Get lucky at Wat Huay Pla Kang

Wat Huay Pla Kang serenely sits on a mountain top surrounded by verdant green hills in the heart of Chiang Rai. It is a pretty impressive site to behold from far away it gets more interesting as you come closer. Just like all the other unusual temples in Northern Thailand, especially in Chiang Rai, Wat Huay Pla Kang was designed by a true visionary, which explains its unusual stylistic and structural choices. It began as a small monk office designed by a monk named Phra Ajarn Phob Chok, and grew over 4 years into the temple that you see today. A rumour says that anyone who prays at the temple will receive good health or money as a blessing. The breathtaking temple is a fusion of international influences with palpable attention to craft, detail, and Buddhist devotion. Wat Huay Pla Kang is known for its unique architecture, built in Chinese-Lanna style with white walls. Nearly all other temples in the region are built in traditional Thai or Thai-Lanna style, while Wat Huay Pla Kang blends Lanna and Chinese elements so thoroughly that the temple is really nothing like either. The elements of Chinese architecture shine through in the color scheme, boasting bright hues of red, yellow, gold or green The pagoda is a towering 9 stories tall, with a pyramid shape instead of the round or square structure found in Thai or Chinese pagodas. The top tier is bell-shaped like a traditional Thai Chedi. Instead of the naga serpents one might expect, a pair of Chinese dragons guard the stairs to the inside of the structure. One of the main attractions of this extraordinary temple is actually the enormous Guan Yin statue…. Quite often mistaken as the Big Buddha, this impressive figure happens to be Guan Yin, the Buddhist ‘Goddess of Mercy’. Guan Yin is an important deity in the Mahayana Buddhist pantheon. She is the “Bodhisattva of Compassion” — a being who achieved enlightenment but remained here in the physical world to help the rest of humanity do the same. She waits here at Wat Huay Pla Kang, “observing the sounds of the human world”, as she is known to do Take the elevator under the huge Guan Yin and head up to the top of the 25th story!!! Peek out the windows (Guan Yin’s forehead) on the top floor for panoramic views of rice paddies, forest, and mountains. Between the windows, the top floor is decorated with amazing detailed white dragons and other god, goddesses and mythological beings from Buddhist cosmology. #wathuayplakang #goddessofmercy #guanyin #tourismthailandkl #chiangrai #amazingthailand