While in Dalat, I had the fortune of being able to experience another very interesting place. I had discovered it at the last minute, and decided to spend my afternoon there (after eating a very delicious hamburger from Gourmet Burger), since I couldn’t check in to the Crazy House until late afternoon (and since I knew the place would be bogged down with tourists until the evening.

Linh Phuoc Pagoda is located outside Dalat in a town called Trai Mat. I was worried about the taxi drive, since the meters in Vietnam appear to run so fast. However, the driver was willing to wait for me for one hour at no charge, and so I was very happy about that, since this part of Dalat didn’t have so many taxis. The drive from the city up the mountain was very pleasing, as you could see some great views of the countryside. The countryside appears to be covered with what I believe are cabbage farms: you can see the canopies keeping the crops from the harsh sunlight everywhere.

This temple is much more unique than other Buddhist temples that I’ve seen. Most temples resemble each other, having the same architectural features, colors and decor. But this one is quite different, with the entrance almost resembling a dark ride you might find in an amusement park.

Ironically enough, the first part of the temple which I perused seemed identical to a walk-through amusement park attraction. As I walked around to the back of the temple, I discovered a staircase leading underground. Though the staircase was not very hard to find, it seemed almost like a part of the temple that I wasn’t supposed to go: at first sight it appeared just like an entrance to a basement that might be used only for storage purposes. The kind of place that is typically off-limits to tourists.

Being the typical “curious cat” that I am, I walked down the steps and discovered what appeared to be a furniture shop of some sort. There were many tables and chairs that were long, appearing to be made out of petrified wood. There were also geodes and sculptures made of Jade [maybe these are even real animal tusks? I’m not certain]. Within the shop, there was also a nook which contained display cases, carrying much smaller (yet still expensive) items.

Near the back of the shop there were two giant minotaur-like statues with big smiles on their faces. At first glance I thought it was just a decoration, but upon closer observation, I saw that there was a door that people were actually entering. I didn’t notice the poster behind the yellow minotaur explaining what this attraction was. But even if I did, the fact that I can’t read any Vietnamese would still stir up my curiosity.

The people I saw entering the “lair” were taking their shoes off. I decided to do the same thing, knowing that most temples throughout Southeast Asia require you to do so. As you enter, you go down even more steps, into what appears to be some kind of dungeon.

Within the dark dungeon are many morbid scenes representing torture and despair. Composed of a lot of detail, I felt it was quite random to see a walkthrough amusement-park style attraction such as this one at a buddhist temple. But I have seen other attractions similar to this one in books, and particularly at Suoi Tien Cultural Theme Park in Ho Chi Minh City.

After spending curious amounts of time in the mysterious under-lair, the next part of the temple I decided to discover was the bell-tower. You can find similar towers at many buddhist temples throughout Southeast Asia. Although the shape and level of floors seemed quite similar to the other towers, something strikingly different was the outer decor, which was much more colorful and vibrant than other temple towers I’ve seen.

As I started to walk up the steps, one of the most interesting things I noticed was that the walls contained very detailed mosaics that appeared to be hand-made, all very bright and colorful. Upon searching the internet, I found that these mosaics were all made from broken glass, porcelain, teracotta, and beer bottles. These mosaics can be found just about everywhere in and among the temple, making it a very amazing place to see. Even many of the building’s exterior facades appear to be made from the broken materials!

From the top of the bell-tower, nice views can be seen of the other parts of the temple, including the pagoda itself, and the statue of the 17-meter high Bodhisattva, which is evidently made from around 650,000 “bat tu” (Xerochrysum bracteatum) flowers. This buddha statue, which must be re-made every two years, is famous throughout Vietnam for setting a record for the “world’s biggest Buddha statue” by the World Records Union (Worldkings). The building upon which the buddha statue sits, with its tiered balconies, reminds me for some reason of an elaborately decorated bookshelf. The “bookshelf” contains multiple statues of “Guan Yin”, who is the Goddess of Compassion.

Overall, my experience at Linh Phuoc Pagoda was a very good one. I was happy that I had the opportunity to see this very colorful and elaborately decorated temple as a part of my side-trip to Dalat. The only unfortunate news I just found out as I’m writing this is that there is a tourist train that goes from Dalat station directly to the town of Trai Mat that I didn’t know about. As I am a train lover, I am a little disappointed that I missed this.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook

