Wat Rong Khun, the White Temple, at opening

Wat Rong Khun lies about 13 kilometres south of Chiang Rai, on the road from Chiang Mai. It is the work of the Chiang Rai artist Chalermchai, who began rebuilding it in 1997 and expects the work to go on for decades: white stucco and mirrored glass above a pond, a bridge over a sea of reaching hands, spires that catch the sun from every side. Nothing else in Thailand looks like it, and nothing else is quite so hard on a camera at noon.

Opening time is the sensible hour for two reasons. The low sun gives the white some shape — shadow in the carving, a glow in the glass instead of glare — and the day tours from Chiang Mai, about three hours away by road, have not arrived yet. The best frames are from the grounds and the edge of the pond, with the hall and its reflection behind two people standing small. On an overcast morning the white is gentler still.

It is an artwork and a temple, and its rules are real: shoulders and knees covered, shoes off before entering a hall, voices low. There is no photography inside the main hall. Signs at the start of the bridge ask visitors not to stop on it for pictures — it is narrow and raised — so walk across, and take the portraits from the grounds. A professional shoot here is something to ask about before the day, not at the gate; foreign visitors pay an entrance fee, and the opening hours are worth checking.