Hey dear community, first of all I would like to welcome you all to my contribution and hope you have great holidays and a pleasant week! In my new post I would like to share an experience I made in Thailand and I am happy if you appreciate what I do and can get to know a new place.
I spent a few days in Pattaya during my time in Thailand, but it was clear to me that I will only spend a few days there because the place is very touristy and I would rather see more culture, but there are also some things to offer in this regard, although not as much as in other places. One of the cultural highlights which is located in the area for me was the Chinese temple Viharn Sien which is located outside the city and to get there I had to drive about 30 minutes with Bolt which was more than worth it for me. For me it was by far one of the largest Chinese temples I have seen in Thailand and even during my time in China, I have only seen a few large temples like this. The temple extends over a total of 3 floors and while the typical Chinese construction can be seen from the outside, the interior is a large museum with all kinds of exhibits that are associated with the culture. Even if the architecture is Chinese, the temple was built as a gift for the former king Rama IX and the special thing here is definitely that it stands out from other temples in the area and is also generally rare throughout the whole country.
The temple has an important symbolic meaning and already the name is linked to the eternal life as well as the enlightenment of the spirit and when it comes to the construction, mainly Chinese influences can be seen here in general. In each floor I could see something different and it has increased more and more when it comes to the different floors and already in the first area, I could see some figures who are linked to the mythology and here the spiritual journey already started. Matching to the real traditional values of a temple, some parts could be seen here in which Buddhist rituals could be celebrated and in general the diversity that is offered here is worth mentioning in every respect. Many of the relics exhibited in the temple are closely linked to the history of China and in addition to scenes from mythology, there are also numerous traces of important scholars such as Confucius or other legends and of course a lot revolves around the history of the dynasties.
I also liked the lifelike figures very much which could be seen here and everywhere were typical figures to see which have a symbolic meaning in China such as dragons or other objects which all have an important meaning and in general the temple is very strongly oriented to the traditional teaching of Feng-Shui. I spent about two hours here and also the entrance was more than fair and with a few Baht in a normal value and I think it was equivalent to about $3. How much time someone spends here naturally always depends on the individual interest and some are also much faster through but it takes about two to three hours if everything is looked at carefully and as always in temples also applies here to wear a respectful outfit.
I have seen some in Thailand who go very cheeky to temples with tank tops to present their tattoos or wear jogging pants and think it is not the right behavior towards this culture and think the right clothes belong to a polite nature. In general, I also thought it was very good that only a few tourists were seen here and it is certainly one of the places in the area that are not overcrowded and especially for people who are interested in Chinese culture, it is an absolute must to come here. There are also other places worth seeing in the area and it can only be worthwhile to connect more sights with each other and with the other sights a day trip can be made without problems.
Many thanks for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new and like my post and appreciate my effort! I captured these pictures with my Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm.