In doing a little research before traveling to Chiang Mai, it is inevitable that you’ll come across photos of the most ornate white temple called, Wat Rong Khun, located in the neighboring town of Chiang Rai. In all of the photos, a long white bridge crosses over a little pond leading to a beautifully built temple that looks as if it was dropped straight down from Heaven just to sit in a perfect blue sky backdrop. Those pictures were enough to convince my friend and I to book a tour, wake up early, and take the three hour drive further up north to see this site for ourselves.
Before we even arrived in Chiang Rai, the day was off to an interesting start. About half way through our drive, we pulled into a local rest stop that we were told was famous for its hot springs, interesting. When we got out of the tour van we were immediately greeted by an older Thai women trying to sell us little baskets of quail eggs. When we politely said no, she offered us a small basket which contained just two larger eggs, potentially from a chicken. Again, no, but thank you very much. It turns out that one of the draws to this rest stop is that you can purchase these eggs and actually cook them in the hot spring to have a hard boiled egg as a snack. Again, interesting.
We took in some of the flavor of this local rest stop and then were quickly back on our way to see the White Temple. Now, I’d assumed that like most of the temples I had visited in my two years living in Asia, this one must have been built long ago and would have been restored over the years. I was wrong, it was actually built within the past two decades, starting in 1997 and is still considered to be a work in progress. It was also built by an artist, which may partly explain why it is entirely different from any other temple I’ve visited.
So when you pass through the entrance into the temple you’re greeted by the beautiful white mirrored building, but as you make your way towards the bridge to go into the temple you see that rather than water, the bridge actually stands over a sea of white hands reaching up from under the ground. Our tour guide told us that this represents Hell, Wikipedia told me that the hands represent, ‘unrestrained desire”. Either way, crossing over the bridge is supposed to be your way towards finding true happiness.
When we entered the temple, it was beautiful. The walls were decorated with warm images of flowers, temples, and a large smiling Buddha, however in turning around we were in for a shock. On the back wall of the temple is a huge mural of a demonic spirit which is anything other than peaceful and definitely unexpected in a Buddhist temple. Upon taking a closer look the mural grew more and more surprising. Unfortunately photos of the interior of the temple were not allowed, but a quick google search will show some of the images
Inside the larger painting of the demon were smaller paintings illustrating explosions, natural disasters, dependence on technology, clocks, guns, and Kung Fu Panda. It was a mix of devastation and every superhero one could think of. I asked the tour guide what this was all symbolism for. He said it represented how human beings are in a pattern of destroying everything we have, but in real life, we don’t have superheroes to come and save the world for us. Then on the opposite side of the temple you see a very peaceful Buddha, which is to symbolize that his teachings are the way into a more beautiful world.
I’ll be honest, it was a heavier temple tour than I’d been ready for. That said, it was such an incredible experience and fell into the category of eye opening moments as to how the U.S. really affects the rest of the world, seeing as many of the events represented in the painting were of U.S. history, including an image of a former sitting president. So much of our influence is painted on the walls of that temple.
As we walked out of the place of worship we found a large gold building that too looked like a temple. Our tour guide told us that it was in fact the bathroom. Another use of symbolism. The artist wanted to use the restrooms to symbolize people, making the statement that sometimes the most beautiful person can have the personality of a toilet.
It was quite a day in Chiang Rai, and probably made the top five for unexpected experiences while traveling.
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#bbmtravelsthailand
When our days in 
Waking up early, we were excited for what the day would hold. Our tour guide from 
As we were walking back to the pavilion to start packing up for the day, one of the baby elephants decided she wanted to follow us and see what the humans were up to. She managed to sneak her way into the pavilion putting on quite a show for us onlookers. Eventually her caretakers were able to coax her out with a little bribery of fresh fruit.
During our few days spent in Laos, my friend and I planned to head down to a tiny town south of 
At this point I realized that rather than the hot air balloons meeting us, we were trying to meet it. The tuk tuk driver had his walkie-talkie communicating with a man, whom I could only assume was piloting the balloon. We drove to two fields in anticipation of the balloons’ arrival, but once again it drifted right over us.
With the first few startling bursts of flames and heat filling the balloon, we were off, slowly lifting higher into the sky. I looked down to see an audience of a couple dozen neighbors who had gathered to see us off, clarifying that this was probably not how these balloons are typically landed.
Our pilot was on his walkie-talkie and within a few minutes ten men were running in our direction. The pilot tossed over two ropes that were attached to the balloon and the guys proceeded to drag the balloon out of the greenery. There was a moment of conversing and then we were flying again. This wouldn’t be our landing spot after all.
