…Wat Boek.

Part 1 is here.

Okay. Enough of the cookie-cutter wats. Let’s visit somewhere completely different…

Old. Wooden. Dilapidated. In fact, it looks like it’s about to fall down…

There must be quite a story to this place, otherwise I think someone might have let it fall down! The place was deserted. And the googlyinterwebthingy is no help at all.

It’s located about 16kms south of Sichon, and close the very famous Wat Chedi Ai Kai. The latter is where people – in non-Covid times – turn up the busloads to spend money on donations, in the hope that by sticking bits of gold leaf on a small stone statue of a small boy it will bring them fame and fortune. They spend so much money that the temple area seems to have doubled in size and grandeur every time I go. It’s more like a theme park than a religious complex. À chacun… and all that.

Anyways; let’s have a quick tour of Wat Boek before it falls down!

I wandered around the outside for sometime, peering through open windows at ancient stone Buddha statues.

I pushed at the old wooden doors but they seemed to be firmly locked.

I even contemplated climbing through a window, when I eventually noticed the high-tech locking mechanism and even figured out how to operate it!

Once inside, I was even more convinced it was about to fall down…

A new wat is under construction…

…so perhaps the days of the old wooden building are numbered. Shame. I’m guessing though that the statues will be relocated.

In the meantime, I’ll continue searching for more info.