Before leaving Thailand for Malaysia we decided to take a day tour out of Chang Mai to visit the White Temple in Chang Rai and the Golden Triangle. The Golden Triangle is a section of river abutting the countries of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. We were told that the Opium trade is conducted on the small islands as they do not belong to any country and are not subject to any laws. Supposedly the opium dealers set up on an island and people from all three countries come by boat to trade - the only currency used is gold. All we saw were some very small grassy islands in a very muddy river so for all we know this may have been a "tourist" tale.
The highlight of the day was definitely the White Temple of Chang Rai. A fairly new edifice, it was probably built to draw tourists to the north part of the country. There were really no signs of it actually being used as a place of worship and, unlike the other temples we visited there was no dress code. A huge structure covered in pearlized cement (?), silver and glass tile, it shimmers in the sunlight like a giant wedding cake on steroids and was worth the visit just to gaze in awe at the craftmanship. Enjoy the pics.
The highlight of the day was definitely the White Temple of Chang Rai. A fairly new edifice, it was probably built to draw tourists to the north part of the country. There were really no signs of it actually being used as a place of worship and, unlike the other temples we visited there was no dress code. A huge structure covered in pearlized cement (?), silver and glass tile, it shimmers in the sunlight like a giant wedding cake on steroids and was worth the visit just to gaze in awe at the craftmanship. Enjoy the pics.
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| The main temple |
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| The fanciest outhouse ever! This is where all the opium dealer's gold went. |
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| No smoking! |
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| This is what they do to smokers. |
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| No drinking! |
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| This is what happens to the drinkers. Notice the one red fingernail. |
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| A beautiful ceiling made up of individual hangings like the one shown below. |
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| This is our hanging with our Canadian and Thai names - 30 baht to join the masses. |
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| Beauty and the beasts. We'd be strolling along blinded by the shimmering temple, then stumble across a bizarre creature like this one... |
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| or a shimmering cesspool of hell like this one! |
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| Beautiful, but bizarre! |
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