Chiang Rai White Temple

We recently went to Chiang Rai, we ended up renting a van for 24 hours that would take us up north. That was a lot cheaper then what we were going to do. We were going to go by train, buses, and take a lot of tuk-tuks and taxis to get everywhere, but instead our van took us everywhere we wanted to go. When we went to Chiang Mai we took a train and it ended up taking nine hours to get there, Chiang Rai is farther then Chiang Mai and it was only six hours to get there by van.

We stopped by the White Temple, also known as Wat Rong Khun. This temple is the main reason we went to Chiang Rai. It was so cool! It has been my favorite temple I have seen so far! The whole temple is white except for the inside which has a dead monk inside.

There are superheroes, movie stars, and cartoons all around the temple, not just a couple of painting that are inside. They did that because the artist named Chalermchai Kositpipat decided he wanted the temple to be a place of learning, meditation, and people to gain benefit of Buddhist teachings.
The bridge is known as "the cycle of rebirth" because you cross the suffering stage, the rebirth stage, and then you are free of suffering once you cross the bridge. The bridge symbolizes the way to happiness, by overcoming some temptations, greed and desire.
After the bridge you reach the "Gate of Heaven" that is guarded by two huge creatures that represent Death and Rahu, who decides over mens fate.
Next is the most important building. The whole temple is white except for the inside which has a dead monk inside and pictures of Buddha. Also, the inside walls are painted with colorful murals that is a modern representation of good and evil. Someone told me before I came to the white temple that there was some cartoon characters painted on the wall inside the temple. When I went inside I forgot they told me that, but when I was about to exit the security guard by the door told me too look at the wall next to him. Then I saw blended into the art there was a hello kitty, a batman, despicable me, etc. I couldn't take pictures inside the temple, but if I could I would have gotten a picture of it.

 It is so weird that it has hands coming out of the ground, but I read that they symbolize desire. It represents that humans are suffering and going to go through the cycle of rebirth over the bridge that is after the hands.

These two statues are called a Kinnaree, it is a creature from Buddhist Mythology that is half human, half bird.

These type of ghostly heads are hanging from the trees everywhere. The heads in this picture are Batman, Hellboy, Freddy Kruger, and Pinhead... Super random. Probably another one of the artist's additions. 

This building is the bathroom, but the bathrooms actually stand for something. The gold represents the body and the white of the temple represents the mind. The gold symbolizes how people focus on worldly desires and money. The golden building represents the idea to make merit and to focus on the mind, instead of possessions.

This temple was so fun to learn about and to walk around and to see all the cool details of the temple.