Family Day Trip to Heaven....and HELL!!!

This weekend on the way to the family farm we took a short detour to stop by a Wat. I had pretty low expectations for this side trip. Most Wat visits consist of looking at some art while possibly picking up a blessing and an amulet. At the least these visits generate some lucky numbers sure to improve our odds in the semimonthly lottery.

The day started so normal. Long car rides, eating excessive amounts of food, and posing for pictures

The rotting carcass of a dog wedged into the base of a giant concrete tree should have been my first indication this Wat trip was going to be different. The grounds were dotted with giant sculptures. The more frightening sculptures, depicting scary spirits and people in the midst of torture, were centered around a giant mouth that we soon found out would lead us to hell.

See the video of this spirit in action here! Word of warning its really loud!

This poor soul is being eaten alive. I would soon find out it is a very popular form of torture in HELL.

Hell was a lot like the movies: Troll 2, Goulies, and Puppet Master.

With cousins, nephews and older aunts in tow we made our way down a short flight of stairs into a basement maze of gruesome murals and horrific displays showcasing the tortures awaiting those whom break Buddhist taboos.

The Sin of Contemplated Killing

Paintings of monsters and demons so abstract the mental scaring was instantaneous.

There were also automatons that would come to life once five baht was inserted. With loud sound effects and crazy echo chamber enhanced speaking these hurky jerky creatures would begin to feast and maim unfortunate souls. It was not uncommon for screaming children to be seen running out of the exhibit. I gotta say I totally loved it!

Yes those are naked ladies growing from that tree like fruit.

We barely escaped with our lives!

I'll just let the photos speak for themselves! Check out the full photo set on flickr. But consider yourself warned most of these pics are probably NSFW. Unless of course you work at that abandoned amusement park where they filmed Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.

...who does good is happy in this...

After leaving Hell we then proceeded to visit Heaven. Unlike the ease with which you could walk into Hell, Heaven was much more of a navigational challenge. Climbing steep and narrow staircases we ascended through the many levels of enlightenment. On each level you could ring bells and beat gongs. It was quite serene almost dull working our way through the kingdom of Heaven.

One of the many levels in Heaven.

Stairways in Heaven. Most were steeper and more cramped.

The animals are much happier in Heaven.

Oh Heaven is a place on Earth.