Another day, Another Adventure...

Today, we embarked on an epic adventure into the mountains to see a ruined temple. And when we got there, it was like something from an Indiana Jones’ story.

The temple was around 1,000 years old. This is probably the oldest ruins I have ever seen. Win! There were many different chambers of the temple, an outer chamber that wrapped around the whole complex, an inner chamber in the very center, and several separate chambers within that outer wall but separate from the innermost chamber. Each chamber was for different purposes…so it seemed. I’m taking my knowledge from what O told me and what I read from the brief descriptions in English (everything was mostly in Thai characters). Thai monks a thousand years ago built this temple on the top of the mountain, and it was very secluded. There was a long stony path that led down from the hill next door and up to the big temple. It was really beautiful and I wondered exactly how it looked when it was originally built. It was made of some kind of red stone, but I wonder if maybe it had been originally painted over with designs and colors? The terracotta warriors of Xi-an, China were not always just terracotta…each of those had been individually and intricately painted. It was the introduction of oxygen (I believe, or maybe some other chemical) that was brought in when it was excavated that caused the paint to immediately fade away. Maybe this temple had originally been painted with white and gold…that’s what seem to be the main colors used in the painting of wats and other traditional art here in Thailand.

EPIC.

The thing is, I’m not certain whether this was actually a Buddhist temple or some other early religion, maybe an ancestor of Buddhism, a cross between Hinduism and Buddhism or something else, perhaps. Or maybe it was just an old Buddhist wat...but that's how they looked back then. This temple was shaped very differently from modern wats, it didn’t have the typical steep, slightly concave, pointed roof that every wat I’ve seen has had. It’s entire architecture was different from every what I’d seen. The wats generally are made up of a kind of complex, like this was…but they weren’t made of stone, and they weren’t surrounded by walls that were actually chambers to walk in and out of…they only had walls or fences. Also, most of the chambers in this temple were all connected in some way, by some sort of hallway. So there were some distinct differences…look at the pictures and you’ll see what I mean. Also, you didn’t see people placing incense so much or bowing or kneeling and praying, like you would with a typical wat. Even if it was old, I think people would still pay their respects in some way, without destroying the architecture. I’ve seen this happen in China in ancient Buddhist temples. So that makes me think this was an earlier religion that the Thai people do not follow anymore. But as I said before...it could just be a really really ancient wat of the same religion.

The walls were almost from head to foot intricately carved with different designs. The most common design I saw was the python with many heads. That was in many places. The architecture and design was really really lovely though, I just couldn’t stop taking pictures. Everywhere was a photographer’s dream. I just kept snapping away and didn’t care.

Click on all these photos to see how intricate they are.

It's me!

This is one of my favorites

I like this one a lot too

When you went into the interior of the temple, it was just like stepping into a real-life Indiana Jones movie. We joked about how if we stepped on the wrong stone slab on the floor, arrows would begin to shoot out of the crevices and the walls would slowly start to close in on us with a loud rumble. I could imagine finding some hidden treasure with light shining on it from no natural source…and if we were to steal the treasure we’d have to put a rock in its place to prevent the place from self-destructing. In one of the chambers (which I think must have been the eating chamber), to my dismay, I looked up at the ceiling to discover a collection of bats hanging from the ceiling. Some were shifting and flapping their wings a little while still hanging there, as if they were just waking up…I very slowly backed out of that room and quickly rejoined our group. *shudders* I can only imagine what would have happened with those bats if this really had been an Indiana Jones movie. Yikes.

This was a water trough in the ground

Carvings on the upper walls...when I go somewhere that is a touristy site, I try to take pictures that you can't just find on Google. So often, I'll take pictures of ceilings, because really, who takes pictures of ceilings? Unless they're super SUPER out there? That's right, NO ONE.

Yeah I did a selfie...you do what you gotta do sometimes. 

So anyway as I was taking pictures of ceilings I stumbled upon this room, which looked like some kind of eating room. I looked up and there were bats beginning to awaken. I quick snapped a photo and made my way out of there as quickly and inconspicuously as possible.

