My apologies for the delay of this fourth instalment of my Hat Yai trip.
So, after one and a half days of shopping and feasting, it was time to head to the temple which is the main purpose of this Hat Yai trip.
Does the word "seclusion" in the title make sense to you now?
But before we leave, it was breakfast at Kim Yong Shopping Center again!
Clockwise from top left: Pig's Blood Porridge, Chee Cheong Fun/Png Kueh,
Wanton Mee, fried stuff with Yam Paste
As you can probably see, we ordered similar breakfast which we had the day before.
There's really nothing special with the Pig's Blood Porridge but we ordered it again for the sake of the pig's blood! I do not understand why is it call Pig's Blood Porridge when there's only ONE small cube of pig blood in it? Hmmm...
After breakfast, we returned to the hotel for a refreshing bath and some final packing. That done, we checked out from Diamond Plaza Hotel and loaded our luggages behind a waiting van.
From civilisation we drove...
...until we see nothing but rubber plantations for miles...
The journey took a little longer than expected and is getting a little uncomfortable due to the rocky terrain at the rural area. It was not our first time to the temple so we knew it should not have taken that long to reach our destination.
One of my cousin's relative pointed this out to the driver and he got into a bout of fits arguing that he knew the way but he is just trying out an alternative route to get us there.
Oh well, we do not want to risk getting chased out of his van with all our luggages in the middle of nowhere so we just keep quiet and let him ramble on for the rest of the journey.
The van keeps turning around in circles and I thought we would be lost in this labyrinth of rubber plantations for good when voila, the temple suddenly appeared in the horizon! When the van finally comes to a halt, I was so happy to jump out from the vehicle as my ass feels so violated due to all that bumping!
Does it look like a temple from some lost civilisation?
This is how the inside looks like
Male visitors stay at this dormitory on the second floor
During my previous visit, I bunked in with the Monk at another location but because there was a bigger group this year, we were housed at this domitory instead.
The
tilam (mattress) is as thick as a pack of foolscape paper
There is no TV, no internet, no newspapers and no contact with the outside world but there is air-con at the very least. What more can I ask for?
I helped three bigass mosquitoes attain nirvana the moment I stepped into the dormitory
Namo Namo...
Have a look at the toilet
The big blue bucket contained water for bathing; no showerhead and no water heater! There is also no cistern for the WC! Everything here is flush with a scoop!
Did you know the water that flowed out of these taps came from the mountains? That is to say I bathed, brushed my teeth and flushed my ass with fresh, cooling mountain water!
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Here's some random shots around the temple.
(L) The bridge that leads to the cave above the temple
(R) The river filled with hungry fishes under the bridge
I love elephants!
This was the entrance of the cave above the temple.
The Buddha inside the cave
Did I mention that I loved elephants?
Random flowers
(L) The cookhouse where we had our vegetarian meals
(R) The female domitory above the cookhouse
The Duku Langsat tree behind the cookhouse
There were some fruit trees behind the cookhouse but the Duku Langsat tree was the only one in season just like the previous year I was there. Unfortunately, the tree did not bear as much fruit as before so we do not get to eat freshly plucked Duku Langsat by the buckets.
Coming up next: Visiting the cave in my next entry!
"DC" is the acronym for Dead Cockroach - my online moniker.
