With the Wat Samphran Temple, what you see is what you get: while a smattering of awed visitors across the web have expressed admiration for this impressive work of architecture, details such as when it was built, who designed it, or why this 17-story tower is in the clutches of a massive, beautiful dragon are nowhere to be found.

Devotees wearing protective masks pray at a temple in Bangkok, Thailand, 19 June 2020. Thailand opened most businesses to enter the fourth phase of easing coronavirus restrictions after the number of coronavirus cases remains low. (Photo by Diego Azubel/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej in serious portrait January 01, 1960. Thailand's Royal Palace said on Thursday, October 13, 2016, that Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died at age 88. (Photo by John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

A 69-meter-tall giant Buddha statue stands at the Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen temple on the outskirts of Bangkok on October 12, 2021. (Photo by Jack Taylor/AFP Photo)

A wild water monitor (Varanus salvator) is seen swimming between colorful popcorn snacks at a Lumphini public park in Bangkok, Thailand on March 27, 2022. (Photo by Matt Hunt/Neato/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A greedy wild elephant shunned jungle leaves and instead stopped passing trucks to steal sugarcane. The 35-year-old jumbo nicknamed “Fatty” by locals emerged from the forest on a road in Chachoengsao province, Thailand, on December 29, 2022. (Photo by Au Wanapin/ViralPress)

People take part in mass water fights during the first day of Songkran, or Thai New Year, on Khao San Road in Bangkok on April 13, 2023. (Photo by Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP Phoot)

Wat Rong Khun (Thai: วัดร่องขุ่น), more well-known among foreigners as the White Temple, is a contemporary unconventional Buddhist temple in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. It was designed by Chalermchai Kositpipat in 1997.