About ten miles outside Chiang Rai, there is a recent temple that is attracting a fair number of home and foreign visitors since a few years. The building of the temple complex began in 1997 and is still ongoing. It is called Wat Rong Khun, but it is also known as ‘the White Temple’. Designed by a contemporary artist from Chiang Rai province, Chalermchai Kositpipat, the temple lives up to its nickname: the main building (the ubusot), a bridge leading to it and all statues around it have all been executed in brilliant white with pieces of mirror. Indeed, the first impression is amazing: in the tropical sun, the temple is blindingly beautiful.
In years to come, the number of visitors will undoubtedly increase as the number of finished buildings grows. The concept of Wat Rong Khun is really unique in Thailand: it is intended as an example of how the traditional Thai temple architecture may be combined with modern elements. Additionally, you will meet very strange elements on the temple site; some of the most terrifying images remind me of the world of Jeroen Bosch, but there is also room for elements from our contemporary society: characters from Hollywood films, rockets, etcetera.
The visitor is first led along a pond that reflects the entire building magnificently; then he comes to a representation of hell, with a mass of pleading hands (some of them with skulls – a very strong image), and then to a bridge/staircase leading to the main temple building. At the bottom of the stairs, you meet two giant guards; once past those, you are drawn to the ubusot across the bridge. Within, an unexpected simplicity awaits, with a wonderful mural of a Buddha, painted by the designer of the temple.
Part of the temple complex is a museum exhibiting a fair number of paintings by Chalermchai Kositpipat; visitors who make the effort to go and have a look will undoubtedly be impressed by the talent of this man. I, for one, am looking forward to visit the temple a number of times over the next few years to admire the buildings that are still being constructed.
