The Temple Next Door

This picturesque temple is right next door to where we are staying in Hoi An, in fact it can be seen right outside our bedroom window!

It's an old building dedicated to something called Confucianism (Conn-fyu-shunn-ism). Confucianism isn't technically a religion but it is a set of beliefs that people choose to follow.

It was started around 2500 years ago in China by a man called Confucious. At this time things weren't good in the country and he became a teacher who created a set of rules that people must follow. They included things like respecting your elders, treating other people how you would like to be treated yourself and knowing that if you have made a mistake you must try your hardest to correct it. It was very strict but also incredibly popular and many people still follow these rules today.

Did You Know?: One thing people used to say about Confucious was that if his mat wasn't straight he wouldn't sit on it. This might sound really fussy but it's actually the core of his beliefs that things must be done properly so that they are correct. Think of your writing, if you don't start a sentence with a capital letter and finish it with the correct punctuation is just isn't right and doesn't make proper sense.

Happy New Year!

Tomorrow marks the official start of Thailand's New Year celebrations, or Songkran as it known here. Traditionally Thailand used a different calendar to what we use and the New Year according to the old calendar is still celebrated to this day.

To join in with the celebrations Nads and I are travelling up to Chaing Mai on a night bus tomorrow with our friends Reuben and Becky from uni. It should take 8-12hrs to make the journey but it is supposed to be the top place in Thailand to celebrate.

In Bangkok things have already started with places like family businesses and post offices closing until the 17th. We visited Wat Pho today and saw the world's largest reclining Buddha which is 45m long (You can see that it wouldn't all fit in one photo!) and has a smile that's 5m across! With Songkran approaching, the Wat Pho site was crammed full of stalls selling foods and souvenirs and there was even a traditional Thai band playing music, it feels very exciting to be in Thailand at this time of year.

Golden Buddha

This is the largest, solid gold Buddha on the planet. It measures over 4 metres tall, more than 3 metres across and it weighs an impressive at 5.5 tonnes!

It's over 700 years old and it's said to be worth £28,500,000 but they only discovered it was made of solid gold in 1955! It turns out it was totally covered in plaster to hide it's value from those invading Thailand at the time and it was only after it was moved from it's original home to this newer one in Bangkok that the plaster cracked and the discovery was made.

Tak Bart

Today I set an alarm and got up early to meet some Buddhist monks. The monks live a very peaceful and quiet life in monastries and don't do 'mortal' activities like cooking as they are trying to seek enlightenment. Each each morning they will walk around their village to be given food by the local people, this is called Tak Bart.

Around 95% of Thai people are Buddhist and believe that if you treat people nicely you will go to a better place when you die. As monks are very important and respected people, giving them food so they don't go hungry is a very good deed indeed.

To thank us for our offerings of curry, rice, fruit and water the monks blessed us in Thai and it was very humbling to see such respected people that seemed to be at so much peace.

(Normally it's not considered 'proper' to take a photo of Buddhist monks without their permission, but here they had given their permission to everyone at the resort making offerings)

Next Door Neighbours

This is the Sri Mahamariamman temple. It was built in the 1870s which makes it the oldest Hindu temple still being used in Malaysia and it is the centre for Hinduism in Malaysia. It is also right next door to my hostel in the heart of Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown.

Did You Know?: The incredibly beautiful roof might look old but it was only added in the 1960s.