Lablae Cave

In a quiet, deserted corner of  Phra Nakhon Pathom, I found a very strange rock topped with a small stupa. A sign by a little door invited me to "pay homage to the Thousand-Years Buddha, the Happy Monk, and the Four-Face Brahma". Intrigued, I ducked through the tiny door and entered the Lablae Cave Shrine.

I climbed down into a dark, narrow cave tunnel, occasionally having to duck. As I moved along, I passed more signs telling me "come in please", "our officer is inside to assist you", and the ominous "down deeper".

The tunnel into the rock was actually pretty short, and appeared to be manmade. Shortly I arrived at a small chamber with a sign instructing me to "remove footwear". Inside, by a small shrine sat the "officer", an elderly saffron-robed monk. I would like to imagine him being a cave hermit, although his little wireless radio playing the World Cup tried to ruin that illusion for me.

He sprinkled me with some holy water in a quick blessing as I walked past, then returned to whatever he had been doing. I ventured further to a niche holding what I understand to be the Thousand-Year Buddha.

The next chamber held the Four-Faced Brahma. He sits, covered in gold, looking out in all directions.

Finally, I came to the Happy Monk. Also known as the "Laughing Buddha", the Happy Monk is generally the Western image of Buddha. This isn't quite right though. It's not Siddharta Gautama (The Buddha), but a famous monk who is said to have achieved enlightenment.

There were a few entrances and exits from the cave, but they just opened back up to the main temple area. To be honest, the tunnel was actually very short and only took a few minutes to walk through. On my way back up I passed the Thousand-Year Buddha again, and was intrigued by the clear Chinese influence.

That's not uncommon in Thailand. On my way out of Phra Nakhon Pathom, I noticed another Chinese-style statue. A large percentage of the urban Thais living in and around Bangkok have some Chinese ancestry, and some of that culture is carried on in the religion.