A Travellerspoint blog

Wat Rong Khun


View Asia 2008 on Wardsan's travel map.

On our way between Chiangs Mai and Khong we stopped for lunch outside Chiang Rai - which is, incidentally, in the Golden Triangle. Over the road was Wat Rong Khun, a modern wat, designed and built by an artist by the name of Chalermchai Kositpipat. Construction began in 1998 and is nearly complete.

DSC06724.jpg

It is a modern take on an old theme, and unique in Thailand in being all white; it looks as if it was carved from sugar candy.

DSC06725.jpg

The bot is one of the less rectilinear buildings I have seen.

DSC067401.jpg

The finials look like winged elephants. Species mixes are common in Buddhism, as in Greek and Rowlingian mythology.

DSC06736.jpg

To get into the bot, you have to walk over a bridge guarded by a couple of spirits. Demonic hands stretch out from below.

DSC06732.jpg

DSC06729.jpg

The walls of the bot contain a representation of “an escape from the defilements of temptation”. It’s uncannily like a Last Judgment, which Buddha in the place where Jesus would be. The style is sci-fi art. Darth Vader appears. There is a plane crashing into the Twin Towers (its position in the picture implies opprobrium, not glorification).

Posted by Wardsan 20:48 Archived in Thailand

Email this entryFacebookStumbleUpon

Table of contents

Be the first to comment on this entry.

This blog requires you to be a logged in member of Travellerspoint to place comments.

Login