Up First Thing For Our Day Out,

although we were up late last night

we were all awake and raring to go!

so into the truck and off to Buddha mountain, I am not sure if it is the largest Buddha image in the world, but if not it must be pretty close!

then to Anek Kusala Sala (Viharnra Sien), located in the large compound of Wat Yanasangwararam in South Pattaya, it was built by the Chinese-Thai community to honor His Majesty the King. Viharnra Sien "Abod of the Gods,

the courtyard is full of bronze statues,

the weather so far had been kind to us, this is one of the wettest and longest rainy seasons that our Thai neighbour can remember,

some new statues have been added but not made of bronze,

no comparison what so ever,

or is there?

the air was scented with joss sticks, these are the normal household size,

but for large areas such as this a much bigger one is needed,

the whole area is a photographers paradise,

then there are even more bronzes inside,

everyone was captivated by the Terracotta Warriors and Horses which were first discovered in 1974,

it is a huge building, on the next floor up there is a shrine,

with lots of bronze figures in the outside courtyard,

this one holding a bat,

Diana doing her bat impression,

and there he is, perhaps the precursor of batman himself!

a view from the courtyard to the main building,

the figures themselves are quiet large,

another shrine on the next floor up,

the view to the courtyard below, I wonder if there is one special night every century the figures come to life, what stories they could tell!

a few more pictures for the album,

in the distance the Buddha mountain,

now at the top we all take a break to get our wind back, luckily it was not the hot season, in fact with the rain clouds ever present it was quiet nice and cool when there was a breeze,

just one of the many painted walls inside the building,

then a short hop down the road to the main temple complex, first things first, feed the fish!

Diana loves doing this,

being the rainy season with not so many visitors to fed them the water boiled when the food went in,

we then all went for a walk around the temple grounds,

taking pictures on the way,

there are so many temples to see in the compound,

thirsty work so we all had a ice cold coconut,

for me I had an ice coffee, but whilst drinking it I noticed this climbing plant on a dead tree,

I do not know what it was but it has these large hollyhock type flowers,

of course the coconuts are not only for drinking, spoons are provided to scoop out the flesh inside,

it was a great day out,

but there was still more to see,

six or seven years ago this temple did not exist,

it was built from scratch from then,

next stop some shopping at Lukdod, a great place for presents and souvenirs,

it is situated just off of Pattaya North Road,

the list of things they sell is almost endless,

strike the pose,

'ye-ha!'

a new addition since our last visit was this fish pond,

populated by koi carp,

after a good look around we waited outside for everyone to finnish their shopping,

bags and bags of goodies,

a lot of friends are going to be lucky, then into the truck and off we went,