Chiang Rai in three days

Chiang Rai is a charming little city located in Northern Thailand. 
It’s popular for its laid back atmosphere, the lush, tropical setting, its closeness to  Laos and Myanmar, and for hosting two of the most stunning temples of Thailand, the White Temple and the Blue Temple.
Most travellers only choose to visit the temples on a day trip from Chiang Mai, but my suggestion is to sleep in Chiang Rai a night or two in order to experience the city and take things slowly.
For a three-day stay, here are my recommendations on what to see and what to do in Chiang Rai:
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Day 1: Get settled in your accommodation (I chose La Luna Resort which is settled in a beautiful lush tropical garden, a 10 minute walk from the Clock Tower, paying 32 euro for a Deluxe room back in October), then head to the famous White Temple (whose real name is Wat Rong Khun).
​The temple is a stunning, all white structure with intricate details and sculptures.

The awe-inspiring Wat Rong Khun, the White Temple

The artist behind Wat Rong Khun is Thai artist and architect Chalermchai Kositpipat.
The temple opened to visitors in 1997 but it's still a work in progress, with new buildings still being added in 2023.

Kositpipat financed the project with his own money (from his job as a world known artist) but nowadays the entrance fee that visitors pay to access the temple are enough to support the building of new structures and maintenance. 

The main structure, the ubosot, is an all-white building with fragments of mirrored glass embedded in plaster.

Kositpipat built the temple as an offering to Buddha, and he believes the project will give him immortal life.  Wat Rong Khun is also dedicated to the late king, Rama IX, who passed away in October 2016.
One of the building hosts an interesting display of photos and paintings depicting the life of Rama IX.

To access the ubosot (the main temple hall) visitors have to cross a bridge over a small lake. All around the bridge are hundreds of outreaching hands that symbolise unrestrained desire and greed, and the bridge is so narrow that visitors must cross it one by one. This escamotage is to signify that the road to happiness is not easy, in order to reach it, we will have to overcome greed and temptations, and we will have to do it alone. 

After crossing the bridge, the visitors reach the "gate of heaven",  guarded by two demonic creatures representing Death and Rahu, who decides the fate of the dead. 

Once inside the White Temple you'll find yourselves astonished by the murals:  monstrous faces in swirling orange flames are interspersed with Western idols such as Michael Jackson, Neo from The Matrix, Freddy Krueger and Superman,but also Goku, Hello Kitty, Pirate Jack Sparrow, Yoda and Harry Potter. Other scenes portrait 
nuclear disasters, terrorist attacks such as the World Trade Center attack, and oil pumps at work. The message is clear: weak and evil humans have a destructive impact on earth. And yet, all this madness and horror is housed in such a candid, angelic structure that symbolises the purity of the Buddha.

Before you leave the Wat Rong Khun, make sure to go to the toilet. The restrooms are indeed one of the most surprising elements in the complex: the golden building represents the body and human greed and desire, whereas the white temple represents the purity of the mind.

• The ride from the city centre takes about 20 minute
• Wat Rong Khun opens daily from 8 am until 6 pm
• Admission fee for adult: 50 THB

After marvelling at master Kositpipat's work, go visit his disciple's doing: artist and architect Putha Kabkaew, who built Wat Rong Suea, known as the Blue Temple, was indeed a student of Kositpipat.
Wat Rong Suea means “House of the dancing tiger”: apparently it was named after a tiger that used to roam the area. In contrast to the cotton candy white of the White Temple, this other Buddhist temple surprises for the incredible cobalt blue interspersed with orange flames and psychedelic paintings. Unlike the Wat Rong Khun, the Blue Temple is not an active temple, no monks live in the complex.

The main building, the viharn, is guarded by two huge Naga snakes. The style is traditional Lanna (the traditional style of Northern Thailand) with intricate floral motifs. If the outside stunned you, rest assured that the interior is equally outstanding. 

Paintings on the walls show scenes from the life of the Buddha, while the ceilings are covered in a kaleidoscope of sapphire blue and violet ornaments with inlays of gold.

• The Blue Temple is about 16 kilometers from the White Temple and almost the same distance from the Black House
• Entrance free

If after visiting the Blue Temple you aren't too tired, go on to explore the Baan Dam, the Black House. If instead you are too tired, move this tour to the third day and return to the city centre to grab something to eat at the Night Market: you'll find tasty street food and local products. A Norther Thailand dish you should try is Hunglay, a pork curry with garlic and ginger. 

The Black House is a complex of 40 buildings in Lanna and Laotian style, mostly made of dark teak wood, occupying a vast, lush tropical garden.
Inside the buildings, which are per se an attraction worth to be seen, is a collection of paintings, scary sculptures, silver and gold items, animal bones and skins but also some unusual objects like phallic piggybanks and opium pipes.
The main theme of Baan Dam seems to be  “The darkness of the heart of man”.

