Ibrahim Jabbari
WHERE: Sisaket Province, Thailand
Census says there are roughly 40,000 temples in Thailand but Wat Lan Kuad, literally “Temple of a Million Bottles” is surely the most unique: it’s made entirely of recycled beer bottles and caps. The monks have painstakingly recycled more than 1.5 million beer bottles—mostly Heineken (green) and Chang (brown)—and their caps into 20 buildings, including the main temple, prayer hall, meditation room, pillars, the monks’ bungalow housing, and even the bathrooms. The entire complex is terrifically impressive, but pay particular attention to the wall mural in the meditation room of Buddha beneath the Bodhi tree, assiduously made from hundreds of bottle caps.
