Ok you cultural tourists! We will now do something for your education…

“Big Buddha” (at Wat Phra Yai) no visitor to Samui should miss this. It’s a 17 metre high Buddha statue, it can be accessed via a dam (near the airport), together with a temple and all the usual stuff: One can get a bite to eat, there are just stacks of souvenir stalls, statues of Buddha of all shapes and sizes, joss sticks are lit up and gold leaf applied.

There is even a sort of “electrical oracle”; this is to tell ones fate in advance. One has to insert a coin into the apparatus; a light rotates in a circle, first of all quite fast before it starts to slow down and stops at a certain point. This point has a number on which the basic facts of ones near future can be read. This reminds me a little of the “electrical monk” from Douglas Adams. We tried it out of course… My next baby is going to be a boy and Noi is to have a girl, Ok, just have to look for someone else…

The whole facility is very colourful which I liked very much. Thais love lots of colours and the shining of gold does its thing as well. Buddha is renowned for his teaching simplicity and humbleness, the gold is not liked by Thais (or Buddhists) because of its value, they like it because it is shiny, Buddha is the “enlightened”. The rays that he produces are supposed to help others on their way to be enlightened, what’s better than gold for achieving something like this?

For the Last Minute Tourists (meaning for those who didn’t manage to get a travellers guide and learn all about the does and don’ts and Taboos of course, for those who haven’t got a clue about the customs of the country) and those resistant against experience, there are notices explaining about taking off ones shoes and only to wear moderate clothing.