orwellianTwo

Serene and beatific, surrounded by the lapping waters of the lake, the ordination hall of the Wat Plai Laem temple complex glistens radiantly in the morning sunlight. The lake teems with fish, and it is considered good luck to feed these aquatic guardians of the Buddha’s house. Cross the causeway into the hallowed space and you will find a statue of the Buddha surrounded by intricate frescoes depicting his life and work.

Maybe I overplay the serenity – Ko Samui has around 50,000 inhabitants and at any time there will be four times as many foreign visitors – but even with the queues, the crowds, the hubbub, it’s possible to sense something of the calm and inner peace the devout would relish as they visit this delightful site.

There is more. Around the temple are statues of Hindu gods such as Ganesh, the complex appearing to be a meeting point of Hindu and Buddhist spirituality, Thai and Chinese gods, tranquility and, err, lots of tourists if you come at the wrong time of day

Across the site there are two monumental statues. A rather cheery Buddha looks out over the visiting throng, chuckling away as if he’s also enjoying a carefree beach holiday on Ko Samui

The second statue is one of Samui’s main attractions, the 18-armed image of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, here seen as the Chinese god Guanyin.

In Buddhism, particularly the Mahayana form, the bodhisattvas help out the devout in their search for Enlightenment. Obviously the best advisor you could call upon is Gautama Siddhartha, the great Buddha himself. But of course since he found the way to Nirvana he’s no longer in contact with the earthly world, and won’t accept your calls. So the bodhisattvas have stepped in. They are special devotees who made it to the very cusp of Enlightenment themselves but agreed to hold off going all the way so they could help others to follow the path. In Mahayana Buddhism some key boddhisattvas are associated with particular attributes, and bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara represents compassion and mercy.

The last time I visited Ko Samui I stopped at the Big Buddha at Wat Phra Yai, but this site is much more varied, much more interesting with lovelier temples. I don’t understand why I missed it the last time.

Which is not to say that I didn’t go back to the Big Buddha.

But I do prefer Wat Plai Laem.

There must be other must-do activities and sights that I haven’t covered here or in my 2018 blog, for example there are many more waterfalls than the much-visited Na Mueang. There are also plenty of elephant sanctuaries, and it’s entirely possible that one or two of them might even treat their elephants ethically. And of course, as I’m again staying on the glorious and pulsating Chaweng beach, I’m missing out on the sunsets of the western side of the island.

But I’ve seen plenty of sunsets in my travels, and this trip is more of a chilled-out break in a place I’m reasonably familiar with, rather than a whole new adventure. Hopefully those new adventures are around the corner, seeing as I have more time on my hands than before.

But this time, it’s beach time.