The reclining Buddha
A statue forty metres long.
Clintkapp — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Unknown — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Photo Dharma from Sadao, Thailand — CC BY 2.0
A Thai-style Buddhist temple in the Tumpat countryside, home for centuries to a community of Siamese origin near the border, with a forty-metre reclining Buddha built between 1975 and 1979, in its day among the largest reclining Buddhas in Southeast Asia. Its abbot founded the temple in 1973, and thousands of pilgrims from Thailand visit every year. Besides the great statue its grounds hold a Chinese pavilion, a Tibetan-style hall with an eighteen-armed statue of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, and a four-faced Brahma. Entry is free and donations are welcome, and there is plenty of free parking. It is a working place of worship, so dress modestly, take off your shoes where asked and avoid pointing your feet at the statues. It is about a quarter of an hour's drive west of Kota Bharu; Tumpat has many other Thai temples, and it pairs well in half a day with the nearby Kampung Laut Mosque on the riverbank.
A statue forty metres long.
Kelantan's long-settled Siamese community.
An eighteen-armed Avalokiteshvara.
Tumpat district, about 15 km west of Kota Bharu
Because Kelantan borders Thailand and has been home for centuries to a community of Siamese origin, concentrated in Tumpat district, which alone has some twenty-five Thai temples.