I Heart Wat Rong Khun

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OK, generally when someone tells you that the highlight of their day occured during the pitstop on a 6 hour drive, you think that they're whingeing. Let you misconceptions fly out the window, because pitstops can be the best thing that will ever happen to you (apart from the obvious restroom and eating oppurtunities). It was on such a pitstop that I visited the White Temple (a.k.a Wat Rong Khun)- by far the coolest temple I have seen so far, and definitely ranking up there as one of the gnarliest things to grace this earth.

Sit and think about your childhood. The kind of fairytales you read. Narnia. Alice in Wonderland. Stories of ice queens and swan princesses. Now look at the photo of the white temple and try to tell me that it isn't every childhood fantasy rolled into one. And if you can say that, I will merely reply 'bah, humbug' and claim that the photo does the place no justice. Which it really doesn't. In reality this place glistens and sparkles. The grass is bright emerald and freshly cut. Fountains spontaneously burst into life, alerting you to the presence of dozens of giant carp swimming underneath.... it is like walking in a dream, though with a few annoying tourists buzzing about.

Outside, there is a jungle of plaster hands, reaching out of the ground as if trying to get out of hell. Many are grotesque, or making grotesque gestures. And as you look closer, almost every hand has it's own characteristic. One has one fingernail painted red. Another is a skeleton hand. One is a foot, while another is holding an eyeball. One even appears to be the arm of a robot, reaching out from the realms of Beezelbub.

I have seen artworks of a similar style. The army men of Do-Ho Su for example. But nothing this interesting. And certainly not outside such a fantastical structure. It only serves to add to the feeling that you've stumbled into the abode of some evil ice queen who curses her victims into eternally suffering stone.

Anyway, as I already mentioned, as you walk up, water fountains seem to burst to life, and giant fish swim below the bridge of white between the hands and the actual temple. Every detail is stunning and sparkling.

You almost forget that it's a temple until you walk into the actual thing (where unfortunately you can't bring cameras), and see the golden Buddha with the Buddha mural at the opposite end. As you look around though, you notice that the mural is far from tradition. It is a gorgeous surreal image of gods firing bombs onto cities with Pepsi trucks and Superman. Demons make transitions in petrol pumps. Nero from the Matrix makes an appearance. It is an amazingly complex mixture of traditional and contemporary. The style is also a mixture of traditional Thai/ Buddhist religious painting, with more western colouration and shading techniques also present. It was just amazing.

Then you walk back out, leaving the colour behind and stepping into the glare of white walls and mirror mosaic decorations. They seem to be building a purely gold temple nearby. You can see the construction site as you walk out, with some of it already finished. But there's plenty of golden temples from Thai's rich past. But only one white building that will forever live in my heart.


P.S. With my coincidental musing about Alice in Wonderland appropriations just before visiting this place, along with the cow in Angkor, and getting a photo with Hans Christen Anderson in Phuket, I am now convinced that I am destined to write a fairytale. And everyone knows that anyone destined to write a fairytale is going to write the best darn fairytale the world has seen.

I've decided I probably won't need to come up with the story. It will come to me in a dream, just like Kubla Khan did for Coleridge. But without the opium. If I'm wrong, I'll understand that it was probably just my 'destiny' to buy the pop-up book version of Alice in Wonderland I found in the QVB. Either way I'm a happy camper, and the White Temple is still a major inspiration as to the ability to translate the imagination into reality. Something I have always admired in art.

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Photos

A 'Jungle of Hands'
You can almost hear them scream.

The White Temple
Croquet anyone? I had been thinking about Alice in Wonderland on the way up, so it was the first story to spring to mind.

Wat Rong Khun
Or as I like to call it, the ice palace...

The Red Fingernail
Oh, what finger is that? A rude one, to my knowledge.

A detail of some decorations
White walls and mosaic mirrors. The new design for my dream house.

The Sides of the Bridge
Trust me, it gleamed like nothing else in reality.

Our Tour Group
The first group shot I've bothered to get on my camera. A nice bunch, the lot of them...