Wat Ban Rai

A sprawling temple complex in Dan Khun Thot district, Nakhon Ratchasima, built up under the guidance of the widely revered monk Luang Phor Koon Parisuttho. Famous for its four-storey elephant-shaped hall, covered in more than 20 million mosaic pieces and reported to be the largest ceramic mosaic structure of its kind in Asia.

Originally a modest rural monastery, Wat Ban Rai was transformed after Luang Phor Koon Parisuttho (1923-2015) — one of modern Thailand's most famous and widely amuleted monks — was ordained here in his twenties. After years spent meditating in the forests of Laos and Cambodia, he returned to build up the temple, using donations from devotees nationwide to fund hospitals, schools, and roads in the surrounding area. Construction of the temple's landmark Thep Wittayakhom Hall — the elephant-shaped shrine built to house the Tripitaka — continued for years and was completed in 2013, two years before Luang Phor Koon's death.