Wats Should be Seen and Not Heard

I was awoken at 0549. The floor was vibrating with the beat, there was some serious power in this musical setup. And it was not yet daybreak.

Ever keen to document I used my camera to record this audio/dark video at 0551 in the morning.

</p> <div class="contentImage fright"> <img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5030/5583637386_42e5c8eab8_m.jpg" mce_src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5030/5583637386_42e5c8eab8_m.jpg"/></div> <p> This shot shows the scale of the speakers</p> <p> Mentally I had a vision of a monk with a pile of CDs ready to play. I was rehearsing my Thai for the ensuing argument only to find an almost empty wat. I saw 2 monks sweeping in the distance and rolling out rugs, they did not seem the cause of the music and it would have been wrong to argue with them. They were obviously oblivious to the noise that was all but torturing my brain.</p> <p> Daylight eventually broke at around 0607. The music did not however.</p> <p> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OJ0I2bFmkqg" mce_src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OJ0I2bFmkqg" title="YouTube video player" width="480"/></p> <p> The next option I considered was flicking the off switch. Again the monks had apparently thought of this, as there were thick electrical cables heading into the wat and no obvious power switch to flick just to drop a wee hint. There was no accessible off switch :(</p> <p> The final option was to unwire some or all of the rack of speakers. However given the amount of energy flowing through the speakers to make them distort, I wasn't sure if I'd electrocute myself.</p> <p> A homeless gentleman too was startled by the noise, and both us ended up behind the wat to block some of the noise. I took some photographs of the monks being given alms in the morning, and then headed back to the room.</p> <p><br /></p> <div class="contentImage"> <img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5308/5583050625_7fd8328c31.jpg" mce_src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5308/5583050625_7fd8328c31.jpg"/><div class="caption"> Not even been homeless could help u sleep through this</div> </div> <p> Back at the resort the music was still loud, I had long given up hope of sleep. I saw one startled fellow tourist on the bridge near the wat staring in disbelief.</p> <p> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3j-tDJ2iHfU" mce_src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3j-tDJ2iHfU" title="YouTube video player" width="480"/></p> <p> All hope of sleep had gone, and I was not alone judging by the puzzled looks of other tourists in the area. By 0730 the music was still blaring, and indeed was so until around 0830 when recorded chanting came on</p> <p> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ar6FfCQF8Mk" mce_src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ar6FfCQF8Mk" title="YouTube video player" width="480"/></p> <p> I walked back to the wat envisaging some photographs of a large number of monks chanting, but again the wat was almost deserted. The chanting appeared to be a tape recording.</p> <p> Drinking coffee on the deck, a family offered to sell us ice cream. I'd recommened they sell earplugs instead, as there were most definitely some buyers in the vicinity...</p>

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Wats Should be Seen and Not Heard