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Like many people, I love traveling, I love looking around new places, and I love learning new things.
I've been very lucky in the last few years to be able to travel to many wonderful and exotic countries. As I said, though, I also love learning new things; so when a friend invited me to stay for three days at a Thai temple, I jumped at the chance.
It was a wonderful, intriguing, and humbling experience that will live with me forever. I was fascinated by the surrounding of the temple, which was situated by a deep cave in the northern rolling hills of Thailand. The temple was situated within one mile of the long border that Burma shares with Thailand, and the Lekke the Temple cat series is set in a real village called Muang Nga.
It was incredible for me to watch the nuns and monks go about their daily business of looking after the visitors to the temple, and the needs of the villagers that had fallen upon hard times.
Although I couldn't participate in the meditation services that took place, ( I found it hard to pick up the words ), I made sure I attended every session. It was fascinating and compelling to see so many people come together during the four daily meetings.
The cave itself is beautiful, and the cliff side it's set in is home to a labyrinth of similar deep caves. All of the locations I describe in the book actually exist and you are welcome to visit the temple to see for yourself.
If you can't wait, search for The Celestial Cave Temple of Thailand on YouTube and you'll see for yourself. The clip is in Thai but has English subtitles. You'll see the monks and villagers going about their business and the surrounding countryside. It's a stunning area.
While in the temple I watched as the animals interacted with each other. Cats and dogs got on great together. I saw "Lekke" walking around the cave during every meditation session and I was amused that he followed the same routine. He would always walk around the statues for a moment, then come back out and say hello to the humans, or the "beautiful people" as I call them.
Dogs would often come up to the temple cave to listen to the chanting during meditation, and would leave as soon as the service finished. All, except Dumb Dog. I was standing on the terrace one evening after dusk, and I was intrigued to see a nun collect a bowl of water. I watched this shaven headed lady walk in to the darkest corner of the cave and throw the water in.
Then emerged what I can only describe as the most dumb looking dog I've ever seen. It shook itself down, then galloped down the stairs to the main temple grounds and hid below a car. Once the service finished, and the nuns had left, I saw the dumb looking dog making it's way back to the cave.
That formed the idea of the Dumb Dog that thinks its a cat; one of my favourite characters in the series. Song the starling and all of his friends lived in the cave at night, and left in the morning. It was great to see them darting around in the cave every evening.
Yes, the story is fictional, however each and every character I have introduced actually lives in Thailand. That includes James Frog that thinks he's a spy, Jem the scorpion that loves a good argument, and of course, Krota the king cobra. He's my least favourite character in the book.....booo.
The ghosts that I mention are all well known parts of Thai folk-lore. I hope you find the series as entertaining to read as I did to write, and who knows? maybe one day you'll be lucky enough to visit Thailand and see all of these wonderful animals, people and sights for yourself.
You'll find me on Facebook just about every day, just search for "DB Stewart Author" and I'll be delighted to hear from you.
All the best, and who knows maybe you'll meet me in Thailand some day,
DB Stewart, Author,
Lekke the Temple Cat.
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