Surin...Elephant Festival & things

[rookie]

Since K. Sanuk has a section only for mongering posts...I'll dump this one in General Discussion:

 

Last week (Nov 17-23) I rode my bike to Surin to finally see their annual Elephant Festival. I've previously visited many other community festivals, and consider Ubon's Candle Festival my favorite thus far. While in Surin, I also visited some of the regional sites. Rather than one lengthy post, I'll make a few 'Surin' titled posts, but will begin with my visit to the "Million Bottle Wat" (Wat Laan Khuaat), one of the most unique wats I've yet viewed.

 

The Wat Laan Khuaat is located about 15km south of where Hwy 220 from Si Sa Ket, meets with Hwy 24. The wat is comprised of about 14 structures and all of them are made from bottles. And, yes, even the interiors on many of the buildings are made with bottles! Reportedly the "jao-a wat" (head monk) was dismayed with all the discarded bottles that graced the regions landscape and decided to do something about it. I was told that construction began 30-years ago, but doubt that figure was accurate, considering the immensity of some of the buildings and the amount of bottles required.

 

The few pictures I've included below only show some of the structures, but they will give viewers an idea of what visitors will encounter. I found the wat a mind boggling fairy land of bottles of all sizes, shapes and colors. If your graphics viewer allows you to zoom-in, even with the reduced size posted pictures, you can

better see some of the detail of the various buildings.

 

This is the entrance, but the picture fails to show that the bottle wall extends about 150-feet in either direction:

 

Upon entering you encounter their large water storage tank and a rest area, both made with bottles:

 

Below are some of the structures. Note that not only the walls, but also the roofing was made with bottles and cement:

 

This structure was unique in that it was surrounded by pools of water containing carp fish.

 

Some detail of the above pictured wat:

 

This shows only a small section of the long building that houses the toilets. There are at least 16 toilets [i didn't count :-) ]..but an bladder induced inspection revealed that even the interior of the toilets were made with bottles!

 

Some of the buildings have mosaic scenes on both the exterior and interior walls. From a distance

nothing seems unusual, but a closer view reveals that the pictures are comprised of varied colored

bottle caps! I imagined one of the monks asking 'you have another white one, I just need one to finish', 'Nah, none here'...so he had to prowl the streets hunting for an elusive white bottle cap!

 

Below is a closer view of one of the mosaics:

 

Next post will be of the silk producing center, which makes the silk for royalty as well as the

Jim Thompson shops, and the Elephant Festival.

 

ChaiYo

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

Very cool! It's not the only temple made out of bottles though. There's another one close to Tak Fa (Nakhon Sawan province). Only one structure there is made of bottles though - and only the outside. Was told there that the bottles were donated by a brewery.

 

Sanuk!

 

[Flashermac]

I've seen bottle houses in old towns in the American southwest. Only there it was done because timber was scarce.

 

http://www.agilitynut.com/h/otherbh.html

 

 

[Nervous God]

Great post Rookie, look forward to the rest.

 

KS - how does Rookie get so many photo's into one post?

[Flashermac]

Linked not attached?

[Nervous God]

Ahhh - in photobucket - maybe that's the answer

[Central Scrutinizer]

Rookie,

 

Glad you enjoyed Wat Lan Kuat. It is a cool place to see. Next time you may want to check out the waterfalls nearby to Khun Han as well, and the Ruby Village and the Jungle Preserve nearby (which supposedly is the home to SEA's last known extremely rare Asian rhinos. Was good to see you again, Rookie. Happy you had a good time in Surin again. Looking forward to your reports on your trip here.

 

Cent

[Central Scrutinizer]

Ahhh - in photobucket - maybe that's the answer

 

 

 

Photobucket is what I use to link pics here.

[rookie]

Avoided the waterfalls and Jungle preserve, due to prior lessons. Viewing waterfalls is fine in the rainy season and usually quite boring in the dry season. Treking around wild game preserves has previously resulted in observing only mosquitos snacking on me and no animal pictures. Hence, I passed the sites you suggested.

 

And to board members...go to Cents restaurant to find what may be the only decent pizza in Thailand. And, normally Thai's avoid eating at any farang restaurant..but Cents wife's Thai food is so good it has them coming in droves! [Cent: please remit the promised 10-Bt for plug]

 

.....Next time you may want to check out the waterfalls nearby and the Ruby Village and the Jungle Preserve supposedly is the home to SEA's extremely rare Asian rhinos.

Cent

 

[rookie]

Ahhh - in photobucket - maybe that's the answer

 

Yep..resize your pix then u/load to Photobucket. Copy the pix "IMG" code on Photobucket and insert where desired in your post.

But it's less a pain on sites that don't limit pix, as you avoid using P-Bucket, just resize and u/load to the site.