Nirvana in the Strangest Places

Are these people serious? All the ice cream I can eat in forty-five minutes? For just under two dollars? Do they know who I am? Apparently not.

Say Wat?

They say the pun is the lowest form of humor. If that is the case, my travel partner Randal and I have been wallowing in the gutter ever since we discovered that the Khmer word for temple, thus used throughout Thailand and Cambodia, is Wat. I know you see where this is going, but I’ll nudge you along, just because I’ve had a couple weeks of practice and, let’s face it, wallowing is fun.

When traveling and passing one of myriad temples, signs for temples, outlines of temples on the horizon: “Wat’s that?”

“Wat?”

“That.”

“Wat.”

“Right over there, with the spires and decorated roof line.”

“It’s a wat.”

“That’s wat I’m asking. Wat do you think it is?”

“Wat do you think I’m saying?”

“Wait, wat?”

“Exactly.”

“Say wat?”

“WAT!”

“Huh?”

“Wat, are you deaf, or just slow?”

You get the Abbott and Costello idea. Even more amusing when the cab driver gets involved and tries to help.

The list goes on: “Wat are we doing today? Wat’s next? Wat time? Wat will we see there?” Especially fun when the specific wat has a name that we can run with, like the below mentioned Wat Po, which can be slurred into sounding like What For, or What Fo’. See what you can do with that one. Fun, isn’t it?

Big and Buddahful

Here’s Thailand’s largest reclining Buddha, measuring in a 45 meters long. He lives at Wat Po, Bangkok’s oldest temple, which predates the city itself. That he is reclining means that his earthly time, all that sitting and smiling, is at an end; he’s gotten it right and is about to enter Nirvana. I hope Nirvana is large, because this guy is, to put it in perspective, larger than the boat upon which I work and, being made of gold painted plaster covered brick, heavier as well.

Peek-a-Buddah

Sole Man

The soles of his feet are breathtakingly inlaid with 108 mother of pearl depictions of Buddhist holy symbols. The craftsmanship of the work is stunningly intricate. It’s the longest I’ve ever stared at the feet of an inanimate object. It is also, unfortunately, the longest I’ve stood at a choke point and been inundated with a constant flow of tourists. I felt like a rock in the middle of an Asian salmon stream.

Lucky Rain

The building wall that runs along the Buddha’s backside is lined with 108 metal bowls that, if a small coin worth about a penny is placed in each, provide the depositor good luck. There are enough bowls and enough people seeking good luck that the sound of metallic rainfall is an eerie constant while gazing at this religious marvel.

Check

When was the last time you crossed something off of your life list? I know that some of you who read this are the smart ones, the folks who have achieved that fabled catbird seat of life where your daily job is proof and reinforcement of why you were put on the earth. Others of you are motivated jet setters methodically and rapidly crossing off your goals and developing new and loftier ones. Me, not so much. My ambitions are large, but I have not much ambition, so when I get to put a big fat line through something on my wish list, it’s momentous.

Today was momentous. Since the first time I ever heard about the Cambodian ruins of Angkor Wat as a child, I’ve dreamed of seeing and exploring them. Though I only scratched the surface today, I get to cross it off the list. I don’t really know where to begin describing the experience. Is it the sheer size of this eighth wonder of the world? The complexity and intricacy of both the grand, functional design and the fine finishing strokes? The fact that it was all done by hand and took three quarters of a million people decades of constant work to create the final product? The religious and spiritual significance palpable at every turn? The mystery that surrounds the downfall and disappearance of the culture responsible for the wonder that is Angkor Wat? The feeling is too new, raw, overwhelming to put a finger on right now, as I’m still getting my head around it, but kindly stay tuned for further, extensive gushing.