This one picture should say it all — ‘The Sanctuary of Truth’ comes complete with ATV’s and a shooting gallery:
That the Sanctuary was still a few hundred meters away was no consolation — paying the admission fee to the Sanctuary itself doesn’t mean you get to skip opportunities to spend even more.
And how many opportunities was that? I lost count at around 20 different paying opportunities. Horse riding. A horse carriage. Elephant riding. ATV riding. Shooting gallery. Multiple restaurants selling a wide variety of Western and Thai foods. Speedboat rides. An ubiquitous souvenir stand (which also sold beer) — all this from a ‘sacred’, supposedly religious site.
The brochure kindly informs you of its groundbreaking in 1981, its height and length of 100 meters, and the 2,115 square meters of floor space inside. It’s the predecessor to the also-famous Erawan Elephant statue on the outskirts of Bangkok. The term ‘Ancient Knowledge’ implied the ability of Thais to carve wood and build a tall structure out of wood. Impressive, yes, but the ‘truth’ of the Sanctuary has more to do with making esoteric connections between “human beings and the universe”.
But whatever — you’re here, you’ve made the decision to accept the fluff to take in this extraordinary building. You’ve passed up the various tourist traps and are now ready to get to the sanctuary. You… are being stopped because apparently, this is a sacred building and modesty requires you to cover up. Thankfully, they happen to have a number of very colorful cover-up wraps available for a 200 baht deposit. My wife ended up in one — as she was being helped into it, I couldn’t help but notice four sets of topless wooden breasts within an easy view.
OK, so with that out of the way, we’re finally heading down the wooden steps!
It becomes clear within a few meters that the sculptures don’t only exist in the building itself, though some are clearly in need of some attention.
Before long, we were asked to don a helmet. There’s construction happening inside the building, one sign explained, and it’s for our protection. The building’s still open, mind you, and even as construction proceeded there’s no indication of falling objects being an actual issue. So for those keeping score at home, you now have dozens of tourists walking around with construction helmets, about half of which were also wearing vividly colored wraps down to their ankles.
Again, this is carved wood — and that top point is close to 100 meters off the ground. That’s nothing to sneeze at. Our man, Lek Viriyapant, born of a Chinese business family, studied and traveled to explore the arts. He had a hand in ensuring things went according to plan, spending 10 years traveling and contributing new ideas. The place heavily emphasizes the Eastern philosophy of things.
Despite the mostly-excellent English signs, too many things seemed unanswered — I’ll blame my lack of knowledge on older Eastern religions… I do appreciate that well-shaped breasts and nipples apparently don’t go against the place’s self-imposed ‘modesty’ rule.
Bear in mind we’re not even in the building yet. All the same, some wonderful work here. At the top of the staircase: ‘Parental Pure Love’, which goes over the responsibilities of parents and children. Some of these ‘responsibilities’ rub me the wrong way — one responsibility of parents is ‘to provide them with a suitable mate’, while children are expected to ‘perform religious rites for them after their death’.
The wonderful wheel of life.
It’s rather difficult to get well-balanced pictures inside — between very little light on some figures and a blinding amount of sunlight, you’ll need to compose your shots carefully. The good news: photography was not only allowed, but encouraged — I dare say there were at least other folks with DSLR’s, including a few tripods.
The outside is just as exquisite as the inside, but better lit.
The three elephants are a reminder of the founder’s next project, the Erawan Museum near Bangkok. As expected, there are plenty of similarities: the intricately carvings, the religious / moral overtones, and a fairly high admission price for tourists…
Three of the instruments used to wake the beings of the earth — complete with the sounding instruments to wake everyone else around. Tap them gently if you like.
You can approach this place one of two ways. It can be a deeply religious place where every carving and placement has beauty and symbolism. It can also be a place that’s surrounded by a larger tourist attraction, and where the religious meaning has been lost in the commercialism. Either way, it’s enjoyable and worth the visit — a peaceful place next to the gulf. Just recognize there’s some BS surounding the place.
Name: The Sanctuary of Truth (ปราสาทสัจธรรม)
Address: 206/2 M. 5 Naklua, Banglamung, Chonburi, 20150 (GPS: 12.969797,100.890797)
Directions: This is Pattaya and a well-known tourist destination, so any tuk-tuk driver is more than happy to take your money. Do it yourself, though!
From Pattaya’s main (Air-Conditioned) Bus Terminal, cross the road in front of you and head right (west). Look for a songthaew heading out, then ride it for about 2 kilometers until you reach its turnaround point (a five-way intersection involving N Pattaya and Na Kluea). Facing the intersection, cross Na Kluea and look for another songthaew heading northeast on Na Kluea. Ride it for another 2 kilometers — be on the lookout for Na Kluea soi 12 on your left. Ring the bell to jump off (each of these fairly short rides should run you 10 baht per person), then walk down the soi. If you see one, jump on any songthaew passing by that head in the same direction — it’s a little over a kilometer walk from the beginning of the soi. Plenty of English signs point the way down the quiet rural lane — stay straight through a few intersections and look for the entrance on the right.
Hours: 8am-5pm
Admission: 500 baht for Thais and foreigners (as the claim went — we saw nothing to suggest different prices)
Phone: 0–2757–8499 or 0–2757–8365
Website: www.sanctuaryoftruth.com
