Our Buddhist Home in Thailand

Here I am at the entrance to Wat Dune, along with elephants and a sacred cow.

After a busy few weeks in Thailand researching recipes for Kallayanee's Kitchen, we are taking it easy in Wat Dune, a temple in Northern Thailand.

It's a wonderful place, a great way to refresh our minds and spirits. And to consider how we will live better lives when we return to Canada at the end of February.

The temple is located near Khon Kaen, one of Thailand's larger cities. It is also close to my mother's village of Ban Muldoon, which is about 20 minutes from the temple .

The temple includes about 400 acres of land nestled beneath a range of hills behind it. In the center of the temple grounds is a large, calm lake, 

Buddhist chanting celebrates every morning in this great hall.

Shown above is the temple assembly Hall, where we go every morning to listen to the monks blessing in the morning. It is also a place where locals meet their friends and families and to share food they bring to the temple with everyone, including the monks.

This spectacular temple is a highlight of the main temple grounds.

Within the main Temple is a beautiful memorial Temple dedicated to Ajan Pan. For many years, this Temple remained closed but last year, at last, it was opened again for renovation and decoration. Young artists are painting the interior of the Temple with all sorts of different images of monks and Buddhist gods and goddesses.

A Brief History of the Temple

Ajan Pan, founder of the temple.

Shown in the poster is the late Ajan Nung, a very dear friend and successor to Ajan Pan.

Shown above is monk Ajan Pan, who opened the temple in 1950 and developed it gradually over the passing years with a number of smaller houses for visitor stays and celebratory statues and ornaments scattered about the property. 

 Ajan Pan died in 1982 and was replaced by Ajan Nung, who died in 2023. I am shown with a poster dedicated to him after his death. We knew him very well after spending a wonderful vacation with him for about 8 weeks in 2019. We miss him dearly and remember his kindness and loving generosity with great fondness. 
 

The temple is now managed by Ajan Prasart, who has major new plans for the temple and hopes to bring many more people to it in future.

Tong Kum, the Buddhist Crocodile

He is about 16 feet long but getting lazy in his old age.

For many years the crocodile Tong Kum roamed freely throughout the temple grounds. The crocodile never harmed anyone and seemed to respond to Ajan Nung's commands at all times. However, today, Tong has been confined within a large pond adjacent to the major lake, where he can no longer roam where he wishes to go.

Nonetheless, he seems happy and has recently become a father with five new young crocodiles joining him in the pond. In this photo, you can see that one of these little fellows has taken up sunbathing on Tong's back. 

Spring Season almost fully booked; only a few dates have places remaining

Thanks to everyone who has already booked places in the spring season. As of today, we have almost fully booked 16 classes. Some of these classes have 1 or 2 spots available but most are completely filled. Only six classes remain with several places available in each one. They are:

April 4: Ginger Beef & Friends

April 5: Along the Mekong

April 26: Spicy Seafood Medley

April 27: Thai Classic Picnic

May 3: Authentic Curry Class Two

May 10: Drunken Noodle Party.

To browse the full list of our classes please click on the button below.

Don't forget, we shall also be offering Private Classes throughout this season However, these classes are only available during weekdays, as our public classes are dedicated to weekend dates. If you have not already booked, please get in touch ASAP as we are booking classes continually and places are quickly disappearing.

I hope to see you soon, after we return to Canada!

Sincerely,

Kallayanee