Chiang Rai – White Temple & Golden Toilet (Thailand)

Chiang Rai – White Temple & Golden Toilet

The White Temple in Chiang Rai (near Chiang Mai) is an artistic replacement for an old temple that had fallen into disrepair. It is run by the artist and opened in 1997, but still is a blinding white in the sun.  He intends to construct more buildings on the site and make it a location for meditation and training, to be completed around 2070.

It is also known as Wat Rong Khun.

I went to this on a full-day tour of the Thailand, Laos, Myanmar triangle.

The exterior is a brilliant white with mirror mosaics in cacaphonous combination.

First, you go on a bridge over a symbolized hell (with hands reaching up from below you), then over another bridge to the temple, where inside waits a wax monk in a glass box.   The interior is very sparse compared to the gaudiness of the exterior. Sorry, pictures aren’t allowed, but there wouldn’t be much to see anyway.

One of its claims to fame is the golden toilet there.  That is nearly as ostentatious as the temple itself. I thought they literally meant a “golden toilet” but by toilet they meant the entire bathroom building as that is the standard usage of the world toilet in Thailand and most of the world (In the US a toilet is just the thing you flush, not the room).  The toilets inside were just normal toilets. Whomp whomp. 🙁

It is likely the fanciest toilet I’ll ever use.