The Beholder's Eye 3

Bai Dinh

The next day I cycled out to the incredibly huge and artistically magnificent Bai Dinh temple complex, about 20 clicks or so from Tam Cốc.

The temple complex is now the largest temple complex in the whole of Southeast Asia, and that's really saying something, because there's a lot of huge ones about.

I'd actually never heard of it before, but, you know, that's not too surprising, given that the bulk of the temple complex was built in the 2000s. And I've never been to the Tam Cốc region before anyway.

Bánh mì brekky stop. Well, late second brekky stop. My homestay fam were giving me brekky every morn. It actually motivated me to get up earlier, so they didn't have to wait around for me.

The woman from the bánh mì stall kept giving me things, as people graciously seem to do regularly. This time it was peeled forest tubers, they were crunchy and, surprisingly, quite sweet. I could eat a tonne of them. Then she gave me a grapefruit.

People are just so nice.

The original, ancient part of the Bai Dinh complex was actually founded in 1136 by a Buddhist master called Nguyen Min Khong, who went to the area to collect medicinal plants for curing diseases. He was so enamoured with the place that he established temples in the caves, and also set up large medicinal gardens to support the local community's health needs.

Nice guy.

Beautiful views from close to one of the entrances.

Gateway to the newer part of the complex

The scale of everything is so huge, and difficult to represent in pics. These carved wooden statues were absolutely massive, a huge feat of artistic and engineering prowess.

This is an arhat corridor. An arhat is someone who has properly understood the true nature of existence and has reached nirvana. They're enlightened beings, but they're not quite as cosmically wise as a buddha. Yet.

This is the longest arhat corridor in the whole of Asia. It's actually 1.7km long (yep), and contains 500 arhat statues, all made of monolithic green stone, carved by artisans from two local stone craft villages. Each statue is an average of 2.5m tall, and each weighs between 2 and 4 tonnes. What a logistical feat to build such a thing.

All 500 of these have different postures, bodies, faces, scenes - each completely unique and beautiful. The scale is completely off the scale.

A bell tower, containing the largest cast bell in Vietnam. It's rung by bashing a 30cm wide and 5m long tree trunk against it. What a clanger. Actually, the tree trunk is wrapped in material to soften the rupturing of the eardrums.

The 36 tonne bell, hanging by a seriously fat chain.

And below the bell is this 70 tonne bronze cast drum. It must be such a hassle getting it to gigs.

The views from the tower were truly bellissimo.

A magnificent 10m high statue of Avalokitesvara, who has 1000 eyes and 1000 hands. Her hand-eye coordination must be stellar.

She/he/it, whatever they is, completely bedazzled me. This whole place is a complete artistic marvel.

A Kuan Yin of my heart and soul, carved from a single magnificent tree. Tall and slim, like looking in a mirror. I could kiss her without having to bend over, a luxury I've had little of in my life.

I hope that's not blasphematory. May the Goddesses be my judges.

There were countless temples, halls, pavilions, and random buildings like this, all featuring beautiful traditional Vietnamese architecture.

State-sponsored vandalism

You can't see how tall these warriors are. They're seriously tall, carved meticulously from hardwood.

Another masterpiece, ho hum.

More Buddhas than you can poke a rolled up meditation mat at.

Each of them unique and beautiful. Of course. Nothing but the best around this place.

Burly turtle. This guy's been around for awhile.

Looking at somewhere from somewhere

There were a few little cafés in one part, to stop people starving to death or dying of thirst, as the complex is so bloody huge. At one spot someone was making traditional rice sweets.