Wat Bang Phraek
The number of temples in Thailand must be truly astonishing and after a while they tend to 'blend in' the background.
One comment that keeps coming back from tourists is that they get 'templed out' after visiting Wat Pho, Wat Arun, Wat ...
I must admit not being that keen on temples either, but some do catch my eye.
For Buddhists, the interesting parts usually concern sacred objects/relics, famous abbots, etc., but I'm looking at temples from a different perspective, mainly photogenic (*).
Last month I had a good look at Wat Bang Phraek, an ancient temple built in the late Ayutthaya period, 1697 AD.
The first thing I noticed immediately was the rabbit wall around the temple and the demon God Rahu being used as a side entrance of the ubosot, something which I'd never seen before.
Surrounding the ubosot at various places are some neat religious sculptures.
Here is a close-up.
This one almost caused me to burst out laughing!
Peeping out between the 2 demons is a kind of cute cartoon rabbit!
UPDATE: Even funnier, I was just informed that this is actually not really a rabbit, but Pikachu, one of those Pokemon characters!
Roosters are very popular here too, but some ended on the ground, too crowded?
Aha, there's the culprit!
A few large-sized roosters are scattered around the temple.
This too is rather uncommon!
Some cows are kept in the back of the temple.
This gives you a bit of an idea about the temple grounds.
Does anyone know the significance of those rabbits?
(*) Here are some other temples I've explored:
https://artkoen.wixsite.com/artkoen/post/buddhist-batman-anyone
https://artkoen.wixsite.com/artkoen/post/the-sacred-and-the-not-so-profane
https://artkoen.wixsite.com/artkoen/post/wat-paknam-wat-khun-chan
