Big Buddha

There is one temple on Ko Samui that almost every traveller to the island pays a visit to: the Big Buddha Temple (or Wat Phra Yai, the official name; it is also known under the name of Hin Ngu Temple). The giant (12 meter tall) golden Buddha statue of this temple is a major landmark of Samui and is one of the first things that you can discern if you arrive via plane on the island. At this monumental landmark on the north coast of Samui you'll find elements of Buddhism, Brahminism and animism in the design, ornamentation and ritual connected with this popular shrine and meditation centre. Large Nagas (serpents from Buddhist mythology) with elaborate and really terrifying claws flank the staircase. Besides the big statue, the temple offers a shrine with a Buddha Maitreya (the Buddha of the Future), very fat and happy-looking. A decorated Viharn is currently under construction, but not yet finished. If you are coming from Chiang Mai or Bangkok and expect to see breathtaking masterpieces of temple architecture in Ko Samui, you are going to be disappointed, but the island`s modest monasteries definitely have a special charm of their own. The gaudy bazaar within the temple grounds offers souvenirs both secular and religious, everything from T-shirts and hats to protective amulets. Spiritual concerns and everyday life tend to overlap in Buddhist centres more than they do in some other religions.
A lot of tourists come to this temple - and the monks soon realized that these foreign visitors might be a good source of donations. Their current project is a new shrine hall, and for the future they plan to renew the gold paint of the Buddha statue (there is already a big billboard that states how many cans of paint will be needed - and how much money that will cost!). There is an astonishing array of donations boxes and "donation machines" that are sometimes funny or touching to see: machines where you insert a coin the machine gives you a horoscope (the more you donate, the better your prospects!).