Phu Phrabat Historical Park - Nong Khai Thailand - Part 1 & 2
Phu Phrabat Historical Park - Nong Khai Thailand
In May of 2004 I was invited up to my brother and sister in-laws home in Pehn to stay for a few days and check out the northern border area by Laos. They are both school teachers up there and have a nice home. Pehn is near Nong Khai where the 'Friendship Bridge' crosses the Mekong river into Laos. Our brother-in-law was nice enough to bring us around to some interesting attractions they have up there, Phu Phrabat Historical Park being just one of many we visited. Phu Prabat is a place that is under the protection of one of the Thai princesses. She has dedicated the park and helps provide the monies needed for its upkeep and maintenance. She also provided the original monies to build the necessary infrastructure, shops, restaurants, bathrooms, etc. This was a great place to visit, and it is supposed to be one of the first places Buddhist monks came to stay in Thailand while spreading the philosophy of Buddha. It is very old.
Continued in part 2.
Mike
Copyright 2005. All rights reserved by the author.
Phu Phrabat Historical Park - Nong Khai Thailand
In May of 2004 I was invited up to my brother and sister in-laws home in Pehn to stay for a few days and check out the northern border area by Laos. They are both school teachers up there and have a nice home. Pehn is near Nong Khai where the 'Friendship Bridge' crosses the Mekong river into Laos. Our brother-in-law was nice enough to bring us around to some interesting attractions they have up there, Phu Phrabat Historical Park being just one of many we visited. Phu Prabat is a place that is under the protection of one of the Thai princesses. She has dedicated the park and helps provide the monies needed for its upkeep and maintenance. She also provided the original monies to build the necessary infrastructure, shops, restaurants, bathrooms, etc. This was a great place to visit, and it is supposed to be one of the first places Buddhist monks came to stay in Thailand while spreading the philosophy of Buddha. It is very old.
Some sort of fungi growing off a tree. They were huge!
This is one of the first things I noticed upon driving into the parking lot of the historical park. We were in the woods, or jungle as my wife calls it, and surrounded by lush plant-life and trees and flowers.
Hand painted ancient buffalo. There were many of these prehistoric wall paintings.
The early Buddhist monks were not the first to inhabit this area in the hills. There was a much older civilization living there long before the monks arrived.
Ancient Buddha statues in a natural stone formation.
There are many ancient Buddha statues around in this area. The place is dotted with many natural stone formations that were used by the earlier people who lived here as well as the later arriving Buddhist monks. The stone is sandstone mostly and looks to have been fairly easy to carve and work. Many of the ancient Buddhist statues are still being prayed to to this day. There were many school kids and Thais on holiday here when we were there this day.
A very old Buddha statue in disrepair. Notice the light pink hue still adhering to the stone. The paints are very old but still discernible.
The statue of the Buddha is now missing or destroyed. Many of the Buddhist statuary here was pillaged by thieves to be sold on the black market. You can see where the Buddha sat and the paint spray around it which shows the image. I was told that the monks chewed a dye that they then spat in a spray to paint the statues for some sort of religious ceremony.
Another of the many natural rock formations used to protect a Buddha statue.
This one rock formation truly awed me. At the top of the column under this humungous stone cap there is carved a room from the living rock where the abbot once lived. Whoever did this must have been a brave soul. That rock cap weighs many tons. You can see where there were carved stone bricks placed to help support the massive stone above. I don't think I could sleep in there!
One of many stone carved slabs with a Buddha bas relief. They are standing upright in slots carved into the stone of the ground.
A rain-water well or cistern. Don't drink this water!
This hand-carved stone cistern was truly amazing to behold. It has been carved by hand out of the living stone of the area. I had a long pole with me for walking and it could not touch the bottom of this cistern. It is very deep. It is hard to imagine the work this took to complete and how long it must have taken to do.
Another hidden ancient stone Buddha.
As you can see from this picture the stone ground covers a large area and is dotted with statues and stone slabs and natural rock formations. This is just a small part of this area, all used at one point by the ancient people who lived here and later by the Buddhist monks.
Continued in part 2.
Mike
Copyright 2005. All rights reserved by the author.
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