Pic of the Day 19 April - 25 April 2010

Last week my Pic of the Day featured wat gates. I am fascinated by the variety. Some wats clearly go out of their way to make the main gate eye-catching and different. Of course they all illustrate something about Buddhism but many of them also seem to be setting themelves up as a tourist attraction. 'Temple tourism' is big business in much of Thailand and in small, out-of-the-way provinces wats may be the only tourist attraction.

Photographing wat gates is not particularly easy. There a two main difficulties. Firstly, because many wats, and almost all urban wats, are located next to a main road, there is usually a thick tangle of cables in front of the gate. The first picture is a not-too-bad example of this. Secondly, in small old cities such as Phrae, it is often difficult to get far enough back from the gate because the road is too narrow.

I hope you will enjoy this selection, some of them quite plain, some with a story to tell, and a couple of them rather eccentric, to be frank.

       

     

The gate in the fifth picture shows the Hindu God Indra riding on his three-headed elephant. You can get an idea of the size of this gate from the telephone box at the end of the road on the right. This is at Wat Sa Prasansuk, Ban Na Muang, Ubon Ratchathani. The second gate is at Wat Phra Lao, Ban Phana, and the third and sixth gates are both in Amphur Phana.
  

  
  
 

Comments

[Martyn]

Lawrence - Thailand's wats do have lovely entrances or gateways might be a better term, your photos do prove that. However some such as the one in Wilai's village has an attractive entrance but once inside the grounds are not that well maintained. I have found this to be the case with many of the wats I have visited. What lurks in the long grass and weeds etc. Have you found this to be so with the wat grounds you have seen?

Beauty is only skin deep springs to mind.

[Lawrence]

Hi Martyn, No I haven't found that, and even small village wats I have driven past seem to be well cared for. I guess it depends a lot on how many monks and novices there are in residence. Maybe you could volunteer to do some gardening for them! But you know, Ubon Province (including Amnat Charoen and Yasothon which used to be part of it) is historically and still now the centre of fairly austere Buddhism.

But yes, there are very likely some things in there that wouldn't like you to step on them. So: Keep off the Grass.