Wat Tham Kong Pen: An Isaan Oddity (2)

The main "drum cave" area

Candles and incense, lit
before prayer

The grounds of Wat Tham Kong Pen are unlike those of many other temples. There aren't formal walls or tiled walkways, except in the area called the "drum cave", called that because they'd found a large drum just inside of it way back when - or so I was told.  My Northeastern friend isn't as educated as some of my other friends, but what he lacks in that and English skills he makes up for with a good heart.

In the grand scheme of things it wasn't really all that important to know, anyway; just being there and having the opportunity to share such a peaceful spot was enough for me. Feel free to Google the place if you want to learn more.  Remember that spelling while transliterating can vary widely, and I've also seen it spelled "tham khong phen" and "thum klong paen".

My friend referred to the area as "fah-lest" (forest), and there were more trees than brush, I noticed; the welcome breeze making them sing softly as they moved overhead. It made an almost eerie whispering sound when you were standing inside the main part of the cave area, and the large gong added a harmony of sorts.

The allegedly ancient drum, next to the "rubbing gong"

The gongs (in the photo above) were intended to be touched. Most of you have made a glass "sing" by running your fingertip around the lip of it, and the raised circular center of these gongs responded the same way if you moved the palm of your hand around the sides of them, and the soft, undulating tone would reverberate around the large open area of the cave.

The alter, seen between overhanging boulders in the drum cave

Detail of offerings left by visitors

My friend naturally stopped to light a candle and incense as he bowed his head reverently in prayer for a few minutes, as did I.  When I raised my head and opened my eyes he was smiling at me and said "good". "Life is good," I replied "we need to say thank you." He nodded his head in agreement, and we walked outside to look around.

Another view of the main image area

Nearby there were several other small areas with a Buddha statue, each also having offerings in front of them - some larger, like the one below, some only a couple of feet tall, tucked into a crevice in the rocks. We didn't see any other visitors stop at them, but my friend did at a couple, while I stood at a distance and left him in peace.

Since we weren't in any hurry that afternoon we went back inside the museum to look around and learn a little more about the Venerable Luang Pu Khao Analayo.

Detail from a finely done oil portrait of the man

He was born Khao Koratha into a farming family in the the village of Ban Bo Cha Nang Nong Kaeo in Ubon Ratchathani province on December 28, 1888, where he went to school, married, and fathered seven children.

Another oil painting of Luang Pu Khao Analayo on display. I don't know the story behind it, sorry to say.

After relocating a few times during his lifetime, he eventually ended up (in 1958) at Wat Tham Klong Phane, in the Nong Bua Lam Phu District of the Udonthani Province. There he worshiped and taught until his death at the age of 95 years and five months on May 16, 1983.

Much like at Madame Tussauds, this statue was quite realistic

We asked our ride to wait down along the road a ways so we could walk and get a better look at some of the unusual architecture, as you'll see below.

Aside from the bell tower that began yesterday's post, most of the buildings in the area were built incorporated with the surrounding boulders and massive stone walls, such as the one below:

Here's a view of it from the left side, showing the rock it sits beneath:

Well, I suppose I've kept you here long enough today. If you're in the area (there's a map in yesterday's post, too) I'd say it'd be worth the hour or so drive there to see the place, if for no other reason than the rock formations and the buildings set into them.  I enjoyed my visit.

Trip Report, Part 27: Kung Krabaen Bay Nature Center

Mangrove trees (Sonneratia alba) from the walkway of Kung Krabaen forest

Along the Gulf of Thailand in Chanthaburi, Kung Krabaen Bay - also known as "Stingray Bay" to the locals because of its shape - is home to a huge area of mangrove forest: the Kung Krabaen Mangrove Forest and Nature Center.

A wooden bridge spans one of the open areas in the forest

While there are many many other mangrove swamp areas around the gulf, this park is, I'm told, about the largest and more visitor- and education-friendly of them all.  At a little over 500 acres (1,300 rai) it's difficult to get a big picture of it because it's so dense you can't see the forest for, well, for the trees.  Literally, in this case.

Over a mile of raised wooden walkways wind through the forest

It's like stepping back into prehistoric times when you enter the forest, if you you can forgive a little over a mile of raised wooden walkways that meander through the place. The open waterway in the lead photo today is one of a precious few I saw as I made my way through beneath the dense canopy of mangrove branches and leaves.

For height reference, here are
people climbing up to an
observation tower, above
the tree tops

The mangrove trees that dominate the area are classified as Sonneratia alba (of the family Sonneratiaceae). Their extensive root systems, both above and below ground, filter salt from the water, making the brackish mix of salt water from the gulf and fresh water from the rivers usable where it couldn't sustain many other varieties of plant life.

