The Temple of Golden Buddha

A splendid architectural construction is located in a place called Chalong. The statue 45 m high is towering above the mountain from where opens a wonderful view at all Phuket.

At the feet of the statue there is a little monastery where local monks minister.

Put a coin in each pot to become happy.

Wat Phra Thong temple is the second main temple of Phuket. It is in the north of the island. So it called after the magical statue named "Phra Thong" and it means "Golden Buddha". It is the most visited temple of Phuket. The temple has a magical statue of Buddha made of a solid gold bar and covered with a thick layer of clay and plaster. Sitting Buddha is buried in the ground to his chest. 

The say that during the Burmese invasion the head of Buddha was hidden under the specially made huge head that is still kept in the temple. Besides, the statue is considered to be of pure gold, however, probably it's mostly of cement, brick and gypsum and only covered with a layer of gold.

Soon after Phuket was liberated from the Burmese, in Thalang there appeared a wandering monk. When he saw a statue of Buddha he felt that he couldn't walk. So he created a temple that protected the statue from all sides. When he was dying he asked a riddle to his successors - some kind of a poem containing three paradoxes about Gods hierarchy and the head of Golden Buddha. The monk entrusted that only the one who would unravel it would be father superior of the temple. Since that time 13 monks were successfully becoming abbots of the temple. After them there was a period when nobody could unravel the riddle, such monks always ended in grief - went mad or were expelled from the monastery. And only in 1897 a foreign monk aged 23 could copy with the riddle and become an abbot of the monastery. His name was Luang Por Phra Kuvittatan, he served in the temple more than 64 years. 

via skaznov