Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Progress on Wat Meaung Wat update


temple progress, originally uploaded by c_p_lew.

Before going to work this morning, I realized that I haven't taken a picture of the progress at the temple for a while. I think the work has been going on for about a year now - they raise money from donations and the occasional festival and then there's a growth spurt. But the roof is on and they've taken the boards protecting the main Buddha image away so that people can make offerings. Still a lot of work left to go, including the sculpting of the columns and the stairway and painting various scenes from Buddhist stories on the walls.


The old traditional roofs were made of ceramic or wooden tiles; this roof is made from red plastic roofing sheets. The roofing supports are made of iron, and the sheets are hung rather than nailed to the supports. Lao temples are very ornate with several roofs like Wat Meaung Wa. This building is called the Bodt, which is the home of the Buddha images. The building to the left is the community hall where people offer food to the monks and eat breakfast and lunch together with them. The building in the back used to made of old teak wood but was replaced around 2000 (termites) - the older monks live there and it houses the libraries and classrooms for the young monks. There are also two dormitories for the young monks on the temple grounds.

1 comment:

Jientje said...

Once again,this is very interesting to read! I also took the chance to look at some of your pictures, and they are great! I have an award for you on my blog, will you come and get it?