There was very little air movement in the forest, even though you could see movement in the tree tops high overhead, and I was lucky it wasn't a hot day; the humidity in the area might have been overwhelming otherwise.

Birds sang out with a variety of calls around me, and every so often you could catch a glimpse of wildlife - if you were taking your time and being observant.  Butterflies were visible near the edges of the forest, but I saw very few beneath the canopy itself.

What you could see were several varieties of small crabs, skittering over and around the tree roots. Most were in the three inch wide category; blues, greens and reds being their predominant colors.  The light under the trees was low enough that I got quite a few blurry pictures, but not many worth sharing here.  Here's one:

Another unexpected creature were the freshwater rays that rested on the surface of the mud in some of the shallow areas.  These two were either snuggling or mating; perhaps both.

The park is open from early morning to dusk most every day, and because of the educational value of the place it's a regular stop for school outings. It's not far from the area I stayed in the Laem Sing area for my long weekend holiday. On the map below the park is on the bay with the purple dot, and Laem Sing is indicated with a green one.

Image from Google Maps

Even if you don't make the five hour drive from Bangkok to visit here, try looking up other similar areas and check them out. I've seen photos posted by a friend of another park like this near Hua Hin. It's worth the effort.

A common tiger butterfly near the edge of the mangrove forest

Trip Report, Part 26: Walking Laem Sing Beach

A young man jumps for joy (or his wife, anyway) as his picture is taken along Laem Sing Beach

It was after lunch and our stop at Bud's Ice Cream that we finally got out onto Laem Sing Beach itself to walk along the surf line, people watch and just meander along for a couple of hours or so. Although it was a warm afternoon the sun wasn't too harsh, and the locals were out to enjoy the day, too.

The Thai being modest overall (and not being tan fanatics many are in other parts of the world) most were wearing shirts in addition to their swimming suits or shorts, as you can see in the picture of people in the water below.

These eight people (one was underwater) were enjoying the mild afternoon temperature

Sea shells of all kinds were
the only "litter" on this beach.
What a nice change!

The beach itself was cleaner than you'd normally see in Pattaya or Jomtien, and it was nice not to have to be quite as careful about stepping on glass, metal shards and other trash. A cut on the bottom of your foot can be more than an inconvenience when you're on holiday, as can the infection that can come soon after; sewage treatment in the Land of Smiles can be nothing more than releasing it into the sea a little too close to shore for my liking. Here there were precious few hotels, so that possibility was far slimmer than other more concentrated tourist areas.

The locals also appeared to be more conscious about keeping "their" beach clean, and I was pleased that there wasn't the usual assortment of wrappers, plastic bags, bottles, cans and other assorted litter floating up onto the beach at the water's edge. Another plus in my book.

The walk brought back memories from my youth of walking along a beach and seeing sea shells all along the way; small treasures when we're children, and still a pleasant sight when they're sprinkled along as far as the eye can see.

A Mother watched as her three young kids played in the small, gentle waves that lapped along the shore of the sandy beach; the little ones edging their way closer and closer to the water and shrieking with happy surprise as it washed over their tiny toes, sending them running back towards Mom before they'd again creep nearer.  Two of the boys repeatedly picked up stones and shells and hurled them with great zeal as far as they could out into the surf.

A message in the sand, left by a local

I got a laugh out of the message above, left in the sand by a local. Unless you've never been to Thailand you've heard someone - at one point or another - defer a choice to you by saying "Up to you!".  Here the tables had been turned, and as you can see above the message was "up to me... becoose up to me"!  Both the sentiment and their spelling of "because" were amusing, I thought.

It's a phrase heard so often along Soi Twilight and Soi Cowboy from club workers trying to encourage an off with a customer, and thinking it might have been left by one of them away for a holiday themselves I went over after I'd taken the picture and added "you go, girl" below the original message, figuring it'd apply to workers of either variety.

Dried and freshly barbecued squid at a cart on the sand

The shells crunching beneath my sandals (worn without socks, if there are any from the Fashion Police reading this) I was lost in thought and didn't notice my friend stopping as the breeze changed direction. He'd caught the smell of BBQ drifting towards us, and exclaimed "squid!". He made a turn and headed back up across the dry sand to a cart selling dried and BBQ squid. I was still full from lunch and our ice cream stop, but had a sample of the piece he bought to snack on as we went back down to walk along the waterline.

The sun was beginning to set as we reached the farthest end of the beach, and we turned to head back to where we'd left the car. In Hawaii (and other tropical tourist areas) you're likely to see tee shirts emblazoned with the phrase "Just another shitty day in paradise", and that thought came to me as we made our way slowly back along the sand. 

Goose barnacles growing on a piece of wooden handle that had washed up onto the shore

It had indeed been a fine afternoon, and one of the nicer walks of my trip.

Trip Report, Pt. 24A: Wat Khao Sukim 2

Some of the beautiful views at ground level

You can see long rows of
display cases behind this
Buddha image

In part one of this post yesterday you saw an overview of the grounds and buildings at Wat Khao Sukim, several hour's drive South from Pattaya.

My friend was driving me to a long weekend getaway in a coastal area of the Chantaburi province - an area probably best classified here as Laem Sing.

Wat Khao Sukim is a work in progress; a wat without much of an actual wat, if you will. The new construction (there's a model rendering of the temple to come at the top of yesterday's post) will double the amount of buildings that exist there now.

Today we'll try to wrap the post up with some of the photos I didn't have ready yesterday, showing more of the museum interior and the surrounding area.  Since it was approaching closing time I didn't see a couple of the floors of displays, but that just gives me more of a reason to stop there again in a few years and (hopefully) see more of the main temple finished.

A grouping of larger Buddha statues, adorned with silk flowers

There'd been an attempt to organize the countless offerings made to the temple - countless for me, anyway... let me know if you come up with anything like a total if you visit there - but they were grouped together, after a fashion.  Below is a panorama of some of the furniture that had been donated.

Smaller items - and I don't think it's an exaggeration to say thousands of them - stood in glass-walled cabinets, neatly arranged in rows and somewhat grouped by vintage, it seemed. Bowls, pottery, brass work and wooden carvings, both simple and intricate: all had a place.

Even pottery with some serious age to it was set in one spot. We'd speculated that they may have been found while doing excavations during construction of the new main temple. Here they look somewhat haphazard, but my guess is they would eventually find their way into the grand scheme of the place.

It was silent in the halls while we were looking around on one of the huge open floors of displays, so we were (luckily) able to hear the clattering of a gate and the sound of keys as a lock was closed. My friend called out to the guard and we hustled our way over to him to get out. A lovely place, but not somewhere I'd choose to spend the night.

We took the tram back down and stopped at one of a few places still open in the touristy area surrounding the parking lot. I got us each a fresh young coconut from a young girl who cut them open for us. After sitting on ice all day, they were cold and refreshing. I wish I could find them here stateside. We sipped on them through our straws as we left the parking lot and made our way back to Highway 3, and on to the resort.

A young man doing detail upkeep on the naga stair railing smiled for me - or because his work day was nearly finished, one or the other.

Trip Report, Pt. 24: Wat Khao Sukim

You won't see this building, as it's still under construction. You can see cranes above the site in the panorama below.

Wat Khao Sukim is a fairly large complex, built on a hillside in Chantaburi Province in the mid-1960s. It's still a work in progress, with an enormous temple underway (but just barely). Nevertheless, it's a stop worth making, if for no other reason than the nearly auditorium-sized main hall "museum" and the views from up near the retreat, one of which is below, taken from the wide patio encircling the museum.  From there you can see more of the 1,000+ acres of land owned by the followers of Phra Ajarn Somchai Thitawiriyo, who had originally intended it to be a meditation center.

A panorama shows part of the lake, the parking and shops, and the new temple - under construction on the far right

On the weekend it's likely to be crowded, and I base that on the size of the parking area at the bottom of this hill; you could put dozens of buses and still have space left for a couple of hundred cars.

From what I was told, lay groups and individuals of the faith can attend meditation stays, but it was fairly quiet on the afternoon we visited. The main buildings were set to close an hour after our arrival, so we didn't invest the time (or energy) to climb the hundred and fifty or so steps up the naga-lined stairway to the main hall, which I called the museum in the first paragraph.

Some of the museum, quarters and other buildings on the higher level

It houses thousands of items, large and small; all donations from people who are making merit in their own way, but all of no small significance.  These were items which all seemed to have some historical value, although the signage in English was sadly lacking.

A small fraction of the offerings on display

As an alternative to the stairway there's a tram that ferries you up and down the steep hillside, although since there were so few visitors that afternoon it was being loaded to the weight limit with building materials - bags of cement and sand that day, for the most part. A group of about 10 young men would load the cars up at the bottom and send them up to the top, where another group waited to unload the stuff and lug it off to wherever it was going.

