A modern Buddhist temple on the north-eastern shore of Koh Samui, Wat Plai Laem blends Chinese and Thai traditions in vivid style. Visitors are welcomed by a striking white eighteen-armed statue of Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy and Compassion, set within a colourful and richly symbolic complex built around an artificial lake and reached by causeways that carry the eye from one figure to the next. A vast seated Budai, the laughing Buddha of Chinese devotion, presides over the opposite bank, while the ordination hall is covered with painted scenes drawn from the life and teachings of the Buddha. The film reads the site as a contemporary expression of a long-standing Sino-Thai religious dialogue.
