On our way to the next temple, we stopped to have a picnic with a view at Tambon Phrai Phatthana. When we arrived, there was a white bull (or Ox ?) statue. There are many legends surrounding the area about hunting in the forest. It is not a good thing to do so as magical creatures live in the forest. In Thailand, it seems that legends and reality are very close.
Two years ago, a man was hunting in the deep forest. He spotted a big white animal, followed it until he could get a clear shot and...BANG! Shot the animal dead. What he believed to be a white bull was in fact, his best friend. People believe he was punished by the spirits of the forest for hunting in it. I like to believe it too.
Anyway, lunch was magical.
Then we drove to the second and last temple of the day, Wat Prai Pattana. You can walk around the temple and ring the bells. Thai people believe that ringing a bell gives you power, so just in case, I rang all of them.
This temple is also a place where you can see and pay your respects to Luang Phu Suang mummified body. Luang Phu Suang, also know as the 500 years old monk, reached a high level of mediation where he could separate his soul from his body. People say you could see him at different places and never know where his body actually was. Luang Phu Suang loved roosters so the temple is surrounded by roosters of all sizes (statues and living roosters too!).
We ended the visit with a tradition that I found very beautiful. You can make a donation (or not) of the price that you choose and then you get a few pieces of paper that contain a single gold leaf. With those leaves, you can pray for yourself or for others as you gently apply the leaf on a ball. If you have a pain somewhere in your body, you can also apply a gold leaf on Buddha's statue at the same spot where you feel pain. How beautiful it that ?