Happy Halloween 2017!

It's Halloween again! And this year, we continue our annual tradition of carving non-traditional produce into jack-o-lanterns. This year we carved...

... a spooky trio of bell peppers!

So from Pumpkin Mike...

 ... and Pumpkin Pink... (who is completely frightening!)

Happy Halloween from Bangkok, Thailand!

More Halloween Fun:
Video: Jack-o-melon (2015)
Video: Pumpkin Mike (2016)
Comic: Halloween

The Akha Village - The Long-Neck Women of the Chiang Rai Hill Tribes

We made some new friends up north!

On a quiet, rainy afternoon in Chiang Rai Province, we paid a visit to the Akha Hill Tribe village, which is part of a rapidly-disappearing culture, that of the long-necked hill tribe women.

The Akha women traditionally wore the metal rings around their necks to protect against tiger attacks, though in recent decades it's become a way of preserving their heritage. Originally from far western China and Tibet, the Akha people have migrated through the centuries down to Burma, and eventually in the last hundred years to Thailand.

Starting at five years old, women begin adding rings to their necks each year at first, then every five years as they get older

Nowadays, fewer and fewer girls are wearing their traditional rings, although we did see a few children in the village wearing them. The tribe makes quite a lot of their money through tourism, but more and more girls are going into the city to go to school, which is great for their futures, but is contributing to the decline and ultimate disappearance of this tradition.

Although it was kind of touristy to visit the village, which was more or less a collection of gift shops and souvenir stalls, I still feel really glad to have gotten to witness this bit of culture. Our guide suggested that within the next 15 to 20 years the culture will have completely vanished.

The Black House - Baan Daam

After visiting the White Temple and the Blue Temple, we arrived at our third and final colorful Chiang Rai destination: the Black House. Unlike the two colorful temples, the Black House is a private residence, although it definitely goes together in the same theme.

The Black House

And the Black House is... really weird.

exterior of the Black House

Built by yet another local artist, the Black House is really more of an estate; a collection of 40-something buildings all built in a slightly twisted northern-Thai style.

outside the Black House

While the buildings may look beautiful on the outside, the interior is quite creepy. Dark, and decorated with animal bones and skins, the concept apparently is representative of dhakka, the Buddhist concept of earthly suffering.

in the Black House

While the buildings are beautiful and elegant, a heavy darkness hangs over the grounds. Even if you aren't superstitious in any way, you can still feel a sense of darkness and death - and that's the point. But it's not necessarily supposed to be evil, or even bad. Death is just a part of life, and the grounds of the complex are profoundly peaceful.

buildings at the Black House

my favorite building at the complex

Unlike the fancy golden bathrooms at the White Temple, the (off-limits except for photographs) toilet here at the Black House is full of shells and skulls. Kind of a creepy place to take care of business.

Black House bathroom

Throughout the large sprawling grounds grow thick bamboo groves and tall leafy trees. The occasional moss-covered Balinese-style statue decked out in marigold garlands.

Ganesh

Only a few of the buildings are open to enter, although most have windows or open doors for visitors to peer in and have a look around. The artist passed away a few years ago, so the complex is now much more a museum than it is an actual home.

While I can't say I totally "get" the Black House, I do appreciate it. Even a non-Buddhist can appreciate the need to recognize suffering and death in the world. In a way, I suppose it can help motivate visitors to think about what they can do to help ease the suffering that they encounter around them throughout their lives.

Still, I have to say that of the three colorful destinations we visited on our morning in Chiang Rai, the Blue Temple was by far my favorite!

marble bust of the artist and some of his works

The Blue Temple - Wat Rong Suea Ten วัดร่องเสือเต้น

After leaving the White Temple, we visited Chiang Rai's newest colorful attraction: Wat Rong Suea Ten, the Blue Temple!

