Temple toilets clean, but now its artwork is inspiring lust
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National artist Chalermchai Kositpipat probably had no idea when he was building his fabulous Wat Rong Khun in Chiang Rai that he'd have to spend all of his time protecting it from over-enthusiastic visitors.
First there were the Chinese tourists arriving by the busload to see the famously all-white temple and then departing in such a hurry that they left the toilets in an unholy mess. Chalermchai’s decision to ban Chinese from the place made headlines around the world earlier this year, especially in China, and then when he had second thoughts and lifted the ban, there were more headlines.
That problem eventually took care of itself, only for a new one to appear in the form of Western females inexplicably attracted to a recently installed sculpture. Chalermchai has hit the roof again over another set of tourists posing “inappropriately” for pictures with “The Iron Man”.
The artist is a big fan of comic-book superheroes and has depicted several in his temple murals. This sculpture, sitting on a bench out front, was inspired by Marvel Comics’ Iron Man – though it’s green to suggest taking care of the environment, wears a chada on its head, holds a lotus in one hand and bears the temple’s emblem.
It’s common enough for people to have their picture taken with amusing sculptures but, when it’s located at a temple, even a cartoon character deserves more respect than “The Iron Man” is getting. Chalermchai was becoming used to foreigners leaning on and hugging the sculpture for a snapshot, but then he saw female farang striking decidedly sexy poses with it and could bear no more. “Some of them kiss it and others hug it sexually,” he complains. “They sit in his lap and pose as though my Iron Man was being sexually assaulted!”
Apart from eyewitness accounts, Chinese tourists are also clear of suspicion because this stuff is usually going on from early morning until about 10am. That’s when the Western hordes tend to roll in. “After that, until late afternoon, there’s no problem when Thai and Chinese tourists are here,” says Chalermchai. “This behaviour is just unacceptable because the bench is right in front of the temple. They should show respect!”
On top of being disrespectful, the visitors are actually damaging the statue. The surface is scratched and the hand holding the lotus has been bent. “In one day there were about 100 tourists doing damage to my work,” says the Iron Man’s creator. “I have to make repairs every three days!”
What’s he going to do about it, apart from griping to Soopsip? He and the students helping him decorate the temple have set up a security detail, and they wear whistles around their necks. If they spot something inappropriate happening with the Iron Man, they blow the whistle until the offensive behaviour ceases.
It sounds like a very Chinese response to the problem, except that a lot of Thais were engaged in just such a practice not long ago whenever they spotted a government official. The alternative would be to put the Iron Man inside a cage “for his own protection”, but who’s going to believe that?
