If you ever thought temples were all ancient ruins and golden stupas, then Wat Rong Khun is here to blow your mind. Tucked away in northern Thailand, just outside the quiet city of Chiang Rai, this all-white masterpiece looks less like a place of worship and more like a scene from a fantasy film.

In the heart of Nagano, where winter drapes the land in quiet white, lies a lake that carries a divine footprint—or at least, that’s what generations of believers have whispered. Every January or February, when the surface of Lake Suwa freezes just right, something extraordinary happens. Great cracks zigzag across the ice, rising like a frozen wave from shore to shore.