The night before the tour, we saw the sights in town: the clock tower and the food market. The clock tower is quite impressive, right in the middle of town, and unlike anything else we had seen in Thailand this far. It was designed by the same artist of The White Temple (see more below).
The food market was impressive because it seemed like the first truely local market we visited. No tourist trinkets and really very little besides food brought in from farms and rivers in the countryside. Although we consciously knew this is how it was done in smaller areas, it's was still interesting to see raw meet of all kinds (I think some kind of cow liver was on a string) hung up for sale in the heat. Live eels, fish, squid, etc flopping around in buckets. Different types of sausages - some raw, some cooked ready to be eaten then and there (we sampled one, it was good...typical sausage but with spices more expected in thai food). There were fully cooked meals in pots ready to be taken home. All sorts of fruits and vegtables - we bought a full watermelon for $.60. And then tons more food "stuff" we couldn't identify.
Our day tour started with The White Temple. This was created by a wealthy artist who not only wanted to show respect for Buddhism and of course show off his artistic ability but also wanted to create jobs for his town for many years. He started this project 19 years ago and had plans for it to continue for a total of around 105+ years - he has already drawn out future plans for his son to take over after he passes away. He's currently 87. It houses an impressive Buddha and has a religious painting on the back walk if the actual temple but more interestingly the painting also includes a futuristic scene at the bottom with characters like Superman, Batman, Kung Fu Panda and more within it. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos. The rest of the building and grounds is just undescribeable. Everything is pure white decorated with bits of broken mirrors with very intricate detail. There is a put of sorrowful people under the bridge you walk over to the temple which reminds me of something from a Bosch painting. There are alien creatures protecting the outside and all sorts of other creatures and buildings around. I have many more photos on the real camera but these will give you an idea.
Next up is the Black House. Yes, quite the opposite of the White Temple. This too was a complex that appeared to be some sort of creepy guest house or campsite compound. We received less info on this one so I'm not quite sure the purpose or intent but apparently this too was created by an artist showing off his skill - somewhat of a rival to that of the White Temple. He has recently passed away unfortunately so this complex is complete. Obviously most of the buildings are black and have a dark feel. There are also LOTS of animal bones, furs, skins and even a couple full bear blankets (think rugs but on beds), head included. I don't really know how to deceive this place so here are the pictures.
Next stop was to a small town who housed a small-ish Buddha in a cave very high above the town. It was quite a deep walk up stairs again protected by Naga (these have become my favorite of typical architecture). The other draw to this town are the monkies running around! The locals selling food sling small pepples at them with slingshots if they get too close to the food carts but otherwise they and the people interact as if nothing is strange about it.
Then we went to The Golden Triangle. Sounds pretty impressive, huh? In a way, it is. It is the point where Thailand, Laos and Mynamar meet at the Mekong River. We took pictures from an overlook on the Thai side - you can see Mynamar to the left and Laos to the right.
Last stop was at a Hill Tribe village. The village is part of the Karen Tribe and is specifically known as the Longnecks (of course they have a different name in their own language but this is how they translate to English for us). Their name is due to the practice of adding rings to the women's necks starting at age 4, one every year until age 21, which elongates their necks. The rings can weigh up to 4kg. They apparently still do this practice but they have turned this village we stopped at to a tourist attraction so things are a bit contrived. The money paid to visit goes towards helping to educate and provide more opportunities to the tribe. There are 5 different Hill Tribes in Northern Thailand - Karen, Akha, Lahu, and two others that we don't remember :/ They have inhabited the mountains with little interaction with the various people, kingdoms/governments and country line changes over the few centuries until very recently - about 50-60 years ago. Each tribe has their own dress, dances and other cultural traditions. Because of interaction with modern Thai culture, they only participate in traditional customs on special holidays (and for tourists) and operate as very small villages now with modern clothing and such. Since they are so remote, though, way of life is very simple. More on our experience staying in a hill tribe village in the next post.
Before closing, I have to include photos of just a couple of the ridiculous things we saw on the road while driving around.
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