Upon reaching Laem Chabang Thailand,
I contacted a friend that I knew that lives there namedVince. He use to be a
physics teacher at my high school and he also played guitar so we use to go see jazz shows together and jam. We made some arrangements and early that morning
he picked me up on his motorcycle. After some friendly words and a handshake we
decided to hit the road. What I failed to mention to him was that I had never
ridden on the back of a motorcycle before in my life… and frankly, it scared me shitless.
I mean, what is suppose to be proper motorcycle passenger
etiquette? Do you hold on to his hips
while riding like an akward middle school prom date? That seems a little too intimate for guy on guy for
me. Do you hold on to the sides of the seat? The metal handle
in the back of the seat? It seems like it
could be a fine line between appropriate and awkward. I thought the best
way to start was with one
hand on the back handle and the other on my leg that
also rested on his side for balance.
We gun it out of the cruise terminal and then I start to
freak out. My heart gives flurries of
convulses and fear starts to come over me. I feel at all times
that I could suddenly lean the wrong way
and knock us both over off the
motorcycle. I close my eyes and bite my tongue, hoping that the pain will
distract me from the fear of falling. I feel the wind slam against my face and blow
my hair straight back.
I’m still panicking. I try to focus on my breathing.
Maybe if I just try to relax and slow my breathing down,
I can get over it. I
inhale air and exhale very slowly and try to control my heart rate. It’s no
use.
I’m still freaking out. Suddenly, as I was about to lose it and ask
him to stop this crazy thing, Vince
starts asking me some questions. Suddenly
I’m distracted and am forgetting about falling. We start
talking and finally
the abrasive wave of panic washes away and I return to being able to relax.
We discuss what I’ve been up to and how the cruise ship
life is. He talks about how he moved
to Thailand and what he has been doing
here. He explains that he does yard work and goes to the local
bars and plays
pool with the locals. He seems to be enjoying his retirement and seems happy. The
constant flow of the conversation keeps my mind at ease.
After some detours (and a few wrong turns), we reach the
Sanctuary of Truth. The Sanctuary of
Truth is a temple that started
construction in 1981 and is still currently under construction. It uses both
Hindu and Buddhist themes through out the architecture and sculptures but does
not subscribe its self
solely as either one religion. We walked down these old
wooden stairs on the side of a hill covered in
trees and bush; and when we
reached the bottom, it dropped us off in front of the massive building.
The temple was incredible. It stands at a massive 350ft
and the detail involved with his
construction was mind blowing. Every inch of
every corner of the building consisted of some kind of
collage of sculptures of
Hindu and Buddhist religious carictures. It was so condensed with these works,
that
it takes a few minutes to just have your eyes focus in and take in all of its
dense artwork. The entire
building is made from wood, which includes all the
sculptures, and other art works. We started to walk
around the massive building
and stopping every 30 feet just to look and every angle of the building
that
offered its own unique design and collections of sculptures that were located
on the roof, ceiling,
walls, doorways and eves.
After making our way inside, we found that it was even
more detailed than the outside. The walls
had small, dense collages of carvings
which was like looking at a Thai version of a ‘Where’s Waldo?’
page. It took
several minutes to be able to look at every wall and see all the work that was
done. In the
middle it had a shrine where some people were on their hands and
knees praying. We quietly walked by
them as we looked around. The ceiling was
also carved elaborately. Some larger sculptures of elephants
and cobras and
woman were in the high corners of the ceiling along side the smaller ones. Vince
knew a
little bit about both religions so he started to explain the
significance of the different animals and symbols
and how they were apart of
the religions.
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Surrounding the building were some elephant rides that
you could pay 450 Baht ($15) and
ride around the site. There was also a few
restaurants and other vendors where you could buy things
such as memorabilia.
None of those things really interested us but it was still cool to see some
elephants
up close.
After stealing some last minute photos, we decided to go.
The temple was along side the beach so
as I looked back at it on my way out at
the top of the stairs, I could see the ocean and the rest of the body
of Thailand in the distance. What a place to worship I thought as I left. The temple
is supposed to be
completed in the year 2025. After it gets completed, I would
love to come back and see what more they
have added.
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