Hello my fellow hives as you may gather it has been a while since my last post when it was actually steemit at that time well i was glad to hear that steemit members made a transition to hive and i have read that there has been a few changes all for the better, am pleased to be back here today after enduring many hurdles in the past few years, just let me say it wasn't all good but did educate me more , i will not go into that at this point maybe at a later date but i will say, i remained strong and positive in myself and came out of it with a sane mind and finally, i got the urge to come back here and continue the one thing, i use to like doing and that is blogging.
During my absence from this platform i have been living back in Brisbane , Australia after leaving Thailand and was only to be in Brisbane for a short period before returning back to Thailand to resume my work but unfortunately matters that i had come to sought out took much longer then expected and then a few weeks before, i was due to fly out of Brisbane back to Thailand what more could happen the pandemic closed all the international borders causing me to cancel my flight and stuck in Brisbane for another year or so and was only able to return back to Thailand a few weeks ago after going through extensive documentations with Embassies and a 14 day quarantine once arriving in Thailand which i didn't mind, i was just over the moon to be back in Thailand.
After completing my 14 day quarantine in Bangkok city one of my old work colleagues and friend arranged to pick me up from the Bangkok hotel and we made our journey to Pattaya City which is less then a 2 hour drive from Bangkok City as our company had relocated there during my absence from Thailand. I could not begin telling you how aesthetic i felt been back in Thailand while driving down the highway enjoying all them sceneries again.
Now you may wonder why is my first blog about a Big Buddha , well since been living in Thailand before and believing in the Buddhism culture the first thing, i had to do once getting out of quarantine with the dramas, i had endue getting back here, i needed to go and pay my respects to the Big Buddha on the mountain to keep me safe in Pattaya City on my next venture of my life, i believe by praying to the Big Buddha he will give you his blessing in welcoming you in his home town and keeping you safe from any bad demons.
Getting to this enormous 18 meter tall Buddha popping up through the trees on top of Pratumnak Hill, between Pattaya and Jomtien Beach is quite a hike up not because of any rough terrains but because it's all uphill and then you will need to climb a few hundred steps through these jungle of trees once you have veered of the road to take the staircase to the top.
Once you have almost made it to the top you will arrive at a huge area that looks like a helicopter landing pad here you can take a breather and enjoy the city views of Pattaya city before taking the next set of steps up to the Big Buddha statue.
As you are approaching the Big Buddha you will see the next final set of steps this staircase is a real piece of art with the golden dragons running along either side of these handrails and at the foot of this staircase looking you straight in your face are these huge seven headed mythical snakes called Nagas emerging from the dragon’s mouths just looking so protective from the demons.
The Temple within the grounds is called the Wat Phra Yai, and was built in the 1940's way back when Pattaya was only know as a old fishing village it's here that all the locals will come and pray they bring there wreaths of flowers and burn there incense for good luck, fortune and good health.
Like every Thai Temple you have all your statues to see, pray to, and have a chance to get a blessing from a monk. It’s really impressive walking up the steps to the Big Buddha Statue, and behind the statue itself a great sight to see when you go up on a clear sunny day you will see full panoramic view of Pattaya city from the top of the temple and great sunsets if you stay around longer. Extra points for a good cool breeze if you are so lucky to experience.
There was a Monk, i met once at a temple and he said something to me that till this day, i will never forget!!
"Speak or act with a pure mind
And Happiness will follow you
As your shadow, unshakable"
A true statement that i kept in my mind and live by every single day do this and you will be at peace within yourself and with everyone around you.
Congratulations @andrew-charles! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPWelcome (back) to Hive! Seems like a lot has happened since you left Thailand and the chain.
It's great that you've found the haveyoubeenhere community. We're called Pinmapple now (previously Steemit World Map) and you are welcome to pin your travel post on https://pinmapple.com/ for greater exposure and support. Just click on the 'get code' at the top of the map and follow the instructions or check out the FAQ to get your post on the map. You can also post your travel content from the haveyoubeenhere community https://peakd.com/c/hive-163772 . Hope to see you soon
Thank you @livinguktaiwan for the welcome back and the heads up on the information you have supplied me i will look into doing this.
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!
Want to have your post on the map too?
Congratulations @andrew-charles!
You raised your level and are now a Minnow!
Check out the last post from @hivebuzz:
Hiya, @LivingUKTaiwan here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Top 3 in Daily Travel Digest #1103.
Your post has been manually curated by the @pinmapple team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!
Become part of our travel community:
Thank you so much @LivingUKTaiwan that's a very encouraging welcome back.