Chiang Mai, some beach time and Bangkok.
 

After uneventful flights from London via Bangkok, we arrived at Chiang Mai around 11.00a.m.
I had booked a transfer to our hotel on-line and sure enough our driver and his lovely air-con Merc were waiting to whisk us off to The Chedi.
On arrival at the hotel, we were told that our room we not be ready for about one hour, but whilst filling out the routine paperwork, they discovered that our room was in fact ready, so were chilling out right away.
Now chilling out really sums up this boutique style hotel. Very, very calm, quiet and peaceful, yet in a great location for easy walkng distance to much of what we wanted to see.
I bought a new tablet thingy for this trip so my first post on this report is short while I check to see if everything is working!!

Good to see that you have returned to the LOS and it will be great to have another "live" report to follow whilst I count down the days until our next trip.

Are you heading back to Phi-Phi for your beach time or have you finally had enough of paradise and decided to try someplace different?

Hopefully you work your new technology aquisition out soon and can give us as much detail as possible, without eating into your vacation time "too" much.

Have a wonderful time! I'll be interested in your review of The Chedi.

I love to read 'live' reports! I'll be following along with you as well.

Shane and Carol, its not quite live as we very busy at C.M., but will soon catch up now we are at the beach, and yes it is Phi Phi !
Chedi report to follow soon Kathie, we loved it. Have you stayed there.
One real unexpected treat for us was The White Temple. Anyone else visited this? I had never heard of it before.

So on our first day we determined to do very little, get some sleep and visit the night bazzar and take dinner.
our hotel was located very close to the night market and the more famous night bazzar.
After our nap we headed straight for the markets. Nothing like a walk around a market to let your senses tell you that you are once again in S.E.A.
Our plan for the following day was to walk around inside the city walls under our own steam, so with no trips planned, we decided we would eat street food. We ate various dishes from different stalls and it was all delicious....and there were no unwanted consequences. We picked out one or two bits of handmade cooking utensils and made mental notes of some other bits we considered buying.
Next day we hoped to be recovered from the travelling and ready for our walk around the old city.

Yes, we also saw the White Temple....incredibly spectaculars, a blend of traditional Thai architecture and modernism. the art, too, was a blend of Thai and Western sensibilities. Visiting here may have been the highlight of our stay in Chiang Rai. Did you also see the Black House? To us it seemed to be the anti Buddhist counterpoint to the White Temple. Recommended.

Enjoy your beach time. Can you send some sunshine to Northern Vietnam???

Hi Leigh, I haven't stayed at the Chedi, so really want to hear about it.

Yes, we visited the White Temple when we went to the Anantara at the Golden Triangle. We enjoyed it, but weren't as wowed by it as others seem to be.

Kathie, i believe that it was a fair few years ago when you visited the Golden Triangle and the White Temple is a pretty new building, and still ongoing, so maybe it was just not very far advanced when you saw it. Even now it is far from finished.
One of our friends here at Phi Phi visited afew years ago and was also underwhelmed.
Maybe have another look when you are in the area again.

I think it may always be a work in progress...

The White temple or Wat Rong Khun was officially finished in 2008 and has been the same since then with no major changes.

The wat, or the artist behind the design does have a web site but it's in Thai: www.วัดร่องขุ่น.com/

IMO the wat is more for display then for worship.

There is very clearly still major work being done at this moment in time. As for official openiñg and completion in 2008, Ajarn Chalermchal Kositpipat, the builder and artist has said that he expects the project to be completed maybe 60 to 90 years after his death. I think this wonderful work is far from completion.

I believe the "major works" being done are more to do with new sculptures the artist is putting in to his wat. The buildings themselves have pretty much remain the same and no major addition has been put in. I first visited the wat in 2007 and then 2008 and then again last month.

I'm glad you like the "wat" but it's a bit controversial for a lot of Buddhist in Thailand.

According to the artist web site, the one in Thai, he is planning to build a total of 9 buildings. So you might be right Leigh and perhaps some new foundation was laid down that I did not notice.

Our guide said that there would be a total of nine buildings and he showed us ones that the structture are built but unadorned to date... Perfectly plain white buildings. He also took us into the workshop where workers are making the many adornments that will affix to the buildings. It defintiely looked to me like a work in progress.
We compared it to Guadi's Sagrada Familia and our guide agreed.

We read about the controversy it has created and that is not surprising given the symbolism of much of it.

Yes, Hanuman, i completely understand your reference to controversy. There are some hard hitting points of view beiñg put over, but nevertheless, we found the place quite beautiful and to say the least, thought provoklng.

When I was in Thailand about 5-6 years ago I visited a newly "finished" wat (where or what the name of it was I can't remember) that was one building, totally white, looked somewhat like a wdding cake and reflected and sparkled beautifully in the sunlight. It was very unusual architecture for Thailand and many Thais were posing for photos in front of it. Is this the white temple you are referring to?

I did not hear of any controversy surrounding the wat when it first opened. Is it controversial now because of it's size and expansion? Do you know who is paying for this project?

Shelley, it sounds like the same temple you are talking about. The controversy is around some of the paintings adorning the inside. Many depicting the modern world and it's famous figures. And the modern way of life.
The builder / artist behind the project is able to command high fees for his paintings and I believe this is where the funding comes from.

When we visited the wat, it had been opened for only a few weeks and I don't remember seeing any paintings inside. I guess these were added since my visit.

Some of the controversial paintings or wall murals have been there since the opening and the main buildings have been completed by 2008 so perhaps you overlooked them.

Some of the paintings/murals that I have problems with are those of George W Bush and Bin Laden who were depicted as being evil while arc-angles or those that are good are portrayed as the likes of Keanu Reeves(his character from the Matrix), the Transformers(cartoon) etc. Clearly it's a view of Buddhism from a personal point of view and this is a private temple belonging to the artist.

The artist donate his time for free and have given roughly 10 - 20% of his own money to building the white temple.

You can read the about the artist's interview on his temple which was translated into English here: http://www.tourismchiangrai.com/e-ct...ption=rongkhun