Wihan Luang

As part of our temple tour, we visited Wat Phra Singh in the old city centre of Chiang Mai, Thailand. It was originally built in 1345 to house the remains of a king, and has been extended and improved over the centuries since.

The Wihan Luang (pictured here) is one of the first buildings you encounter as you enter the gates. It's an impressively detailed building, guarded by Singhs - Thai lions that look more like serpents or dragons.

Like all Buddhist temples in Thailand, it is ridiculously ornate and dripping with gold leaf. And while I admire the artistry and visual beauty, I do find myself a little conflicted around the moral aspects of this.

There's so much poverty in Thailand, and people give everything they have to their Buddhist temples. It seems a bit perverse to me that their templates should drip with gold, while the people starve in the hopes of achieving enlightenment.

The murals and carvings are exquisitely detailed, and I was lucky enough to be able watch one of the artists at work, touching up an old window shade.

Thankfully, they had air-conditioning inside. It was 42°c in the shade, and I was beginning to look like melted wax.

I was unfortunate enough to witness one of the monks (pictured below) picking his nose and eating it. He quickly pretended to scratch his face when he spotted me and my camera.

These photographs were taken with my Canon EOS 5D Mark IV and the extraordinary Canon 35 mm f/1.4 L II USM .