Chiang Mai to White Temple and Lamphun Beacon: Day trip

Wat Rong Khun was designed by visual artist and painter Chalermchai Kositpipat, and is unique in both color and execution. The entire building is stark white to signify Buddha’s purity, while the pieces of glass that adorn it symbolize Buddha’s wisdom and teachings. The entire temple is rife with symbolism and mythology, from the statues of countless reaching hands that symbolise unrestrained desire, to the "gate of heaven", guarded Death and Rahu. Intermixed with the Thai architecture and Buddhist imagery are pop-icons like Hello Kitty and Harry Potter. Kositpipat is still working on the temple complex, and is planning to construct a hall to enshrine Buddhist relics, a meditation hall, monks living quarters, and an art gallery without the assistance of major donors.

Built on the site of Queen Chama Thewi’s palace around the 11th century, Wat Phra That Hariphunchai is Lamphun’s oldest, largest and most famous temple. Though renovated and expanded in the 15th century, it’s still one of the few places left in Thailand where you can see Mon style architecture. The bare brick Suwanna chedi was built in the 15th century, but the stepped pyramid structure with its 60 niches for standing Buddha images was modelled after the much older Mon style. However, the temple’s main chedi is a towering 46 meter tall golden structure that was built in the 15th century around a much smaller 9th century Mon stupa. The temple’s main viharn was rebuilt in 1925, but its intricate decorations, and Buddha images dating back to the 15th century still exude a historic air. Also keep an eye out for the big bronze gong - it’s believed to be the world's largest!