A new sermon hall is being build at Wat Plai Laem

A new sermon hall is being build at Wat Plai Laem

The start of the Wat Plai laem Temple Fair saw also the start of the construction for a new sermon hall at the Temple grounds.

One of the structural pillars to carry the weight of the building, covered in good luck 'charms'

There were a couple of ceremonies over the last days, involving blessing of the building site and erecting two iron pillars that will be part of the construction. The latter can be seen above. This iron 'pillar' was wrapped with big colorful laces for good luck, put up there by local Temple visitors. Mysteriously after the pillar was erected, the laces were gone by that time, one of these laces ended up at our house. Grandfathers gift to us for good luck!

A sign describing what is going to be build and how it will look like when completed

I will try to drop by a few times and see how construction develops. Don't expect an update until late March, when I'm back from a trip to Indonesia and the Philippines. I wouldn't expect the construction be finished by than anyway and it may be a good moment to do a check up.

In the middle of the building site was this hole in the ground with a concrete wall around it, in which plenty of good luck gifts and money were deposited

The same hole in the ground a few days later, with the hole filled up with sand and on top a tile with inscription for good luck. All around the tile are money coins in the sand

The construction site, the pillar is now erected

The temple is doing well and seems to be financially healthy. During the Temple fair there are plenty of, mainly local, people that write their names on tiles and building stones with good luck wishes. These tiles and bricks will be used to build the sermon hall but if you write your name on a brick or tile, you're supposed to make a financial contribution. These contributions are in turn used to buy more building materials. A system in use at temples all over the country!

Camille