The last bit of tram track and stairs near the top as we were descending at the end of our visit

The guys at the bottom were glad to see us, I think, because that meant they could take breaks between loads a little longer than usual. When the man with the walkie-talkie up top saw us approach the tram he called down to his partner and he spoke to the others, who all smiled with relief and sat down on the chairs to rest.

Break time... light 'em if you've got 'em

Seems like as good a point as any to take a break in the story, too. I'll finish the rest of it tomorrow.

Trip Report, Part 14C: Sanctuary Woodworkers

Workers begin the transformation, following the drawn template

[This is part 14C of a series that may or may not ever find its way to a proper conclusion. It has to do with my latest trip to Thailand, and the people, places and things I encountered along the way. You can find the rest of the series by clicking here on Trip Reports.]


OK, one last look at the craftsmanship involved in constructing the Sanctuary of Truth - but these images were taken in the workshop where most of the actual artistry takes place; a community effort under the direction of a handful of artisans who direct the more time-consuming process of the actual carving itself.

It's undoubtedly tedious work, but nevertheless a necessary investment of time and effort, and still a part of the magic of turning a block of wood into a work of art. The finer points are completed by those with a more accomplished skill set, naturally.

Note the wooden "peg" that will hold the post in place. No metal is used.

In the interest of time, materials and effort portions are repaired, rather than replaced

As you saw at the end of yesterday's post, part of the detailing is done inside the structure itself, but the extensive workshop had hundreds of pieces in process beneath it's roof.  The walls are open-sided - as is the main sanctuary itself - but it's warm inside, and fans were running to keep a breeze on the workers.

The workshop areas are set off the regular visitor's path, and there aren't any signs to welcome tourists inside - undoubtedly a safety issue more than anything else - but when my friend asked if we might come in and take some pictures to post here we were welcomed as if nobody else had shown them any interest in a year.  I think they were pleased to be recognized, myself.

Being the uncommon visitors we were the source of some interest, but I didn't interrupt their work to ask people to pose, but I'd asked my friend how to say "nice work!" to compliment those who did look up, and since I had the camera out at the ready I did get one shot of some of the boys smiling. 


A nice addition to the day's batch, I thought.

Trip Report, Part 14B: Sanctuary Of Truth - Interiors

Enormous, thick wooden pillars stretch up to support the intricately-carved sections of roof

[This is part 14B of a series that may or may not ever find its way to a proper conclusion. It has to do with my latest trip to Thailand, and the people, places and things I encountered along the way. You can find the rest of the series by clicking here on Trip Reports.] 

In some ways, the interior of the Sanctuary of Truth is more impressive than the outsides.

First of all, there's a depth of detail to the carved panels, doorways and ornamentation both large and small that is greater than what is left out to the mercy of the elements, as you'd expect.

Second, there's a wider range in types of wood appropriate for the protected interior, as you can see in the lead photo today.

Outdoors the salt water, wind, rain and other elements take their collective toll on piece after piece and section after section of the building, made all the more obvious by new pieces replacing those split or otherwise damaged, as in the photo below, where you can see a new figure sitting near another with the face cracked down the center.

Most of the interior is open to walk around and about in, but there are still some areas filled with scaffolding, filled with workers laboring away, facing the challenge of building the place in the old style; meaning with wooden doweling instead of nuts, bolts and nails, using a variety of basic woodworking joints, such as butterfly, tongue-in-groove and dovetail.

Although it's no great shakes itself here's an image that lists the types of joints used in the construction:

Delicate wooden illustrations

The high ceilings and open sides to the sanctuary keep it cooler, but the workers coming down off of the higher scaffolding were obviously perspiring and warm. It was an interesting mix of craftsmen and artisans among them, keeping a happy balance. 


I guess what impressed me most about the carvings was the attention to perspective and detail, in addition to the overall "depth" of the carvings, from the surface face to the deepest points. 


It was (not surprisingly) reminiscent of the stone carvings I've seen throughout Cambodia - a country we haven't even scratched the surface here as of yet. Those who responded to my question on preferred topics leaned towards staying more Thai-based, but you can't speak of Thailand without mentioning the Khmer influences, so they're coming.

Light from outdoors illuminates the doorway carvings

In the picture below you can see chalk line drawings of intended designs on one of the many support columns. The top two pictures today show the pillars as they are today; looking more like telephone poles than the decorative items they'll be painstakingly transformed into (by thousands of hours of labor) at some point.

Monday I'll take a stab at showing some of the woodworkers carving away, but this is probably enough for today.  Personally, I think having to scroll down through a dozen photos nicked from the web is kind of tedious, myself, and even though these are my pictures it can still be a bit much for some folks, I'm told.  Enjoy your weekend, unless you've made other plans.