgeous, the detail and the artistry, it is almost like being underwater in there. At least there is a little bit of gold and red to break up the blue-ness. Totally different from traditional temples, which we guess is the idea.

The grounds outside hold more buildings, the Ubosot, the Chedi, all incredibly beautiful and different by design.

We are fascinated however with two sculptures being created at the back of the temple grounds. They seem to be open sided Stupas, maybe, but made up of carved skulls and demons and Buddha heads. the opening looks like the arches of hell, with flames flying out above the doorway. Terribly frightening actually. The top part of the sculptures is painted blue, the rest still in its original carved white stage. These will be amazing – or just plain scary – if they are painted all blue when finished. Worth coming back for…maybe!

Great visit, completely unexpected, even though we’d read all about the Blue Temple. Seeing it in person is just a wholly different experience. Now it’s time for our walk back – since we know how to navigate the perplexing bridge now! On the way, though, we stop at this adorable little bakery called Esther Bakery, in hopes of finding a cappuccino. We’re in luck! The owner – a sweet man – has a machine, along with tantalizing looking bakery items, and makes us the perfect afternoon caffeine fix! A totally unexpected find! The place is so sweet and cozy, and just a little storefront on the road, next to a small local grocery and restaurant. And – as with most places all over Thailand – still decked out for the holidays! Everywhere we go, Christmas is still quite apparent and ongoing in this country. The owner is sweet too, keeping us company, telling us that he and his wife are Christian (thus the overabundance of decorations we suppose) and we should go visit the old church in the city. We’ve walked past it, so maybe we’ll go in, if it is open – but being Saturday afternoon and then Sunday, probably not a chance we could just walk in without services. We’ll see!

After a lovely little break, we are caffeinated and ready for the walk back into town.