Wat’s Up, Buddha!

They say once you have seen a Wat (Buddhist Temple) you’ve seen them all.   While that is true in some ways, I thought I would share with you some unique parts of various Wat’s.

Creepy Monks – Wat Phra Singh

Tidbit of info: women are not allowed in all places in Wats.   Scene:  I (Paula) am enjoying myself wandering through a local Wat.  I enter a small old building “Woops, monks in there!  Shoot!  Do I leave?  Wait!  Hold on, these monks are very still.  Are they meditating?”   Since no one is asking me to leave, I decide to creep cautiously toward the monks.  Slowly realization comes over me that these are very realistic wax figures.   I was mesmerized by these pieces of art.   The one on the left was so detailed in the hands and feet, the age spots and the expression that I thought he was going to reach up and bless me or shoo me away.  Even as I left the building, I had this creepy feeling that they were alive.   I think I will avoid wax museums for a while.

Samui Golden Buddha – Wat Phra Yai

The golden Buddha can be seen from the airplane while landing.   It is not made of actual gold, it is a 12 meter tall 1970’s Buddha statue on the top of a hill.   This Wat sticks out in our mind because of the view, the size of the Buddha and the treachery of making it up the steps to the Buddha.   One must always enter barefoot into a Wat or pretty much anywhere in Thailand that is not a public place.   It was a crazy hot day that had just had rain, so the steps up the hill were both slippery and sizzling.   Below you can see Paul half way up.

Giant Reclining Buddha – Wat Pho

The enormity of this Buddha image is absolutely stunning at 15 meters high and 43 meters long. The giant feet of the Buddha are inlaid with mother-of-pearl displaying the symbols by which Buddha can be identified like flowers, dancers, white elephants, tigers etc. Our friend Deb told us about the 108 bronze bowls in the corridor where you can buy coins to drop in them for good fortune, as well as, help the monks maintain the wat. Easy peasy right?   Well, it is funny how easily I can lose track.   I skipped and duplicated and at the end I ran out of coins for bowls.   I am not sure if it means no fortune for me or is a kindly buddhist way of reminding me how easily I get distracted.

Emerald Buddha – Wat Phra Kaew

This Wat is memorable because it is on the palace grounds in Bangkok and it has a very famous Buddha made out of green Jasper called the Emerald Buddha.  In fact the Emerald Buddha is so famous and small (30 inches), that I forgot to take a picture of it.  The buildings were absolutely gorgeous.   Here are a few shots.

Wat on a mountain – Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

This Wat is memorable because of the views overlooking the city, the giant stairs we climbed to get up to the wat and because of the beautiful elephant temple.   Doi Suthep is one of the mountains surrounding Chiang Mai.   The wat sits about ¾ the way up the mountain is old and important Wat for the Lanna Kingdom (Kingdom of the North of Thailand that was prior to Siam).   Its first buildings were built in 1383.

Wat a Chedi! – Wat Chedi Luang

This Wat stands out for its Chedi.  Wats tend to be pieces of land that have multiple structures on the land.   Chedi’s are one of the structures on the land and built to hold relics in Wats.   This Chedi is ginormous. Back in the day, it was 82 m high and had a base diameter of 54 m, the largest building of all Lanna. In 1545, the upper 30 m of the structure collapsed from an earthquake.

Wat’s up Doc?

The perfect carrots in Thailand still crack me up.