Yesterday was mostly a travel day between Khao Yai and our current location, Phetchabun. In previous years, this section of the May Term Thailand trip would be spent doing homestays in Kalasin or Bon Mai (I think? Han may need to correct me on these locations…), but understandably because of COVID concerns, we weren’t able to coordinate homestays this year. One of our long-time partners for this trip, Noi. who serves as our primary point of contact for logistics in Thailand, did a phenomenal job of organizing a new itinerary—with very few weeks to adjust—that included the Phechtabun Province, so this is an entirely new destination for the May Term Thailand trip (as was Khao Yai).
I can't tell you what was in this lunch dish, but it was delicious
Crocs have universal appeal
After about 5 hours in vans and a few curvy mountain roads, we arrived at our hotel, the Imperial Phukaew Resort, around 3PM yesterday. Students had free time to explore the grounds and relax before a tasty Thai dinner on-site at the hotel’s open-air restaurant. The grounds here are stunning. The resort is built into a hillside, so while traveling in and around the resort involves a fair amount of walking uphill, the grounds are beautifully manicured and feature all sorts of trees and flowers, none of which I can name.
View of our resort
View from dinner
Our original plan was to hike to a waterfall today, but due to some limitations with a lunch reservation in the middle of the day, we needed to cut that plan as the drive to the waterfall was too far away. After doing some research, we discovered that our hotel was a short drive from the Wat Phrathat Pha Sorn Kaew (“Temple on the Glass Cliff”) monastery. Students expressed a lot of excitement about visiting this monastery, so we adjusted the schedule to accommodate a visit this morning.
And I’m sure glad we did. What an incredible experience.
The monastery is set on a hillside about 830m above sea level. It is affiliated with Theravada Buddhism. I must sheepishly admit that I know very little about Theravada Buddhism (or any branch of Buddhism, for that matter), so I am trying to educate myself while writing this post. My colleague Kathryn, a history professor, would be the best faculty member on this trip to consult for questions related to the history and practice of Theravada Buddhism, so I’ll probably pick her brain later.
Han and students discussing the temple
From the BBC (link):
“Theravada Buddhism is the strongest in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and Burma (Myanmar). It is sometimes called ‘Southern Buddhism.’ This school of Buddhism believes that it has remained closest to the original teachings of the Buddha. However, it does not over-emphasize the status of these teachings in a fundamentalist way – they are seen as tools to help people understand the truth, and not has having merit of their own."
Meditation and concentration are key elements in the path to enlightenment. While this branch of Buddhism does emphasize a monastic lifestyle, it also has a substantial amount of lay followers.
More on the Monastery itself (from tourismthailand.org):
The monastery is relatively new; most of the construction was completed in 2004 and received status as a temple in 2010. It is used as a Dhamma practice center. The site holds spaces for Dhamma lecture and accommodations for the Dhamma practitioner.
The centerpiece of the site is the temple itself—which contains a huge sculpture of the five Buddhas who visited the earth, nested together in a meditation position.
The main pagoda and surrounding buildings include more than 5 million mosaic tiles—WHOA! And the tiles are stunning. The patterns, combinations, materials (including teapots and China sets), etc., are incredibly varied throughout the grounds. These photos won’t do them justice.
The main pagoda and surrounding buildings include more than 5 million mosaic tiles—WHOA! And the tiles are stunning. The patterns, combinations, materials (including teapots and China sets), etc., are incredibly varied throughout the grounds. These photos won’t do them justice.
The 5 nested Buddhas
View of the monastery grounds
Example of the incredible mosaic work found throughout the monastery
Visitors can make a donation and sign their name on the Buddha cloth. We wrote a message on behalf of Westminster
After our visit to the monastery, we ate lunch at Pino Latte, this hip little restaurant nestled into the hillside above the monastery.
Kathryn and the students enjoying the views from Pino Latte restaurant
We’ve got some colleagues leading the Camino de Santiago (Spain) May Term, so we thought we’d have some fun and replicate one of their photos. The question is, “who wore it better?”
Replicating a pose from the Camino May Term Trip
Tomorrow, we head to Sukhothai.
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