Chiang Rai - Day Three

Our third day in Chiang Rai was the first official day of Songkran.  We wanted to do the traditional water blessing for the holiday, and so our guide took us to Wat Huay Pla Hung.  We had seen the giant Buddha statue from the plane on our way into Chiang Rai.

What we hadn't seen from the plane, was the great Chinese style temple next to it.

There was even a strategically located chair for fun photo ops.

The sun had come back, and with it, the heat, so the ladies stood in the shadow of the dragon with the breeze coming through a coil, while Jeff (as our family rep) lit good luck incense in front of the temple.  

Then we went inside.  Vivian thought the wooden statues were great and got really into bowing before them.

Elena followed Vivi's lead and got on her knees and bent over.  Young worked on showing her how to put her hands together.  It was really cute.

There were stairs leading up to each new level of the temple.  At each level there was another statue for praying.

The stairs got a bit treacherous towards the top, so Young and I stayed with Elena while Jeff, Vivian, and the guide climbed all the way to the top.  Jeff got some great pictures and put them all together into a panoramic shot.

Then the guide took us to do a water blessing inside and outside.

Next, we went into the town itself to do a little shopping and some quick sight seeing.

We had lunch at a riverside restaurant five minutes walk from our hotel, and then lounged around for the rest of the afternoon, relaxing and enjoying our last full day in Chiang Rai.

The next morning we got up and had a leisurely breakfast outside to enjoy the cool weather.  Then we got on a plane and flew back to Bangkok, home, and the heat.