Thanlyin & Kyauktan: 100-Nats Temple

We made a brief stop at the Hundred Nats (spirits) Temple. I am not too fond of nats as I found myself a little spooked when I read stories about them. I also find their statues creepy. Perhaps, it's because I never considered them as celestial being but rather creatures of the unknown which amplifies the fear in me. Min-U was delighted to bring us here as he urged for us to go in when we stood at the entrance, looking clueless. R and I kept throwing blank faces at each other. As usual, when I am chickened, I stayed close beside R. Hehehe.

We entered the building, which to our surprise is actually someone's home! I felt as though we were imposing on the residents. How untimely we arrived as they were in the middle of having lunch and was soon clearing away the dishes. Feeling extremely awkward, I grabbed my camera to take pictures of whatever to hide the feeling. A monk came and guide us to the side of the building where several nat statues stood.

What really held my interest about this place is the Goddess of Mercy statue, which also made it all so Chinese. Is she considered a nat? I've not seen statues of her in all the temples I've visited and here she is in a nat temple. Perhaps, she's not considered a nat but a deity worshipped by the people of this temple? And, there were joss sticks offered to her while joss stick offerings have not been found in any of the other temples, neither to the nat statues.

We didn't venture too deep into the woods behind the building for two obvious reasons. :p

Children being picked up by family members after school hours


Snake nats statue near the entrance


Statue of a nat on an elephant


Goddess of Mercy statue


Close-up of the Goddess of Mercy statue


Pouring contents out of a vase


Phoenix statue


Dragon statue with its mouth open to catch the contents from the vase


More statues


A pretty tiled painting of horses and mountains


Lake


A lady carrying a tray of sliced watermelons on her head


Walls made of wooden poles tied together and other poles on sale


People waiting


A group of nuns walking along the street