Our van pulled away from Thailand’s beautiful northern city, Chiang Mai, on the pot-holed road heading towards the neighboring city, Chiang Rai. At our midday lunch stop for a Thai buffet, a large billboard advertised Cabbages and Condoms, a Bangkok restaurant that promoted family planning. (It must be in a theme category all by itself.) The billboard was a harbinger of sorts to the surprising spectacle awaiting us.
Our destination––Wat Rong Khun, known to the outside world as the White Temple, a Buddhist house of worship outside Chiang Rai. Okay, we had already seen at least a dozen temples in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, each one an impressive work of Thailand’s elaborate religious architecture. What’s going to be different about this one to make it a destination, I wondered.

Blinded by the White
We pulled into the parking lot and…WOW!! A brilliant white vision stunned me. No, it wasn’t a mirage. There’s no doubting its common name, the pristine White Temple dazzled.
The White Temple is like a lavishly decorated wedding cake, with Buddhist symbols of lotus flowers, Bodhi trees and victory banners. Its “frosting” forms peaks of mythological Naga snakes that adorn the roof and reach skyward. Three overlapping roofs cap the fantastical building, framing an elaborate temple entrance. The temple and other small buildings and fanciful sculptures sit on an island surrounded by a small manmade pond.
Lime-and-calcium-based whitewash painted over concrete, with another added layer of white plaster studded with myriad embedded mirrored glass shards, produce the hypnotizing effect. Exquisitely articulated Buddhist images and symbols cover the unimaginable structure, giving it a magical fairy tale appearance.


A Dedicated Soul Creates the Miracle
Thanks to the genius and dedication of local artist Chalermchai Kositpipat, he decided to completely rebuild the original dilapidated Wat Rong Khun (“wat” means temple in the Thai language) with his own resources, opening the doors of the reconceived temple to worshippers and visitors in 1997. The builder wanted to create a masterpiece and paeon to spiritual enlightenment embodied in Buddha; he chose white as a symbol of his lord’s purity.
Kositpipat eventually plans to build a total of nine buildings in the complex, giving this monumental work-in-progress a projected completion date of 2070. He expects artists and sponsors to carry on his work after he passes.

Crossing Into Heaven
Recovering from an awe-struck state, I searched for a path to the temple’s front door. The access, it turns out, is the bridge of “the cycle of rebirth,” involving a trip through hell and over the pond to the gate to heaven, a quest I hadn’t imagined taking just yet. An ascending path took me over a pit filled with tortured upturned faces and arms whose splayed fingers enticed me to join them in the corporeal world of greed and unholy desires. I could sense a hand grabbing the edge of my jeans.
Once I escaped those temptations, I faced two fierce guardians standing on the bridge’s newel posts. One represents death; the other, the Rahu, decides the fate of the deceased. They allowed me to pass. I crossed the bridge, to face several images of Buddha who welcomed me, I assumed.


Superheroes Come to the Rescue
Considering the spectacular scene outside, I expected a non-traditional interior. Yet I gasped at the murals covering the walls. Why in the world would I have expected to see Michael Jackson, Harry Potter, Spiderman, and Neo from The Matrix movie working to save the world from the greed, malice, and gluttony that’s destroying the earth and its people?! One mural depicts the attack on the World Trade Center; another shows demonic men in suits with long hoses in hand pumping gasoline down the throats of helpless, wide-eyed victims. My restless camera vibrated against my chest. Alas, NO PHOTOS PERMITTED!

Staggering into the blinding sunlight magnified by the light reflected off the building’s surface, I felt stunned by the total experience.
To underscore the meaning of this visual creation, an ornately decorated building painted gold houses the toilets. The message: the golden building is dedicated to the body; the white temple complex is devoted to the mind and spirit.
Fifteen years after that visit, I still marvel at Kositpipat’s creative genius. Recent photographs reveal a greatly enhanced campus. Hundreds of surreal creatures, both representing good and evil, now occupy this astonishing space. A visit to Wat Rong Khun, the White Temple, is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and one of many compelling reasons to put incredible Thailand on your travel bucket list.

If You Go (January 2025)
Getting There:
By Air:
Direct from US to Bangkok: Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, San Francisco, New York
From Bangkok to Chiang Rai: several 90-minute daily flights ($50-$55)
By Bus from Chiang Mai: 4 hours, 220 Thai bahts ($6.36)
By Taxi from Chiang Rai Old Town to Site: Shared taxi, 15-minute ride, 50 Thai bahts ($1.45)
Guided tours available from Chiang Rai
White Temple:
Admission: 100 TB ($2.90)
Hours: 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Photos not permitted inside the temple
Modest clothing required for temple: no shoes, no shorts, shoulders covered. Sarongs available for temporary use.