Day 4 // 7 Jan

We went up to Chiang Rai today and visited 2 of their main landmarks, the Wat Khong Run, or White Temple, and Baan Si Dum. Prior to the trip I had searched for information and pictures of the White Temples. The pictures projected a very pure, pristine, even somewhat holy and sacred to the temple, and I was excited to immerse myself in that environment. What the pictures did not show, however, were the throngs of tourists that broke the serenity and whiteness of the place. I was slightly disappointed to discover that the White Temple had become something like what I think Doi Suthep now is, part monument part tourist attraction. Of course, the White Temple was built by an artist with the vision of it being more of an art showcase than a religious structure per say, but I felt that the huge amount of people there made it difficult for me to appreciate it even as a work of art.

Because we had a tour guide who came along with us, she could explain the meanings behind all the unique statues and structures within the compound. She also instructed us on the proper way to walk into the White Temple, it being to walk up the bridge in a single file without stopping, to mimic how the locals believe the dead enter the bridge to heaven. However not every tourist there had the privilege of having such a well informed guide, and many disrupted the flow of the “procession”. I thought it was a pity that such a majestic structure cannot be fully appreciated and taken in in its full glory, mostly because it was just so congested.

Apart from my dissatisfaction at the lack of crowd control, one thing I liked about the White Temple were the mural paintings in the main room. What I found was very unique about them were the depictions of icons of current pop culture integrated into the main mural; we saw characters such as Kung Fu Panda, Harry Potter, the minions and many more. Our guide told us that the artist had them painted with two intentions in mind. One was to represent the temptations of current society, and the other was to attract the younger generation to the landmark. I was drawn to the second intention, especially what I thought about yesterday, which I wrote about in my previous reflection entry. I mentioned how various organizations and individuals needed to take the initiative to instill interest in the younger generation, and here is an example of that happening! Some of my group mates did not like it and thought the characters were out of place and disrupted the “feels” of the place, but I personally support this decision of the artist. I admit they may take away the seriousness of the temple, but I believe that if it really does help attract the younger generation to the temple, this could be the first step of the cultivation of their want to go deeper in understanding and learning. Perhaps, and hopefully, this would lead to an interest in heritage conservation in the future.

We seemed to have never ending encounters with disrespectful tourists today, including at the Baan Si Dum (Black House). On the way to the Black House, our tour guide told us that Chinese tourists do not have a good reputation, especially with the artist himself. In the past few years they have damaged several artifacts and structures in the compound, which is a big deal considering most of the artifacts had been hand picked and curated painstakingly by the artist. Because of this, the artist has closed the Black House specifically to Chinese tourists several times, being upset that they could not appreciate and treat his work with the care and respect they deserve.

We saw two girls kicking the fence of an own enclosure, and throwing things like rocks into it just to attract that attention of the owl inside. Our tour guide was with us when we witnessed this, but did not attempt to stop them. We asked her why was she not saying anything like asking them to stop, and “don’t you dislike them for disrupting and causing disturbances to all of your country’s heritage sites?”. What she replied really stuck with me for the whole trip –the people of Thailand in general believe they must be tolerating and understanding towards these tourists, no matter what damage or disruption they cause. They have been taught to understand that the tourists’ cultures are different, and they themselves have no right to reprimand them about their behavior. Their behavior may be frowned upon in the Thai culture, but back in their home country, it is their way of life. All they can hope for is that as time passes, perhaps they will learn more from the Thais, and portray more respective behavior.

This is the reason why I really love Thailand as a country. The people are just so understanding and forgiving to outsiders, and are so open to include anyone who expresses interest in their country and culture. It truly is hard to cultivate such an identity and value in a whole nation of people, but they have done it. I believe this is why Thailand and its people are loved by so many tourists. Before the trip, a rumor (or not) that the other destination choice for this year’s TOPS was Japan had spread, and I admit like that most of us, I was slightly disappointed that they chose Thailand instead of japan. I mean, it is Japan! But on hindsight, I think Thailand was a great choice, and the beauty and character of the locals made our research and data gathering process a lot more enjoyable.