Wats, Weddings, & What Nots

Phuket has many wonderful temples. We recently went to Wat Chalum located in the middle of the island. On the day we visited, it was the start of the Inthakin Festival which is held for 5 days to help invoke prosperity and rain upon the land. Before entering the temple we bought and offering of a white flower, incense, and two candles. You light the candles first (I said a prayer for two people), and then the incense, bow to buddha/temple, and then enter the temple to give buddha the flower. It's all about giving what you shall receive in the end- prosperity and hopefully a good rainy season. Thai people depend on the rain for their yearly supply of water.



















After praying and bowing 3x (three if a very important number in thai buddhism) we noticed a couple that just got married and were taking their wedding photos!















Following the awesome experience at the Wat, we headed to Big Buddha located on top of Phuket's highest mountain. At the base of the statue (see below) is a small temple and luck would have it, there was a service being held while we were there. The speaker would read a line and then everyone repeats it...this went on for 10 minutes and then the monks started to chant and pray- pretty cool. After it was over we decided to start walking up to see the statue and this monk came over and offered me a banana. Monks only eat if the townspeople feed them- so every morning they walk the streets for offerings or the townspeople stop by the temple to give them rice and fruit. So, here's this monk giving me his meal for the day! Obviously I declined, but the lovely jesture kept a smile on my face for the rest of the day. Enjoy the pix.