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Published: January 12th 2019
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The Golden Buddha
Wat Traimit is located in Bangkok and is famous for having the largest solid gold Buddha statue in the world. Don't get templed out
Pattaya is an awful place and we can not recommend anyone to go there! The reason for this is the prostitution business. We were absolutely disgusted by what we saw, and still we saw less than the proverbial tip of the iceberg.
Appologize for starting off like that. But now that we got that nasty piece out of the way we can continue with what we really want to write about in this blog entry – temples.
There are thousands of temples in Thailand and many of them are worth visiting. In fact many tourists end up seeing so many temples that they get fed up. It is sometimes known as getting templed out. We knew about this so we made sure to skip many of the temples said to be interesting and limit ourselves to see only the most special ones.
Wat Traimit Wat Traimit is located in Bangkok and is famous for having the largest solid gold Buddha statue in the world. Before 1955 they actually had no idea that the statue they had was made of gold. They thought it was made
Wat Traimit
One of the buildings belonging to the temple Wat Traimit where the Golden Buddha can be seen from concrete or plaster of some other material which you typically make statues out of. When they renovated the temple in the 50-ies they had to move the statue a bit. They calculated the weight from its size and started to lift it. It turned out that it was much heavier than anticipated and when they tried to lift it they dropped it and damaged it. The reason they got the weight wrong was that although it looked like the statue was made from plaster that was only a thin layer covering the real statue. That statue was made from solid gold which has a much higher density than plaster hence making it very heavy. The gold statue actually weighs 5.5 tons.
Chao Mae Tuptim We are a bit silly, childish and immature and we think a
shrine where they worship penises is funny. This little shrine is located just behind the Swisshotel. It is not signposted but if you ask politely the local staff will point it out.
“The Fanta Shrine” In Thailand there are many big shrines and large temples but also many small shrines that still seem to be important to people. On
Chao Mae Tuptim
We are a bit silly, childish and immature and we think a shrine where they worship penises is funny. one such very small shrine, it was only maybe a square meter in size, people had left opened Fanta bottles. It seemed to be some kind of offering but we don’t know exactly what the point was. The only explanation we can think of is that it is old tradition to offer food. But food offerings will bring birds and rats which are unsanitary. So our guess is that the Fanta bottles is a way to give away food without feeding the local rat population.
Wat Saket Wat Saket is a temple complex built on a mountain in Bangkok. It is around 200 years old. From the top it offers some pretty nice views over Bangkok.
The Sanctuary of Truth We started this text by saying that Pattaya by all means should be avoided. If you for some reason end up there, for instance you might sign up for Pattaya Half Marathon and arrive two days early and need to do something before race day arrives, the temple
The Sanctuary of Truth on the edge of town is a true masterpiece.
Construction of this temple was started in the 1980-ies and is still
Chao Mae Tuptim
This little shrine is located just behind the Swisshotel. It is not signposted but if you ask politely the local staff will point it out. ongoing. They believe that it will take another 30 years until it is finished. It is probably more accurate to say that it will never be finished. The reason for this is that it is built entirely out of wood. The oldest parts of the temple have been damaged so much by weather and aging that they have been forced to replace them already. They will probably be able to finish it but once the last statue is in place there will be a hundred statues that have cracked, started to rot or is falling apart from old age that need to be replaced. The renovations will ensure that they will never be able to stop working on this temple. The day they do it will start to deteriorate and in a few years it will be destroyed.
The discolouring of older sections in combination with the fresh wood in the newer sections made this site totally unique and also very beautiful. It is hard to grasp the size of it. It is more than a hundred metres high and it covers an area larger than half a football field. All made from wood. There are statues
“The Fanta Shrine”
On one very small shrine, it was only maybe a square meter in size, people had left opened Fanta bottles. It seemed to be some kind of offering and sculptures covering almost every wall on the outside as well as the inside. Where there are no sculptures today there will be in the future. They just haven’t had the time to create them.
We have added many photos of this temple. We don’t expect anyone to watch them all. But have a look at some of them and hopefully you will understand why we thought this was so special.
This is the last of the blogs from Thailand. Next we return will probably be when we write about Mexico which is the next trip we have planned.
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Wonderment
I am blown away by the magesty of the pics in this blog, Ake. Having done exhibition woodcarving for a number of years in another life I marvel at the incredible skill and endurance required to carry out these major works. These windows are staggering in their intricate detail. Hard to take it all in.