I have wanted to see the White Temple for FIVE years, ever since a Thai co-worker went to Chiang Rai during my first year in Thailand and brought me back a postcard. And now, finally, I got the chance to visit Chiang Rai, the province that I've been dreaming about visiting for years!
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| the White Temple |
The White Temple was designed by a local Chiang Rai artist. He wanted to build an amazing landmark to honor the King and the Thai people. The temple first opened in 1997, but the artist doesn't expect it to be finished for another 40 years! It's still a work-in-progress, but it's open to visit now.
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| at the White Temple |
I finally got to visit the White Temple, and it's awesome! It's also really weird! From a distance, the temple looks so beautiful and elegant... but when you get close, you can see that the walkway leading up to the main wat building is actually really creepy.
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| creepy grasping hands |
Everything at the temple is symbolic. To get to the main temple building, you have to walk along a narrow pathway across this creepy pit of grasping hands. Apparently, this represents Hell, and the golden and beautiful interior of the temple represented Heaven.
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| warrior |
To get to the main temple building, you have to walk past white statues of a warrior and an angel.
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| angel |
The interior of the temple is all painted in gold and it's beautiful! No photographs are allowed inside, however. I wish I could have taken some, though, because the murals on the walls depict all sorts of crazy stuff like Spiderman, Yoda, Michael Jackson, and more!
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| exterior of the temple |
One of the most amazing parts of the temple complex were the fancy golden bathrooms!
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| toilet signs |
Maybe it sounds like I'm joking, but I'm not; the bathrooms were really, really fancy!
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| bathrooms |
Since Pinky and I only had one full day in Chiang Rai City, we did something we don't normally do: sign up for a package tour. We normally prefer to travel independently, but the package tour was a good deal, and it would take us to so many places - way more than we could see on our own. We were hesitant at first, but it actually turned out to be a really wonderful day! Our guide/driver was very knowledgeable and offered to take tons of photos of us throughout the day. Our group was only ten people, and it was so much fun!
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| photo courtesy of our tour guide |
As we were leaving the temple, we bought a little silver leaf and wrote our names on it to hang up at the temple. This was for good luck, and also to help support the temple. Apparently, doing this can also help you get into Heaven... so it's sort of like an indulgence, I guess!
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| good luck leaf |
There is also a small gallery for the work by the artist. He does take donations for the temple, but will only accept small donations. He sees building the White Temple as his life's work and he doesn't want to be influenced by any money or donors. He wants to dedicate his life to building this site for the Thai people, and I think it's really great!
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| the artist who designed the temple |
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