After about a week in 
We woke up bright and early on our first day in the cozy town of Luang Prabang ready for a day of chasing waterfalls. The Kuang Si Falls to be exact. We met a tuk tuk driver outside of our hotel who took us on a scenic drive through the countryside and up to the entrance to the falls. We quickly bought our tickets and started trekking.
As I mentioned, I hadn’t done a ton of research about the falls and was simply following a few Instagram posts. That said, I couldn’t have been more surprised by what was standing in front of me. A three-tier waterfall that stood two-hundred feet tall and led into the most beautiful pools of perfectly bluish-green water cascading down the white limestone, all surrounded by lush greenery which allowed just a hint of sunlight to glisten in. We were in paradise.
We hiked another twenty minutes up the trail of the steep mountain where the falls originated and followed the path across one log bridge and then another log bridge when we came across some other tourists. Somehow we managed to discover a little lagoon at the top of the falls tucked away from the groups of people we’d seen below.
The town of Luang Prabang is utterly sweet and runs the length of a few square blocks. It’s a quiet town, but it is filled with restaurants and cafes, temples, and small shops. It also hosts one of the best night markets I’ve been to thus far.
After spending a few days in 
The following day was an early morning and a sunrise tour of Angkor Wat. This was one of the best days of traveling I’d had. Our tour guide picked us up promptly at 4:30 am, took us to buy tickets, and led us to the perfect spot for watching the sun rise over the incredible temple. When the sun was up he led us to begin exploring.
On my last day in Siem Reap I got to meet up with a friend for lunch who lived in the city. We went to the cutest restaurant which doubled as a yoga studio. On the way back to the hotel I passed by a weaving shop. There were a few women sitting out side weaving baskets, hand bags, trays, bowls, and more. Just past their weaving area was a shop which I couldn’t resist stepping into. I left with a woven serving tray that I’m in love with.
I woke up the next morning anxious about how the rest of the day would leave me feeling. We first stopped at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Amongst reading the stories of survivors of the Khmer Rogue regime, and seeing what the living conditions were like for the prisoners, I have to say that upon stepping back what I personally found the most upsetting was the idea that before the building was a prison it was a school. And a beautiful school at that.
After the S21 Museum we took a drive through the countryside on our way to the Killing Fields. I braced myself again as I was handed my audio tour and prepared to enter the grounds. I pushed play on my headset not knowing how much I truly wanted to hear the stories it was about to tell me.
After a late lunch I decided to try my hand at the slot machines. And I won! The equivalent of six dollars, triple my initial investment, which I quickly spent on the way out of the casino buying some frozen yogurt.
Rather than going straight to the city we spent a few days on a neighboring island; Cheung Chau. It’s always hard knowing what to expect when going to a new place, but from our research we were really excited to be visiting this island that was said to be quiet and didn’t allow motorized transportation. A perfect relaxing getaway. After the quick flight from Korea to Hong Kong we took a train into the city and a ferry onto the island where we met our Airbnb host who led us to our accommodations.
Aside from the gorgeous beach, one of my favorite aspects of Cheung Chau was simply wandering the streets. So many of the buildings were painted in bright colors and it seemed there was street art around every corner. We spent one morning just walking from one side of the island to the other taking in its casual beauty.
We were greeted by a fantastic look out point and beautiful blue skies. I couldn’t have asked for better weather that day. We had about two and a half hours to really explore the wall. It was incredible to walk through some of the fortresses and see the history of the country. One of my favorite moments was seeing a father showing his young son the small windows in the wall and explaining to him how they were used back when the wall was built. While I’m sure the facts that he was sharing are pretty depressing, the moment was sweet.
I had received strict instructions the night before to meet my tour guide at an adjacent hotel down the street at 8:10 a.m., which is where I was introduced to Mike, our tour guide for the day. I’d signed up for some small group tours to try to get the most out of my limited time in Beijing, however, when the van door opened it became clear that I would more likely be intruding on a family’s private tour. With just four of us in the group, I met two lovely sisters along with one of their sons who were touring Beijing and Mongolia on holiday from the Philippines. They could not have been more lovely. We spent the day exploring the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, and the Summer Palace, with a quick lunch in between.
After the Forbidden City we moved on to the Temple of Heaven. This time Mike gave us a brief overview of the history and then allowed us to explore the temple for ourselves. The coloring of this structure stood out to me as it was blue rather than red which covers most of the structures we visited. As I learned, blue was used to symbolize Heaven throughout the buildings which really made it stand out in my mind compared to everywhere else we visited.
Following lunch we made the drive to see the Summer Palace. It was immense and incredible. We didn’t cover nearly a fraction of it, and that is something I would go back to Beijing to see more of. But Mike led us around explaining to us the history of the 17-arch bridge and the palace itself, happily answering any questions we asked. I have to say I think my favorite part of the day was getting to chat with him about his life in Beijing and his passion for Chinese history.
bbm travels 