Wat Rong Khun

The long, long journey back to Chiang Mai was broken by a stop to walk round one of the true highlights of the holiday, Wat Rong Khun, otherwise known as the White Temple. The detail is stunning, all in white with mirrors stuccoed onto it. The artist Chalermchai Kositpipat has been quite controversial with his depiction of hell. We weren't allowed to take photographs inside the temple where the wall paintings were like science fiction film story boards, even with a depiction of the New York twin towers disaster.

In researching for this post I discovered that there was an earthquake (magnitude  6.3) in this area earlier this month (6 May 2014) and the whole temple site was feared to be unsafe. Luckily Chalermchai Kositpipat has now said that all damage will be repaired but it will take several years. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70N5B1t1dOE