We spent a very comfortable overnight here in Chiang Rai at the Nakaraj Princess, complemented by a decent breakfast in the splendid dining area. We are refreshed and ready to go to the main event: Wat Rong Khun, better known as the White Temple. We have a little bit later check out this morning, so we leave the bags in the room and head out to get our Grab taxi to the White Temple. We’re leaving early to ensure we get there at opening time (8 am) when there are less people around. Our plan works out perfectly and the Grab drops us off in front of the temple at about 7:45. Perfect! We’re 2nd in line for tickets. We even manage to get a few shots off from the walkway with the temple grounds completely empty before the gates open.

This is another new temple. Built on the grounds of an old, decrepit temple, a local Chiang Rai artist, Chalermchai Kositpipat, purchased the property and vowed to rebuild it. He did so from his own artistic viewpoint – which is full of traditional symbolism, but also modern oddities such as Hello Kitty and Pinhead from from Hellraiser out in the front lawn area. It is kitchsy and weird, but beautiful in its own way. The artist still owns the entire enterprise, and it is really a living museum dedicated to his art (he’s an award winning artist in his own right and one of the most famous artists in all of Thailand). Purchasing our tickets, we quickly make our way to the main “temple” with only another friendly couple in front of us. All of us are very politely angling for photos, which is such a refreshing change from some photo encounters we have had on our travels!

At any rate, we approach the main entrance, passing a “sea” of hands holding up skulls and bowls and other weird things, crossing the bridge up over the ponds to gain entrance to the “wiharn.” The detail is simply stunning, everything brilliantly shining under the bright morning light. Picture opportunities are all around us – so we’ll just let you soak it all in as we did.

Pictures are not allowed inside the temple, which is fairly disappointing, but makes for a quick tour inside. To be honest, the exteriors are more visually stunning anyway. Exiting the temple, we circle around the main structure, enjoying the gorgeous weather, chilly as it is, and the beautiful unadulterated sunshine.

Wandering around the grounds can get a bit confusing, the signage isn’t all the best. We end up at the back of the temple grounds, getting turned around in a convention center type area with signs for an exit and shops. There is at least a restroom back here (all the restroom buildings are painted golden – easy to spot!). There is also this sort of lagoon-ish grotto area that has a lot of the weirdly caricatured statues. You gotta give it to Chalermchai Kositpipat, he’s got an imagination!

Circling back toward the front of the complex, we do manage to find what we think is the open sided Ubosot with the contrasting Bronze Buddha sitting inside and also the Gold Temple, with the long walkway over the lake and the museum of original artifacts inside.

And well, that’s about that for the temple. As we circle our way out, we get some great parting shots before exiting the now jam packed entrance and walkway.

It was really interesting and gorgeous to see – particularly first thing with no one much about, because now? Packed full of tourists, you’d barely get a photo without any one milling about. The last stop here is the museum with Chalermchai Kositpipat’s work displayed. Talk about one strangely artistic guy! Everything from the punk rock Reagan to the traditional Buddha depictions, he’s pretty eclectic and crazy. and of course talented.

Well, it isn’t even 9am and we’re done with the temple. What now? Mae Fah Luang Art & Cultural Park, that’s what now! Grabbing a Grab (ok, I couldn’t resist!), we speed away from the increasingly busy White Temple, out into the rural Chiang Rai area (think rice fields all around) laughing at the “No Smooking” signs stuck all over the taxi. We eventually turn into a forested sort of area where the Grab driver lets us off at an empty guard station. The park is open at 8:30 – or so all our information says – so we wander up the entrance walk, past the empty ticket office and through an arbor made of lights. There is no one anywhere – just us. It’s a Private Park! Seriously.

We continue walking, around the lagoon, past another empty ticket office, thinking maybe the park is free today? Hey, we’ll take advantage of that!

The first structure behind the ticket office is the Golden Pavilion, which appears to be open. The lock and chains are hanging from the closed doors, but completely unlocked. We cautiously open the doors and enter into a huge open pagoda that is eerily dark and filled with different religious and secular art objects. There are Buddha images and carved wood candelabras and all sorts of different carvings (including elephants!) and sculptures.

Back out into the bright sunshine, we explore the portico underneath the Pavilion which is full of all sorts of great carvings and hanging windchimes.

As we begin heading into the interior of the park when a woman walks toward us. Apparently they are open and she is the ticket office woman! She proceeds to give us a personal tour of the Golden Pavilion (where we are not allowed to take pictures inside – oops – we’re not telling!), this time with the lights on, then walks us to the gift shop for us to pay our entrance fee. No longer breaking and entering, we’re official now, and we wander toward the Haw Kaew museum building where a plethora of delights await. The exhibit here is based on artifacts made from teak. things from religious antiquities to items used in everyday life – like the laundry board with the rat carved into the end of it. Everything in teak. Including a massive teak tree trunk to provide a sort of reference point for how all these items are made.

Outside, there is a lovely pavilion, called the Haw Kham Noi, and considered a sanctuary under a tiled teak roof. There are more paintings here, plus incredibly picturesque views out across the Lagoon.

We’ve pretty much exhausted the park – sadly we don’t have any food with us to make a picnic lunch, because this would be the perfect place to stretch out, eat and enjoy the scenery. But, that is not to be, so at 10:15, we wait in the still empty parking lot for our Grab taxi to take us back to the hotel. Well, at least we have time to organize a bit before checking out. But then what? We check out at noon, and our bus isn’t until 5:15. We’ve got the whole afternoon to fill with nothing left on our agenda. Hmmmm….