Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaeo or Wat Lan Khuat

Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaeo — better known as Wat Lan Khuat, the Temple of a Million Bottles — sits in Khun Han district, Si Sa Ket province, about 50 km south of Si Sa Ket town and 25 km from Kantharalak, close to the Cambodian border. It started in 1984, when the temple’s monks began collecting discarded glass bottles as a low-cost, low-waste building material. Four decades on, more than 1.5 million bottles — mostly green Heineken and brown Chang beer bottles — form the walls, floors and even the toilets of over 20 structures across the site. Entry is free, open daily 08:00-17:00.

The main prayer hall’s walls are built entirely from glass bottles laid on their sides, and sunlight through the coloured glass throws greenish patterns across the floor in the morning and late afternoon — the closest thing rural Isan has to a stained-glass window. Bottle caps, rather than bottles, do the decorative work elsewhere: crushed and arranged into mosaics of lotus flowers and Buddhist symbols on walls and archways. A reclining Buddha statue occupies one of the halls, and a sala (pavilion) is built out over a small pond, its reflection doubling the bottle-wall effect. Even the monks’ own living quarters follow the same construction method, which is as much a statement of frugality as of design.

Watch out: A newly built relic chedi — intended to hold the ashes of the temple’s late founding abbot — collapsed in April 2024 when its support columns failed during construction, about 80% complete. No one was hurt, and the temple has confirmed plans to rebuild it. The original bottle-clad halls, monks’ quarters and reclining Buddha that most visitors come to see were untouched by the collapse, but it’s worth checking recent photos or asking locally if a specific new structure was on your list.

Morning visits, roughly 8-10 AM, give the best light for photos and the best chance of seeing monks going about the temple’s daily routine before the midday heat sets in. Dress modestly — shoulders and knees covered — and remove your shoes before entering any of the halls.