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.

A Buddhist monk uses a traditional needle to tattoo the body of a man at Wat Bang Phra in Nakhon Pathom province on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, March 18, 2016. Believers from across Thailand travel to the monastery to have their bodies adorned with tattoos and to pay their respects to the temple's master tattooist. They believe the tattoos have mystical powers, ward off bad luck and protect them from harm. (Photo by Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)

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.

Goats covered with cloth are tied next to a hut on a cold winter morning in New Delhi on December 26, 2023. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)

Children play with their pet Hamster at a street in Kochi on March 29, 2021. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)

A student takes part in Tamil New Year and Vishu celebrations in Chennai on April 13, 2022. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)

Monks take a tiger out of its cage for an afternoon walk June 5, 2001 at the Wat Pa Luangta Bua monastery in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Indian performers painted as tigers take part in the “Pulikali”, or Tiger Dance, in Thrissur on September 17, 2016. The folk-art event is held every year in the town during the “Onam” festival. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)