Much like our Tuesday morning, we set off from our hotel early today for a ~4 hour drive to a very unique place in Thailand. We visited Wat Phrabat Nampu, a Buddhist temple that functions as a hospice/ living grounds for those affected with HIV/AIDS. Temple is a bit misleading as the grounds of this area spread to a number of facilities, including a mountainside temple. The first area we visited was the room dedicated to those who had succumbed to the HIV/AIDS. There were several mummified remains in the room including bags of ashes of those who were cremated. The ashes are typically sent to the patients family, but more often than not those remains are sent back.
Bags of ashes fill the space behind the Buddha in this room.
Founded in 1992, this temple has seen over 10,000 deaths. During the mid 90's with the absence of universal ARV therapy, between 10-20 patients were cremated per day. Now, that number is down to only one every month or two.
Outside the room stands an art display made using bone resin from those patients who died here.
We managed to find a new friend monkeying around on our climb up to the temple.
Several magnificent temples awaited us after a 100+ stair climb.
Truly a unique and moving experience here on such hallowed grounds.
Goodnight (morning to the west!),
Peter
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