Blake and Deb Far Away

Art in Paradise is an attraction in Chiang Mai that immerses the visitor in the world of 3D art and illusion. It is set up so you can interact with most of the art, posing in an expertly painted scene with your camera-wielding partner standing at a specific location to create images that fool the eye in amazing ways. It was even more fun than we expected; we felt like kids again goofing around with the displays. And it has to be the only time in my life I ever willingly posed for this many photos. (photo by Deborah) The frame and it's shadow are all painted - the wall is a completely flat surface. (photo by Deborah) (photo by Deborah) Deborah doing her best Sarah Brightman impression. (photo by Deborah) (photo by Deborah) Appropriately, this painting was located next to the restroom. (photo by Deborah) I'm actually lying down on the floor here, and the photo is then ...

We visited a hill tribe village as part of a tour of the Chiang Rai area, including the White Temple and the Black Museum, about which I have already written. We were unsure about this visit at first, fearing it would feel like we were voyeurs at a human zoo, but with our guide helping to communicate with the villagers we were able to interact with them a bit and it actually ended up being a very interesting and positive experience. The village we visited included about 200 individuals from five different tribes. Some of these groups have been in this mountainous region of northern Thailand for ages; others are more recent refugees from Myanmar or Laos. It was virtually all women we saw in the village as the men were off working in the fields. Many of the women were weaving as they make all their family’s clothes as well as various handicrafts that they sell. They all have displays set up to entice us tourists, but these weren’t commercial stalls – just the front porches of their ...

The Baandam Museum, also known as the Black Museum or Black House, is a kind of counterpoint to the nearby White Temple, which I posted about most recently. Again it is the artistic vision, albeit a darker one, of one man – Thai artist Thawan Duchanee who, like Chalermchai Kositpipat of the White Temple, was born in Chiang Rai and went on to achieve an international reputation. The complex contains several buildings of various styles and sizes, each filled with Thawan’s collections of paintings, carvings, sculptures, folk art, and, oddly, the remnants of dead animals (horns, skins, bones, shells, etc.). For us the Black Museum didn’t exhibit the same level of creativity and craftsmanship as the White Temple, which we saw earlier the same day, but it was well worth visiting. The Black Museum Inside the huge main building. Door carving. Chair made of horns. (There were a lot of these.) Portrait of the artist  Thawan Duchanee, who died in 2014 at the...

Wat Rong Khun, better known as the White Temple, is the vision of Chalermchai Kositpipat, a famous Thai artist who was born in the nearby town of Chiang Rai. This spectacular modern temple is like no other with its dominant white color, symbolizing the purity of Buddha.  Begun in 1996, the project is ongoing, with a total of nine buildings envisioned and a projected completion date of 2070, long after the death of its creator. But the artist has, or will have, all his drawings ready for his successors to carry on after him. It’s a bit like Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona in that respect, and also in its architectural uniqueness. Wat Rong Khun, aka The White Temple Hell is envisioned as a sea of greedy, grasping hands. You must pass over hell on a bridge to reach the main hall, which is like heaven. Bits of mirror are embedded in the plaster to foster self-reflection and add to the overall radiance. Sadly, no photos are allowed in the...