Blue Temple

The blue temple is brand-new - it just opened last year in 2016. This temple was designed and built by another local artist who got his start as an apprentice artist at the White Temple, before setting off to construct his own project.

outside the Blue Temple

The temple is re-built on the site of an old, abandoned temple. The artist wanted to rebuild it in a special way, using the color blue to represent the Dharma, the teachings of the Buddha. (Why blue represents Dharma, I don't know... but it sure does look nice!)

the beautiful temple

In fact, before we had joined this tour, neither Pinky nor I had ever heard of this temple, but it is going to be one of the big new destinations in the province soon! When we heard the name, we were afraid it was going to be a little tacky, or too much of a rip-off of the White Temple, but it turns out that it's actually really beautiful!

entering the temple

I've never seen a blue temple before. Most Thai temples are red or gold, or built of dark wood. This one is really unique and special, and it's completely free to visit!

incense burner

The inside is cool and dark, and the cool blue colors make the interior feel so quiet and calming.

the central Buddha image

Out in the temple grounds, even the chedi, the central stupa containing a Buddhist relic, is painted in blue and gold! This is an original part of the temple, and I think it's so cool that the artist's vision even reaches to this old part of the temple.

blue chedi

For a few baht, you can buy a colored candle and float it in a big bowl of water. These candles are very much like what you'll find outside a temple on Loy Krathong night. Each color corresponds to the day of one's birth according to the traditional Thai colors of the day.

floating candles

This was an unexpected destination, and one that we would never have heard about on our own. It turned out to be one of my favorite sites that we saw that day!

that's us at the temple!

We only stayed about 45 minutes at the Blue Temple before we headed off to our next colorful destination: The Black House!

The White Temple - Wat Rong Kuhun วัดร่องขุ่น

I have wanted to see the White Temple for FIVE years, ever since a Thai co-worker went to Chiang Rai during my first year in Thailand and brought me back a postcard. And now, finally, I got the chance to visit Chiang Rai, the province that I've been dreaming about visiting for years!

the White Temple

The White Temple was designed by a local Chiang Rai artist. He wanted to build an amazing landmark to honor the King and the Thai people. The temple first opened in 1997, but the artist doesn't expect it to be finished for another 40 years! It's still a work-in-progress, but it's open to visit now.

at the White Temple

I finally got to visit the White Temple, and it's awesome! It's also really weird! From a distance, the temple looks so beautiful and elegant... but when you get close, you can see that the walkway leading up to the main wat building is actually really creepy.

creepy grasping hands

Everything at the temple is symbolic. To get to the main temple building, you have to walk along a narrow pathway across this creepy pit of grasping hands. Apparently, this represents Hell, and the golden and beautiful interior of the temple represented Heaven.

warrior

To get to the main temple building, you have to walk past white statues of a warrior and an angel.

angel

The interior of the temple is all painted in gold and it's beautiful! No photographs are allowed inside, however. I wish I could have taken some, though, because the murals on the walls depict all sorts of crazy stuff like Spiderman, Yoda, Michael Jackson, and more!

exterior of the temple

One of the most amazing parts of the temple complex were the fancy golden bathrooms!

toilet signs

Maybe it sounds like I'm joking, but I'm not; the bathrooms were really, really fancy!

bathrooms

Since Pinky and I only had one full day in Chiang Rai City, we did something we don't normally do: sign up for a package tour. We normally prefer to travel independently, but the package tour was a good deal, and it would take us to so many places - way more than we could see on our own. We were hesitant at first, but it actually turned out to be a really wonderful day! Our guide/driver was very knowledgeable and offered to take tons of photos of us throughout the day. Our group was only ten people, and it was so much fun!

photo courtesy of our tour guide

As we were leaving the temple, we bought a little silver leaf and wrote our names on it to hang up at the temple. This was for good luck, and also to help support the temple. Apparently, doing this can also help you get into Heaven... so it's sort of like an indulgence, I guess!

good luck leaf

There is also a small gallery for the work by the artist. He does take donations for the temple, but will only accept small donations. He sees building the White Temple as his life's work and he doesn't want to be influenced by any money or donors. He wants to dedicate his life to building this site for the Thai people, and I think it's really great!

the artist who designed the temple

Doi Suthep-Pui National Park

Doi Suthep-Pui National Park

heading up the mountain

My Stamp Quest continues!

Pinky and I headed to Chiang Mai bus terminal early on the morning of our second day in the north. We planned to book a ticket to Chiang Rai early, but were disappointed to find that the first available tickets were for 2:30pm. To pass the morning, we dropped our bags at left luggage and hopped into a red truck heading up to Doi Suthep.

the golden chedi on the mountain

I went to Doi Suthep before with my family just to visit the temple. I didn't even know that it was inside a national park!

at the top

looking back over the city

This time, I asked the driver to stop at the national park headquarters just at the base of the mountain so that I could collect the Doi Suthep-Pui stamp in my Thai national park passport.

Chiang Mai in the distance

heading back down the mountain

Stamp Quest tally:  4  (I'm falling behind!)

my most recent stamp