EDITORS NOTE: The word “Wat” means temple in Thai.
By Ashton
Today we got up early and walked to a hotel where we got picked up by our tour guide. We rode in the van to Chiang Rai with several others for about two hours. On the driver we saw a lot of smog due to farm crop burning so we wore masks most of the day. First we arrived at a hot spring to take a short break and saw some people cooking eggs in the water. Then we drove for a few minutes to Wat Rong Khun / the white temple. The white temple was very large and had ornate designs on the outside. The temple was built in 1997 and contains some paintings relating to contemporary themes on the inside. The outside is supposed to resemble hell and the inside resembles heaven. Afterwards we went to Wat Rong Suea Ten / the blue temple. The blue temple was mostly sculptures and a pagoda. In the blue temple we saw the standing Buddha and a large white sitting Buddha. We got coconut ice cream to cool ourselves and then continued onward to lunch. The lunch buffet was satiating and Sadie ate loads of watermelon. Next our tour guide drove us to the red temple. The design of the red temple was influenced by Chinese architecture and had an enormous Buddha statue that we got to take an elevator up and look out of the statue’s eyes. Once we were done we drove about three hours back to the hotel and got burgers delivered for dinner. Finally I wrote my blog and went to bed.