Big Buddha Hill

Happy New Year everyone!!!  I hope you all had a wonderful and safe New Year's celebration.  I know we did.  Now, before I get into what we did for our New Year's Eve I would like to backtrack a few days.  Just up the road from our home away from home is the Big Buddha Hill.  It is one of the more known Buddhist temples around Thailand, and definitely in Pattaya.

The statue of Buddha is very large and can be seen from the street in front of our condo.

It's zoomed in, but you get the idea.

Being able to see the statue from our street below we figured it would just up the street and turn right into the entrance.  Yeah, nothing is ever that easy.  We walked a good ways up the hill and finally found what we were guessing was the entrance (we weren't sure since all the signs were written in Thai).  We walked just a little bit and came to a fork in the road.  We could go strait or turn right.  Since we had gotten a little turned around mixed with not knowing where we were exactly, we went to the right.  We just figured it was one of those "monk-things" where you have to walk an unnecessarily far distance instead of a direct path.  We walked around the hill roughly twice and came upon the same fork in the road, but from a different angle.  Turns out that if we would have walked strait the first time it would have been right there.  Oh well, lesson learned.

Once we finally figured out where to go we discovered it was more than just a big statue on a hill.  There were shrines, statues, ponds, and murals.  It was very quite and tranquil, the perfect setting for prayer and worship.  After we explored around we went in search of the original reason for our visit.  When we found the steps to the statue it was truly a wonderful site. 

If you look closely with a little imagination it almost looks like Buddha has really long arms extending all the way down the stairs.  

They were the most awkward stairs to walk up because they were only about 1/2 and inch every step up and about a foot long.  Once at the top the statue of Buddha was remarkable.

Thus the name Big Buddha Hill.

It was truly a magnificent site.  The sheer size of this religious icon sitting, looking over all who approach it, it's just breath taking.  And, if that site wasn't enough...

The view from the corner behind the Big Buddha.  Overlooks Jomtien Beach.

The tower is actually a sky lift.  We haven't done this yet, but ya'll will be the first to hear about when we do.

Overlooking Pattaya Bay.

Visiting Big Buddha Hill was truly a great way to end 2010 and start 2011.  The next day was New Year's Eve.  We didn't really have any plans except to spend it with each other.  We did, however, want to walk around and see what Pattaya was like on the day before the start of the new year.  Well, we definitely found out.  Actually, we found out several days prior. 

The Thais love to shoot off fireworks.  What I found truly astonishing was that they shoot them off in the middle of the road.  Center lane to be precise, while traffic is still driving.  I'm not talking about firecrackers (although they were lighting M80's in the middle of the road, strings roughly 7ft long), but mortars, and rockets, and roman candles; the ones that can only be bought in South Carolina.  They shoot them off right outside our window every night for the last two weeks.

But, I digress.  When we took a walk down to Walking Street and Beach Road there was an exponentially larger number of cars, motorbikes, and mainly Baht Buses.  If you remember the picture of the Baht Bus from one of my earlier posts they usually have several people riding.  At best (for them) they have a full load.  On New Year's Eve, well...

I don't know if you can tell, but there are people sitting on other people's laps.  Whether or not they know each other I'm not sure, but look at the back wheels.  The bed of the truck is much lower than I have seen it since we've been here.

Another thing I found interesting is, like some of the food vendors on the street, for New Year's Eve we stumbled across a pig roast.

I know, it's a little graphic, but still nothing like I've ever seen...at least on the side of a busy main road.

When we got back we showered and cooked dinner.  We decided to go to the Mati Hari; one of two restaurants where we live and I knew there would be a good time waiting for us there.  The last time I was in Thailand was during New Year's Eve and the wait staff had dressed up in all sorts of outfits and costumes.  This year...well, last year...there were some very nice and well planned costumes.  My favorite one, by far, was a cowboy/Elvis/village people mix costume.

They truly get into the spirit of a holiday, even if it is not their own.  For the Thais, December 31st is not technically the new year.  For them it does not occur until April, Songkran (that will be another post).

While the Mati Hari was fun, the only plans we had made in advance were to be on the roof at midnight to watch the fireworks.  I was going to show a video of what the view was like at midnight atop the roof, but my internet connection wouldn't allow me post the video.  I will try to upload it on Facebook so you can see.  My apologies for not posting the video.

It was the best way to welcome in the new year, even if we were 12hrs ahead of everyone back home.  I hope you all had a wonderful and exceptional start to the new year.

Cheers,
   Cush