My Asia escapade included a stop in Chiang Rai, Thailand, mostly because the new friends I was traveling with wanted to stop to see something called The White Temple. Without a solid destination of my own, I decided to tag along, and I’m so glad that I did.

Chiang Rai, Thailand: The White Temple (Wat Rong Khun)

With the clear blue skies behind the temple, it’s bright white exterior shown bright. Tourists crowded around every spot, and smartphones were held out between strangers to request photos. My mouth gaped at the sheer detail that covered every bit of this temple.

The White Temple was absolutely stunning, but if you’re hanging out in the area for a while, be sure to duck into the quiet art gallery that shows off some of the artist’s other works. The man certainly has a sense of humor as he marries modern-day politics with the supernatural.

I purchased a bunch of postcards, and easily accessed stamps as well, to send home to friends and family.

What to Wear: If you’re female, leave your shorts at home and grab a long skirt or pants. I opted to pull a long skirt over my mini dress so that later on I could easily return to the cooler option of the mini dress!

How to Get There: Thailand is fantastic for its uber and lyft-like services, which is called Grab. You’ll want to download their app for Grab ASAP. It was the best for all of my local travels.

Here’s another helpful article about The White Temple logistics.

Also, it was super nice to be wearing flip-flops for exploring temples. While I know many places suggest covering your toes when you’re in a foreign country, the truth is that in many places you’ll be asked to remove your shoes to go barefoot through holy places…or out of respect for your host or hostess.

My flip-flops were a great choice for this exertion or maybe a simple pair of comfortable ballet flats!

While traveling through Asia, I had a pocket-sized cardboard cut-out of one of my dear friends. And when I remembered, I had fun taking photos of her to tag on my social media accounts. The time difference made it extra fun.

I love Jenly’s idea to send herself along with me for my adventures. Since I traveled solo, meeting up with friends along the way, there were plenty of times that I found myself lonely. And this little cardboard cut-out turned out to be just the thing to keep myself focused on creating an experience for someone else rather than my own missing of other people!

The White Temple seemed unreal in its beauty and its quirky nods to contemporary culture. But it was such fun!

I mean, who was expecting a sparkly transformer at a Buddhist temple? Certainly not me!

By nature, I’m a planner, but I’m so glad that part of my travels included time for me to go with the flow and explore however I felt like it. At one point, that definitely meant that I holed up in Bangkok, Thailand, for a few days, but you know, that’s part of the adventure.

Go to Thailand. Love you. Bye.