Nearby the area, there was a lawn…where probably there used to stand another wall because there were remnants of organized rock forming a kind of large square. It wasn’t complete though, so I couldn’t tell if it had been just another chamber of its own or a wall around the innermost chambers…I think it must have been its own chamber, maybe a wall setting apart a kitchen or something. That was interesting to see. I’d never seen something so ancient like that before…at least not that I can think of right now.

Hey, where'd that rooster come from?

Then, as we were leaving the area, right outside the lawn and outermost chamber, there were many piles of little rocks piled on top of each other in many individual teeny tiny towers. I asked O what that was all about and she said, “They pile the stones on each other for good luck.” I’m noticing that a lot of rituals done here in Thailand are meant for good luck, good luck and/or out of respect.

So we chilled at the outside lawn for a little bit and took more pictures and just took it all in. I tried to imagine what kind of people lived here when this place was up and running. It was indisputably a monastery, it was located on a hill that only a very small road led up to. Some monks still lived nearby, in nearby homes and had built their own shrines to worship in.

Rooster.

This is where the monks live.

This shrine generally looks like the big one up top the hill. I think it was made in the style of it. Maybe this is what the big temple looked like.

I love this picture...look at the carvings!!!

Lizard.

You have to take your shoes off before you go further in if you want to pray.

The monks live here too. Remember, it's Thailand. The temperature is warm, you don't need walls so much.

The people who had lived in this monastery were most certainly monks, and being such probably had a certain defined appearance necessary to live there…most likely the shaved heads and certain kinds of robes were the way to go. Most monks of any kind have had some kind of shaved heads, even the European monks had bald heads on the top. I’m not sure why this pattern exists, I’ll have to do more research into that. Most monks also wear robes too…and especially because whatever religion this was (if it was a different religion) was most likely an ancestor of the modern Thai religion(s), their outifits were probably quite similar to what you see modern monks of Thailand wear: they were different variations of an orange robe. The longer you are in service, the darker the color of your robe. You get a new robe with a different color the longer you’ve been a monk…but in the older days, the change in color was natural because the robe had been worn for such a long time. Sometimes you’ll see monks walking down the street in bright orange robes…those are the ones just beginning. But other monks wear a darker and faded orange, such that the robe almost looks more tan than anything now. The monks of this temple may not have had orange robes, but maybe something more natural…maybe the didn’t have the resources to be dying their robes a different color.

If you click on this picture and look closely, you can see the different color robes worn by the monks, the brighter orange and the darker tan that in the past was a robe that used to orange but had faded over time.

Anyway, it was really cool to be in that place and thinking about those things, trying to time travel back a thousand years to when this place really really meant something to people. It was cool.

So afterwards, we left and had dinner at a local restaurant down the mountain, and then we returned home.

This is the restaurant

Soda water is a big thing here in Chok Chai, and maybe all Thailand. It's basically carbonated water, and you can drink it by itself, and they often put it in alcoholic drinks...they mix soda water with Thai whiskey so it's not so strong.

This fish is served ALL THE TIME and in many different ways. In Thai it's called "pla tubtim", pla means fish, tubtim is its name. But in English, I looked it up and it's called "red tilapia." It is soooo delicious, especially if you fry or barbecue it. That's my favorite way I've had it.

Squid in spicy lemon soup. Spicy lemon soup is something I've had a lot here. The lemon and the spice mixed together makes the spice more potent. YOU SHOULD TRY IT. IT'S A WEIRD FEELING.

Barbecued pork, another popular dish

And this is served at almost every meal. It's a kind of condiment, you eat it with the rest of the meal. It's kind of like a papaya chutney, I guess. It's made of a unripe papaya (still green), and combined with tomato, onion, and other vegetables and spice. So it's really spicy...you can make it more spicy or less. O loves to make it SUPER spicy, but she's toned it down for me because she knows that's not how I roll. Unfortunately. I wish my stomach could handle it.