Marble Mountain Temple

March 25 2006


I only ended up at this Temple by fluke, but it turned out to be the most powerful experience I had in Asia. My driver and guide; Bonsoon; led me up the winding steps carved into Marble mountain.

We finally arrived at a junction that led to three temples carved out of the rock.
Each cave Temple contained a Quan Eem statue. Pictures don't show you the atmosphere of the place. It had such a peace about it and I felt very much at home. I kept getting a sense of deja vu. It was as if there was something here I was supposed to remember.
This second of the three Temple altars reminded me of my favorite piece of furniture from my childhood home in Ontario. We have a carved 'Chinese Chest' that I always felt an affinity to. This chest reminds me very much of it.
She is like a silent entry to the gate of some fantastic world. It's not so much the look of her as the feeling emanating from this location.
This is an alcove near the entrance of the largest Cave Temple. I don't see any mist when I look at this statue. It just shows up when I try to take a photo of it.
This is the gateway to the main Temple which is a large Cave in the heart of the Mountain. You can see the small statue of Quan Eem over the archway.
And now we are inside the large Cave Temple itself. This statue of the lady Buddha, Quan Eem, is to the left of the doorway as I enter. It's life-size. The Cave itself is about thirty feet to the ceiling and looks like the inside of a Geode, with rough craggy rock making up the walls of this Temple Fortress.
As I stand here facing the main altar, I feel energy pouring through me and around me. I just stand in the centre of the cave and bathe in this incredible soothing energy that fills my heart with a powerful sense of well being and love for all things. I take several photos but each time, my camera is unable to convey what I see. Each photo is obstructed by this fine mist.
And here is another attempt to take a picture of the Central Quan Eem figure. It's not that she is so lovely to see with the eyes. In fact the Temple is quite ordinary in many ways. The power of this place must be felt. It can not be viewed with the eyes. As I'm standing here I suddenly realize that last year I had a similar experience with another Temple in another country, related to Quan Eem. In that cave, in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, I took a misty photo that later revealed a mysterious figure on the wall of the cave. I don't know what this all means. I just know it's important for me somehow.

Here is that story from last year
I finally point my camera straight up and take another photograph. This is a hole in the roof of the cave. Bonsoon tells me that this Temple was bombed during the 'American War' but even though it had a direct hit with a bomb from a B-52, the Temple miraculously survived intact. Only this hole remains.
My guide keeps urging me to come along so that we could see a Museum nearby, but I just smile and tell him our sightseeing is already complete. I squat down in the centre of the Cave for a long pause to just listen to the powerful Sound Current all around me, and enjoy the beauty of this moment.
We finally descend this magical staircase to the town below and I walk slowly along the street looking at the marble sculptures as if walking in a dream. If this was to be the only experience I have in this Magical Country, it would be well worth the long journey from Canada and back again.

Mystic Cave

Vang Vieng, Laos, 2005

Nee and I decided to look at one more cave that day, and I am very glad we did.

We climbed a huge stone stairway to the entrance to this; the biggest Cave in the area.

The view from the top is spectacular.

The cave itself is filled with stalactite formations and has an enchanted feeling to it. This is my partner in crime, Nee, who joined me for the day. Nee is a 26 year old University student from Bangkok. She decided, on a whim, to take a trip through Laos for a week.

I would describe this cave as a stone castle, or a monastery in rock. The feeling was like a Temple and it felt alive to me.

As we arrived at the cave, we met a couple from Ottawa Ontario, Canada; Rob and Julie. As Rob was walking around I suddenly saw something amazing and had him stop so I could snap this picture. I had the same feeling of vibrant energy here and I spent some minutes just listening to the powerful sound current; a tinkling of bells and the sound of high tension electricity that was very soothing to my consciousness.

Even the walk down was breathtaking.

Vang Vieng: Blair Cave Project

Vang Vieng, Laos, 2005

My crew has been brought together to explore the strange stories that have been circulating about a cave here in Vang Vieng.
We have decided to call this expedition the 'Blair Cave Project'.

8am: My friends, Nee from Thailand and Josh from San Fransisco have agreed to come with me and try to get to the heart of
these strange tales of mysterious rock formations, bizarre lights and disappearances.

8:45 We approach the Cave by bicycle and it seems we are drawn by a magnetic force that wants us there.

9:00am We have our first look at the entrance to the cave.

Even the dogs here seem to know something is wrong. Or perhaps it's just my imagination.

9:10 Our guide shows us a wide circle of grass that has been flattened. I ask him what did it but he only repeats one word
over and over again: "chang...Chang...chang..."

9:23am We finally reach the mouth of the cave where we are met with a sign that seems strangely familiar from childhood.
Why yes, The Wizard of Oz and the haunted forest with the sign that says:"I'd turn back if I were you."

9:24am Our guide sees these rocks piled in this strange formation and runs away screaming. What could be the matter? We go
in...

9:32am We have been walking for several minutes further and further towards what, we do not know. Suddenly, Nee sees it; a
huge spider on the wall. We look around and see they are crawling everywhere.

Then I turn around and there is Josh surrounded by strange writing on the cave walls all around him.

I turn back to see that Nee is screaming. She is looking at Josh but is unable to calm down enough to tell me what she
sees.

I look back and see a strange light around Josh's head.

Then I see it too... It's... It's... I can't talk about it. We feel the spiders everywhere and we run as fast as we can out
of the cave.

10:13am Nee is now laughing as only a Thai can. And I am left horrified by what I have seen. We call to Josh but he never
shows up...

Krabi:My First View

April 9, 10, 2005
I took a boat from Ko Phi-Phi to the next Island in this chain; Krabi.

Krabi was on the fringes of the Tsunami so it sustained very little damage. I had heard so much about Krabi, I decided to check it out.

This is my first view of the Island as I arrived.

I thought these trees had been flooded but it turned out they are Mangrove trees and do fine in the ocean water.
I hitched a ride from Krabi town to Oa Nan Beach, which is a half hour away.

I arrived just before sunset, so I just sat on a rocky retaining wall and watched. I also went for a swim but I actually couldn't stay in the water very long because it was so hot. This was the warmest Ocean I encountered in Thailand.

After my swim a had some lunch.

As I was eating I heard a clatter and rushed over to see this waitress had dropped all her cutlery. She and I both started laughing and I took this picture.

This gives you some idea of what the Beach town looks like. Krabi is a combination of Ocean with outcroppings of Rock everywhere.
A traveller I talked to on the way here said that he found Krabi Town to be a disappointment but that the key was to go on the tours. I went for a massage to think things over and then I talked to the owners, Brian and Cena.

They suggested a river tour so I booked a Kayak trip through the caves and Mangrove forests around Ao Nan Beach.

I turned out to be the only person for this expedition so I ended up getting 3 guides to take me around for just 900 baht. They looked nervous when they told me that I was the only one going but I was delighted. So they cranked up the Thai music in the Pickup truck and off we went.

We arrived at a small village where I had a cup of coffee and met the locals.

Then my river guide took me out to four ancient Caves.

This is my guide; Mann. His English is pretty good. As we travelled we talked about one of the most mysterious subjects that exists; Women. Mann said he had a girlfriend but that she didn't stick around because he was always away doing these tours.

Oh yeah, these are some prehistoric shells encased in limestone... Anyway, he asked me what I thought about the women of Thailand. I said: "They are beautiful."

Huge stalactite formed over thousands of years. He asked:"How do Thailand women compare to Farangs?" I told him that from the little experience I had, the difference seemed to be that Thai women are much more grounded and relaxed in their culture. North American women are forced to compete much more in the work place and still try to be feminine.

These are the Mangrove trees. They grow in salt water and were used until recently when they were declared a protected species. So then Mann asked why so many ugly men seemed to have such beautiful wives (I hoped he wasn't referring to me). I said that I had found that women seem to want two things above all else: 1)A man who can make them laugh, and 2)A man who can make them feel good about herself. Mann thought that was pretty good information. I said: "You pay me 500 baht for woman advice." He laughed and said: "Okay, then you find way back alone..."

Here are a couple of Japanese tourists who were heading into the 'Tunnel Cave' that we had just come from.

This tour took about three hours. Then I had a Thai lunch and my two travel buddies took me to the Krabi Botanical Park for a swim.

This waterfall drops into a very deep pond where a couple of us had a great swim. I stood under the falls to the left and just enjoyed the peace of my surroundings.

I asked my drivers if they could take me to a Temple in the area. This reclining Buddha was built into the rock of one of the huge stone outcrops in this village.