Ladies and gentlemen, it’s been quite some time since we’ve had a serious WTF? sort of destination.
My main focus is on the weird places, however, so I present you here with the weirdest temple we’ve yet found in Thailand — Wat Pa Thewapithak Pracha Bamrung, often shortened to Wat Pa Thewapithak.
(In case you’re wondering why the photos look a little… different…? My DSLR decided to crap out on me, and I had very little confidence in my iPhone 4S’s ability to get decent shots. That left a GoPro, which took all the shots you see here.)
The entrance along the road (not pictured) offers no clue to the weirdness inside — in fact, from the outside it looks like every other temple. Walk 25 meters in, however, and you see the above — yes, those are indeed Santa costumes. Instead of heading in, we decided to ease in by heading down what looked like a nice, peaceful stroll:
Two nice things about most Buddhist temples in Thailand: they’re calm… Serene… Not this one — between the cacophony of a couple dozen speakers, a Thai folk song, and the din of people, there was no peace to be had here. We did, however, find these lovely gentlemen:
Be careful on your bike, or end up like these guys. Or something like that. That blue covered box on the left, by the way? Put a coin in it (any coin, from the looks of things) and get a loud soundbite that goes with the scene. It’s all in Thai, of course, and sounds exactly how you’d expect a decades-old sound system left outdoors to sound.
Plenty of other rather statues with that hand-made look aren’t pictured here, but they seem to show a slice of life in Thailand, both good and bad.
Quite possibly the biggest gong in Thailand. For reference, those Buddhist images at the bottom of the gong are about as tall as I am (1.82 meters, or about 6 feet).
A nearby section featured a mini zoo and plenty of animal statues. The area felt much less temple-like or more a place to bring your kids — supposedly, the animals made it easier to bring the kids to the Buddhist hell temple.
It’s here where things begin to get gory and NSFW, so feel free to click back to the home page.
Still with me? Good. I have about as much idea of what’s going here as you do. When you get this far off the beaten path, you don’t get nearly as many English signs.
The gist behind most Buddhist hell temples remains a foretelling of what will come — do good deeds, like playing music or giving alms, and you’ll have a good life. Do bad deeds, and you’re in for a world of pain. The types and depths of hell aren’t explained on-site, but a cursory look at the Wikipedia page explains some of the many levels.
KISS? Gene Simmons did not age well… in some cases, a sign in Thai underscores how the punishment fits the crime.
For the fifth or sixth time at this temple, I got nothing.
Mutually assured destruction, or a really bad splitting headache, I’m really not sure.
Don’t forget the camera when coming here — and don’t be surprised if you’re the only non-Thais around. While a bit on the remote side, it’s definitely worth the visit on your next trip to northeast Thailand.
Name: Wat Pa Thewapithak, AKA Wat Pa Thewapithak Pracha Bamrung (วัดป่าเทวาพิทักษ์)
Address: Along route 214, Changhan District, Roi Et — about a kilometer south of Changhan Hospital (GPS: 16.130913, 103.626222)
Directions: Take route 214 north from Roi Et — from the top of the ‘square’ it’s a little over 8 kilometers. The temple will be on your left.
Hours: not posted — presumably morning to late afternoon
Admission: free
Phone: none
Website: none
