Wat Phra Phutthabat

I have taken up weekly day trips around Saraburi on my motor bike. It is the best way to get around to where I want to go and it allows me to stop whenever want. The roads in Thailand are fairly good, however, that does not stop one from freaking out when they have cars zooming past them at easily 90 miles per hour. So you do what you can, move over to the left most lane and try to stay out of the way. Heading north in Saraburi it takes about ten minutes before you are literally thrown out of the city and in to the middle of the country side. A few small towns line the road here and there but for the most part it is open land, with massive clouds as far as you can see in each diection. The clouds eventually meet up with bright green grassland and rice fields that flourish in the Thai humidity and rain. The rice patties always have a patch of standing water showing faint reflections of the sky and palm trees that surround it. Imagine an endless green field filled with palm trees, tall grass, and scattered with mirrors.

 

      On this particular day I was heading with my housemate to the Wat Phra  Phutthabat, in order to see the famous Wat that houses one of the few legitimate footprints of the Buddha. It is one of the most religious places in Thailand and people often make pilgrimages from all over in order to see it. The ride there was no problem and upon turning on to the road that leads to the temple I could tell that we were two of only a few people that had decided to visit the temple that day. To have a place like this practically to ourselves was something pretty special.

      Like everywhere else in and around Saraburi the temple was not quite as grand as those in Bangkok and lacked any sort of massive golden statues. It was quiet and calm, kinda made you feel...well it made you feel whatever it is you call that feeling that creeps up inside of you when you step in to any place considered sacred. It is a sense of calm questing of who we are, what we are doing, and how we got here. Whatever the name is I was filled with this feeling as I walked about the temple grounds looking at the intricate architecture that has stood for almost 400 years. Perhaps this feeling can be attributed to the monastery next door from which one could hear the monotone chants of Buddhist Monks being projected over a loud speaker, or maybe it was the few people kneeling in intense prayer in front of the footprint, then again it could just have been the immaculate sunset that I was to see that day. Whatever it was it reminded me of being in the massive cathedrals of Ireland and the sense of reverence and spirituality that seem to permeate from them. Seemed to be another example of how alike we are as humans. I am on the opposite side of the planet in a very different place, where people are praying to a completely different god, but that sense of intense spirituality is still very much the same.