Quan Yin and respect ...

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as written in previous blog, 120,000 people died constructing the railway of Death of whom approx 5000 Dutchies (of whom most died during construction of bridge) ... 12,000 english and approx 75-80,000 chinese ... most deaths were related to hunger and diseases ... with SO many chinese souls departing their physical bodies on and near this spot I'm surprised it has taken them so long to build a chinese temple next to the bridge ... m not sure when they started construction however as they're only now nearing completion it must have taken at least a few decades to get a proper place of worship ...

My last official temple visit was a brutal one going there ... on a bycicle up a mountain in 45C ... i did get on mi way early (round 7ish) ...but i stopped at the local day market, then zigzagged through downtown, visited the cemetery outside town and then finally the buddha caves ...altogether i think i ended back home round noon, sweaty, hot and almost heat-stroked i spend the rest of the day lounging in front of a fan ...

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Photos

mi with little flower offering
hey if ur near a statue of your favorite representative of the higher energy some respect is needed ... :-)

the temple is still in construction
and is based on chinese buddhism, as Quang Yin or as the Thai call her Kwan Yin is the highest female buddha in the realm of the Gods

bit difficult to photograph her with mi
at least you get the 'picture' how large the statue is ...

Buddha wrapped up ...
i've seen little statues offered still in their plastic covering ... however to see them 'live'size was still a strange experience

and down we go ...
actually having biked and hiked up the mountain to get here in 45C going down in the caves was a cooling welcome ...

it did feel at first like a tourist trap ,..
and almost left again, however than i noticed that everyone was somewhat sticking in the first cave and then go outside again ...

the whole family worships ...
after visiting the cemetaries i went to visit the .... cave about 7km outside of town where there are 9 different caverooms which went deeper into the mountain with different levels, each dedicated to another buddha (sitting, standing, lying ... etc)

still the giant ... however a cool giant
thank goodness that most sightseers turned around at the first cave with the lying Buddha so that soon i was descending the caves by myself ... the deeper the cooler it became ..

my favorite monk
Luang Por To ... this is the monk i photographed in sort of enlightened state in Chiang Saen and actually turned out to be one of the MOST famous monks in all of southeastasia ...

sitting buddha ...
at least 3x my height ... the weird thing about history was that this buddha was in a large cave which the Japanese durning worldwar II used as their headquarters AND hospital ... save from the allied bombings ... it kinda gave a weird vibe ... or actually mi mind created a weird vibe ...

what a strange temple ...
the first time i saw a building like this i was surprised, however when i came closer i noticed a blackened iron door which white stone doorpost was covered in soot and realized this was a crematory ... somehow there seemed to be more in kanchanaburi area than anywhere else ...