One of the first sites we visited in Chiang Rai was Wat Rong Kuhn, a beautiful Buddhist temple designed by an artist. It is so amazing! It is totally white and has tiny mirror affixed all over the structure that sparkle in the sun. We were there on a beautiful sunny afternoon, not a clous in the sky which was the most magnificent blue. The tiny mirrors, millions of them, made the temple shimmer. All of a sudden two large fountains would go off in the front which made the whole temple sparkle even more.
There was a lot of symbolism to the temple which I am sure I do not understand. We entered the doorway to the temple itself (I was not allowed to take pictures inside) over all sorts of hands reaching out of the ground. My interpreter explained to me that these represented the hands of people who did not do enough good works in this life and who were suffering in the afterlife, reaching out, wishing they had done more.
I was quite surprised by this hand:
As this was a professional artist that designed the temple, the artwork inside was amazing. I could have cheated and snuck some pictures, but you have to respect the rules in any situation, especially those of another culture. All I can say is that they were contemporary and amazing.
The religious practices clearly are much different than my own. Personally, that was quite interesting. I think I will choose to keep my thoughts on this private.
I only got the opportunity to visit one other temple on my trip. And while I'm sure there are many interesting ones, my guess is that this has to be one of the most beautiful. It was astonishing.
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