Buddhist themes like death and rebirth and suffering caused by human desire are always present in the art of Thawan Duchanee, the Thai artist who built the Black House in 1975 and lived in the complex until his death, a few years back.

• Admission is 80 Thai Baht per adult
• At the coffee house inside the complex you can savour charcoal ice-cream, whose black colour matches the ambience out of a Game of Thrones episode.

Day 2: The Golden Triangle
North East of Chiang Rai, close to the village of Chiang Saen, lies the infamous Golden Triangle, once the center of opium production and trade in South East Asia. Those days are gone. Now the area is peaceful, known for the picturesque hill villages in the jungle, ancient temples and for the Hill Tribes, the ethnic minorities who captivate visitors with their bright coloured clothes and hand made artefacts.

After reaching the Thai side of the Golden Triangle viewpoint, you can see the two other neighbouring countries,  Myanmar and Laos, the muddy Mekong River and the mountainous landscape dotted with villages and temples. You'll also see a large golden Buddha, an ancient temple perched on a hill and the House of Opium Museum.

The latter is a large museum that shows the history of opium growing and trade in the Golden Triangle. You will see objects like opium pipes and artefacts to prepare the drug, old photographs and short documentaries explaining the procedures to transform poppies into opium.

Another section of the museum is devoted to the British Opium Wars.
A third section is dedicated to the hill tribes that used to grow opium poppies.
The highly successful project started by the Royal Projects Foundation of King Bhumibol Adulyadej managed to eradicate poppy cultivation in the area in the last three decades.

The project succeeded in showing farmers an alternative to opium trade, in improving the life of local farmers and protecting the environment: nowadays the region is known for the good quality of its coffee, tea and rice and for the  variety of its fruits and vegetables.

Motor-launches cruise the Mekong between Thailand and Laos and it's possible to board one for only half a hour or for a multi-day trip: the most popular destination is Luang Prabang, which can be reached with a two to three nights cruise involving some cultural stops along the way.

Before going back to Chiang Rai, a typical day tour to the Golden Triangle usually includes a visit to some local tea plantations, a quick stop in Mae Sai, the border village with Myanmar, and an interesting stop in Chiang Saen, a small scale Ayutthaya. 

Chiang Saen houses several ancient temples (among them the well preserved Wat Phra That Chedi Luang), ruins of old palaces and monuments dating back to the Lanna Kingdom, and the most well preserved city walls in Northern Thailand. From 1300 until 1804, the year of its destruction, Chiang Saen had been a strategic city for the Lanna Kingdom and an important Buddhist center.
For a while it even belonged to Myanmar.
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Speaking about Chiang Saen, for my next trip to Chiang Rai province, it's likely that I will choose this city as a starting point for future explorations, because a few hours here and there during a day trip are not enough to fully appreciate it.  

By the time you get back to Chiang Rai on your second day you are going to feel tired, however if you happen to be in the city centre around 7, 8 or 9pm, don't miss the kitsch show of music and lights at the Clock Tower. Built by the same architect of the White Temple, the tower is a Clock, a roundabout, and a city attraction. 

The Golden Triangle where Thailand meets Laos and Myanmar

Day 3: Singha Park, Mae Fah Luang Art and Culture Park and, eventually, the Black House

Unless you plan to leave the city in the morning, use your third day in Chiang Rai to visit either the Singha Park or the Mae Fah Luang Art and Culture Park, or you could go to Baan Dam (the Black House) if you didn't see it on the first day.

Singha Park is a mix between a tropical garden, a farm and a zoo.
The least interesting section, which in my opinion you can skip, is the zoo where some giraffes and zebras are kept captive and fed by tourists. The rest of the park is worth exploring, though: it consists of endless rice fields, tea fields, fruit orchards, lavender fields, beautiful tropical flowers and a lake. 

• Open everyday from 9 to 4 pm
• Free admission
• You can rent bikes and electric scooters to go around the park, and there is a free shuttle bus as well
• You can ride a taxi between Chiang Rai and Singha Park: just ask the information desk at the entrance to call you one when you're ready to travel back to the city 

Instead of the Singha Park you can opt to visit Mae Fah Luang Art and Culture Park, 5 km west of Chiang Rai. It is a vast area housing ponds and lakes, traditional Lanna buildings and a collection of religious artefacts and contemporary art. 
It's interesting if you are really fond of the history and culture of Chiang Rai, but I'd rather choose the Singha Park, if in doubt between the two. 

Mae Fah Luang Art and Culture Park:

• is open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 8:30 to 4:30 pm
• Admission is 200 THB per person

As you can see, Chiang Rai has plenty of temples, museums, natural scenery and attractions to discover, and you should consider to stay overnight instead of booking a day trip from Chiang Mai. It is not unlikely that after staying a few nights, you'll want to get back there for more exploration.

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