Wat Dhamma Nimitri in Chonburi

On the Internet I come across a picture of a Buddha that reminds me of Fons Jansen. Only the very old among us remember that this was a comedian in the last century. As an adult he had to portray a rebellious child and therefore sat on a chair several meters high. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy once played such a scene.

But back to the picture of Buddha. He should be sitting on a giant chair in a temple called Wat Dhamma Nimitri and we should find that temple in Chonburi. Because it is an English site, I suspect that not the province, but the city is intended.

We drive via the motorway and take the first exit to Chonburi. My Thai companion stops at a motorcycle workshop to ask directions, aided by an imprint of the seated Buddha. From behind my closed window I see the sheet of paper passing from hand to hand. Finally it comes into the hands of the boss and he recognizes the image. He starts to explain in sign language how to drive. He does this so plastically that I speak immediately when my companion returns. Turn right at the first traffic lights, then right again at the second intersection, drive on and then we see the statue on the left in the mountains, I say.

It turns out to be exactly right. That first intersection turns out to be Sukhumvit Road. We drive towards Bangkok and at traffic lights on a Y-like intersection we turn right towards Phanat Nikom. After a few hundred meters we see a large Buddha on the left in the mountains.

A beautiful gate gives access to the temple. It turns out that my comparison at the beginning of the piece is incorrect. It is a chair XNUMX meters high, but the Buddha is made to scale. The whole is quite impressive. There is a road to the left of the image that goes further up and I can't ignore something like that. We enter a Chinese temple complex. Houses for monks and all kinds of temples. For the enthusiasts, the whole is called Chee Hong Buddhist Association.

When you are a starting foreigner in Thailand buys a nice Buddha statue and wants to give it a nice spot, the Thais will probably correct you quickly. The Buddha should be higher than the human being and the bottoms of your feet should never face the Buddha. This in contrast to the Chinese Buddha. It can safely stand on the floor. Actually understandable. With a big belly like that I would rather stay on the floor. You wonder why within one faith in Thailand the temples and the Buddha statues are graceful, while both in China or of Chinese origin radiate the opposite.

It doesn't matter, as long as everyone is happy or as the Chinese say so concisely in two words: