Word: tel
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...Nirvana in this case is Wat Rong Khun, or White Temple, a spectacular, ornately carved building painted white to symbolize purity. Part of a project that Chalermchai started in 1997, the compelling ubosot, or assembly hall, is one of the three main structures at the sprawling White Temple complex (tel: (66) 5367 3579), a 6.4-acre (2.6 hectare) site in his native Chiang Rai in northern Thailand. When devout Buddhist Chalermchai's project is complete - with the help of 67 disciples, he hopes it'll be done by 2070 - he will have created nine equally intricate buildings, including a crematorium...
...well as being a repository of museum-worthy art - including Thawan's own - from all over the world, Black House, tel: (66-8) 9767 4444, is also a shrine to the artist's collection of animal skins and bones. Dismissing the myths surrounding his bizarre collection - thought by many to be mysterious - if not ghoulish, the controversial 70-year-old, who professes to be nonreligious, maintains that "they mean nothing. They are for study, to help me with anatomy, form and function." Is Black House the flipside of the virtuous White Temple, or is that reading too much into their...
...along the Israeli security bureaucracy. Six weeks ago, 250 Christians applied for permission from the Israelis to exit the locked down Palestinian enclave of Gaza for a day to see Pope Benedict XVI as he visits in Israel on his tour of the Middle East. The Pontiff arrived in Tel Aviv Monday, but so far Gaza's Christians haven't heard if their permit applications - and prayers - have been answered. "The Pope is an inspiration for us, and we want to tell him how difficult it is for us Arab Christians living in Gaza," says Kamran, a young Christian student...
With 10 million people, nearly 6 million vehicles and frequent antigovernment protests, Bangkok can be an overwhelming place. For the perfect respite, head to Agalico, tel: (66-2) 662 5857, an all-white teahouse set in a sequestered garden in the middle of Thailand's capital. It's the period fantasy of a Thai aristocrat who was educated in England and lives in a traditional Thai house next door. Homemade scones, quiches and cakes are served in the main teahouse, which, with its wicker furniture and fanciful birdcages, could serve as the location for a Jane Austen courtship scene...
...sign of the changing times was the recent high-class produce market chef Alain Ducasse organized at the Plaza Athénée Hôtel, where guests met the producers of the otherworldly fruits and vegetables Ducasse serves at his eponymous three-star restaurant, www.alain-ducasse.com: from Buddha's hand citron to rare Ligurian purple asparagus. Ducasse says his love of rare and impeccable ingredients grew from an early exposure to Mediterranean produce. But when he left for the capital in 1996, a multi-course homage to the vegetable like the Jardins de Provence menu he'd served since...