Wat Pha Sorn Kaew: Phetchabun's Temple on a Glass Cliff
This blog rotates to Phetchabun this time, and to the temple that stops traffic on Highway 12. Wat Pha Sorn Kaew — "the temple on a glass cliff" — sits on an 830-metre peak near Khaem Son in Khao Kho district, and it is two wonders in one: a pagoda cloaked in more than five million colourful mosaic tiles and pottery shards, and, across the road, five giant white Buddhas seated one inside the silhouette of the next, visible from kilometres away. A Young Temple With an Old Soul's Ambition Unlike most sights on this blog, Wat Pha Sorn Kaew is new — founded in 2004 as a meditation retreat, chosen for the beauty and quiet of the Khao Kho mountains. The builders decorated the main pagoda and surrounding buildings with mosaic upon mosaic: broken pottery, tiles, beads and glass worked into swirling patterns that reward a very slow walk. Look closely and whole teapots and bowls appear inside the designs. The exterior, gardens and adjoining buildings are open to visitors; parts o...