Go See the Giant Buddha

Built as a big fat bribe

Photo of Go See the Giant Buddha

What we say: 3.5 stars



Conspicuously located on a headland at the north of the beach is a 15-metre tall golden Buddha and associated wat. It's beautiful, and the hill-top perch offers stunning views of the coastline and all the way inland to the Burmese border. An interesting factoid about it's construction: its was built as a big, fat bribe! A US/Thai consortium tried for eight years to convince the locals to let them build two coal-fired electrical power stations, and the Buddha was thrown in as compensation for wrecking the coastline and filling the air with smoke. But the locals didn't bite -- they got Greenpeace involved, there was a big protest, and the power companies withdrew from the effort in 2002. Locals generally refuse to even visit the big Buddha, but they won't hold it against you if you do.


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