Wat Phra Yai + Wang Sam Sien, Pattaya, Thailand

I mentioned in my 2 articles "Sawasdee Pattaya" and "The Russians are Coming! The Red Shirts are Coming!" that Pattaya started life as a red-light district but have grown into a decent size Thai city with everything that a typical Thai city would have, including the ubiquitous Thai wats (Thailand is the Land of the Temple. No, "Thai" ≠ "Temple"). 

There's Wat Chai Mongkol locates about 150m from the Walking Street on South Pattaya Road, but this is a local wat for Thai worshippers. We visited a more touristy temple Wat Phra (Khao) Yai because of the location. During religious ceremonies, you will see more locals, who come to worship. Other times, tourists far outnumber locals.

While this wasn't the most impressive wat in Thailand, but it does sit atop Pratamak Hill with nice aerial view of the Pattaya city and the sea.  The gilded Big Buddha sits (in lotus posture) at the peak of the hill. This Buddha is the biggest in this province of Chonburi.

Staircase leading towards the Big Buddha franked by a pair of dragons running down the handrails

From the mouths of the dragons out comes a pair of 7 headed nagas (serpents) This buddha statue is modelled after the artistic style of the Sukhothai period, which the Buddha is depicted with a grin instead of a faint smile

Buddha statue at Wat Si Chum in  Sukhothai province It's no Mona Lisa's smile

Figurines of deified King Rama V (aka the Great) Chulalongkorn offered by Thai worshippers
The cult of personality that led him to be worshipped as divine figure, which is enjoyed
by no other Thai kings. His reign was the longest (42 years, hence Great)

Various food, flower and figurines of Thai dancers, elephants as offering to spirits

As we climbed the hill to reach to the top to Wat Phra Yai, we unexpectedly greeted by a Chinese "cultural park" half way up the hill opposite Wat Phra Yai. This is the Wang Sam Sien (王三仙 = "Wang Three Immortals"). This park houses various Chinese religious iconography, cultural and historical statues. It's like a surprise free Chinese gift (yes, the admission was free during my visit).

Entrance to Wang Sam Sien

Left side-kick Longnu (龍女 Dragon Girl)

Guanyin is franked by 2 kids or acolytes. Everyone needs companies, even if they're kids.

Right side-kick Red Boy (紅孩兒)

Diorama from a scene in a popular Chinese classic Journey to the West
From left to right: Monkey, Tripitaka (Trippy), Pigsy and Sandy.
Sorry, White Dragon. That's the Horse. He, too, is Tripitaka's disciple. One tends to overlook
him because he looks like a normal horse, normally.

Panel showing Dragon and Phoenix: auspicious couple symbols,
generally seen in traditional Chinese wedding (groom = dragon, and bride = phoenix)

Diorama showing a scene from another Chinese classic: Romance of the 3 Kingdoms.
From left to right: Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei

There's another place - also free admission - that you can get an aerial view of Pattaya city. Central Festival is the largest shopping mall in Pattaya, go to the top level and the balcony of the seaside to get a nice view.

Following are views seen from the balcony of this shopping mall.

The Pattaya Beach is on the left of the photo, followed by the Walking Street, which 

ends around the Bali Hai Pier in the middle of the photo 

(the green roofed traditional Thai building)

(click to enlarge)

Jet Skiing fun