Wat Rong Khun

Wat Rong Khun, known as the White Temple of northern Thailand, is a contemporary Buddhist temple near Chiang Rai, Thailand.

The brainchild of Thai artist, Chalermchai Kositpipat, it is a work in progress with additional buildings to be added in the future.  Construction began in 1996 and is expected to be ongoing for another sixty to ninety years.

The temple is a dazzling, brilliant structure of white plaster with embedded, glittering mirror chips.  I'd highly recommend sunglasses when approaching it on a sunny day.

An eclectic mix of Buddhist tradition and modern art permeates the temple and its grounds.  A Roman Catholic would likely risk stern papal condemnation for employing such novel juxtapositions in a place of worship.  Here, Buddhist monks serenely stroll the premises.

Ghoulish heads hang in trees, and murals depicting contemporary woes and ways, off limits to obedient photographers, adorn walls.  There are surely lessons to be learned and morals to be contemplated, but that would best be left to the unique intuition of the individual visitor.

The devil's brew.
A whiskey bottle perched on a representation of evil.
Fine with me, I never was big on whiskey.
As A.E. Housman so glibly noted years ago,
"Ale, man, ale's the stuff to drink..."

The temple grounds.

Approaching the temple, visitors pass over a bridge
as a multitude of sculpted hands
reach up pleadingly from the depths of Hell.

Tourists and Buddhist monks in front of
the approach to the temple.

Back to earthly delights, chickens sizzle on a grill
across the road from the temple.