Stacking Sticks and Balancing Stones

On the same day we went to Wat Chedi Chai Mongkon, we also stopped at a smaller Wat before heading back to Buakhao. This Wat was far more modest in comparison to most Wats, let alone Chedi Chai Mongkon. Still, this was one of my favorite places in Isaan because of its superstitions.

Though still called a "Wat" this particular place was, for reasons unknown to me, more of a holy place around which some holy buildings were constructed. I recognised to purpose for any of the buildings and saw no monks walking around, but we weren't there for the main grounds, but for the spiritual hike up the mountain. When we got out of the car, we were met by a gang of kids sprinting over to us. They immediately tried to sell us food to feed the fish in the pond but when we politely declined, the three boys and one girl, tagged along with us for the rest of our stay. They lead us back through the Wat to the mountain behind and lead us up to a pathway of stairs leading up. Starting slowly, we hiked up the trail walking on stairs about every 10 meters or so. We could never see more than around the bend and thus never knew how much farther we had to go.

Early in our hike we saw a small, weathered shrine with stacks of carefully balanced rocks all around it. Curious of the meaning I asked our young tour guides. They explained that whoever collected rocks and then balanced them, one ontop of the other, was destined to a long life. The stack of rocks in the right foreground of this picture is my stack which is hopefully still standing at this very moment.

After balancing the stones, we went back to our hike and began to really sweat. The hike went on and on. Around each bend we hoped to see the top, but instead were faced with more and more stairs. It was 400 meters up, which in reality isn't so bad, but we were all dressed up for the Wat, in long pants and long sleeves, sweating like pigs. It was evident we weren't the only ones struggling to make the hike to the top though, another superstition of stacking sticks was created to give strength to those making the hike.

Around every turn, where there were large boulders, hundreds of sticks had been placed to "support" the rock. As the children explained, by placing a stick to support the rock, it was giving you good luck on your hike and giving your legs strength and "support" to make it to the top.

At the top of the hike was a huge rock ledge and under the shelf sat three Buddhas decorated in flower bouquets and orange robes. The rock face, like the boulders on the hike up, were also supported by large and small sticks each placed intentionally to look as though it was actually holding the rock in place.

In the raining season off the top of the ledge is a small waterfall that would have been just what we needed to cool us down. But now, in the cool season, the waterfall is dried up and we were forced to make the hike back down before we were able to cool off.