As part of my Thai cultural experience I took a trip to the most important Buddhist temple in Phuket, Wat Chalong. It was a short ride from the hotel, and despite the awful weather, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. There were a few people praying, but the majority of visitors were tourists. Women were asked to cover their knees and shoulders with sarongs that you could borrow at the entrance, and we all had to remove our shoes. The temple and the surrounding buildings were beautiful; very colourful and with intricate carvings and statues in each.
After a quick look around Wat Chalong, I carried on to another tourist attraction known as 'The Big Buddha'. It is a HUGE statue of Buddha (about 40m high) located on a hill between Chalong and Kata. From the statue, there are amazing views of the Andaman Sea and the surrounding area. The construction and materials was funded entirely by donations, and the project is ongoing.
At the base of the statue there were other smaller golden Buddha statues. I'm not sure why there were so many or what they all meant, but there were some that had been designated to days of the week. I had a look for 'Tuesday's Buddha', as I was born on a Tuesday. It took me a few minutes to find it, but once I'd seen it I should have guessed which one it was. It was the only Buddha statue relaxing and lying down - very fitting I thought!
After visiting the statue, I went back down the hill to the main temple. When I entered I noticed there was a monk sitting on a bench. He beckoned me over, and although he didn't speak English he gestured for me to kneel in front of him and bow my head. He then blessed me by flicking some sacred water on the top of my head and saying a prayer in Thai. Once he had finished, he took my wrist and placed a bracelet on my hand. It was made of cotton, and very brightly coloured, a bit like a friendship bracelet - I still wear it even now! After I had been given mine, everyone else started queueing up behind me so that they could be blessed and given a bracelet too. Although I couldn't get a photo of the actual moment, I got a photo of the monk giving a bracelet to another tourist afterwards. I'm not sure how long he was there for after I left. Quite a while I would imagine going on the queue I saw when I stood up!
That's about it for part III. Look out for Thailand part IV, coming to a blog near you soon!
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