Discovering Chiang Rai

Over the past couple of weeks I haven’t made any spectacular trips or ventured out far from my home base, but I have taken the time to discover the ‘hidden’ Chiang Rai. Of course I had been to the city before, and had already seen many things there, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t anything left to be discovered.

Chiang Rai isn’t exactly the most touristy part of Thailand; it’s mainly known for a few temples in the city and especially for the region around it, which offers opportunities for trekking in the hills and access to the ‘Golden Triangle’ area. Yet Chiang Rai has more to offer any interested visitor who has a little more time to spend there. Let me give you an overview of a few places I’ve discovered over the past month or so.

Why not start with a few temples off the tourist track: I’ll mention two of them, Wat Pra Tat Doi Kao Kwai and Wat Doi Pra Baht. Both are located on a hill (the ‘doi’ in their names is the Northern Thai word for hill or mountain) and especially the first one offers wonderful views across Chiang Rai and surroundings. You can drive right up to the temple, but there is another way to the top for the slightly more active visitor: an alternative road leads to the bottom of an impressive flight of stairs, which could do with some maintenance, though. Once you get to the top, the temple itself is nothing to write home about, but the welcome you get is very warm, as not many westerners ever go there.

Wat Doi Pra Baht lies on a much lower hill, and the view is not the reason to go and visit it. The temple itself is beautiful, with different buildings in a park-like setting, and there are more monks and novices than at Wat Pra Tat Doi Kao Kwai, many of them eager to talk to a westerner who has made the effort to find the temple. Also here, the number of western visitors is quite low.

Anyone who likes nature and the peaceful setting of a river should pay a visit to Haht Chiang Rai (literally: Chiang Rai Beach). Don’t expect to see any beach at all, though: Haht Chiang Rai is just a spot on the banks of the river Kok, facing a magnificently wooded hill, where you’ll find a bit of space, something to eat or drink, and a path for a walk along the river. But once more, you’ll be the only westerner there, and outside the weekends, you will practically be on your own, which only heightens the effect of the peace and quiet of the natural river setting.

Right across from Haht Chiang Rai (but quite a few miles in road distance) is Tu Pu hill, with Tham Tu Pu (Tu Pu cave), where a number of Buddha images may be seen. The most impressive of them is a white figure of a standing Buddha (over 40 ft. in height) carved into the hillside. Also inside the cave, there are a few Buddha statues to be admired. But also the natural surroundings make the trip worthwhile, and you will again find peace and quiet, and no tourists.

These places might not be a match for the more well-known tourist sites in Thailand, but they don’t deserve to be completely ignored, either. But then again, this may just be the biased view of a Chiang Rai resident...

Off to a good start

Only a few days after arriving in Thailand, I'm already feeling completely at home. No sign of any culture shock, which may be due to the fact that I was able to come 'home' to a house of my own, but undoubtedly also just to my love for Thailand pure and simple.

On Friday 1 October I was already treated to an exceptional event: for the very first time, Chiang Rai hosted the พระ ๑,000 รูป ceremony (1,000 monks). It was essentially an alms-giving ceremony, a daily event in Thailand, but then on a much larger scale. I had seen big alms-giving ceremonies before here in Chiang Rai (on New Year's Day, and at Songkran, the Thai New Year), but never one as big as this. Whether there were really a thousand monks or not is neither here nor there - but I can assure you that one of the main streets in Chiang Rai turned orange (the colour of the robes of Buddhist monks). The people who turned up to offer alms where mainly dressed in white, which made for a very nice contrast.

At first, the monks (from all over the country) were seated in the street, with the crowd sitting and standing in front of them and also alongside, on both sides of the street. Prayers were said by the monks, by a leader of the ceremony and by the people, and then the monks started walking up and down the street in two rows, giving everyone the opportunity to kneel down respectfully and put their offerings (usually food) in the monks' begging bowls. What with the size of the crowd, this went on for quite a while, and we had to wait a long time before we finally got to the front row to make our own offerings.

I felt very privileged to be able to witness such a special ceremony, especially so early on during my stay here. If this exciting start is anything to go by, I'm in for a real treat!