Hean Boo Thean Kuan Yin Temple

While visiting one of the Weld Jetties and looking around, I noted this stunning temple, also built on stilts over the water.

After some digging, I found this was the Hean Boo Thean Kuan Yin Temple, which is also known as the floating temple. It was initially constructed back in the 1970s and strengthened in 2012, and now it's a colourful work of art.

And yes, I had to make sure to visit and get a better look. Today was the day, and not really knowing how to get there, I headed for the Jetties and figured it would be a case of heading further down the same street.

Shock horror, there was actually a sign pointing me in the general direction, although I was not convinced, as it seemed to point to a residential street.

Watching out for the motorbikes and the odd car, I headed towards the end of the street, and again was surprised that there was signage.

Getting to the end of the street and following the signs, which pointed me further into a residential area, very odd, as why would a temple entrance be this far off the beaten track.

But no, rounding a corner, there it was, the entrance.

Heading in there was a desk with free water for visitors, which, given the heat, was most welcome.

Heading past the desk was this stunning stone entrance to the inner temple. I could see that there were several pairs of shoes at the edge of the raised area, so I guessed that in order to check out the inner temple, I would need to take off my shoes.

And yes, I was dead right, as after removing my shoes, I spotted signage saying no shoes, but thankfully, it said nothing about photography.

Now heading inside, I was surprised as I was all alone there, maybe it was the time of day, but good for me, as ideal to take photos.

The usual impressive interior, but before leaving, experience has told me to look at the doors I just came through, as they can have some impressive artwork.

In this case, the artwork on the doors did not disappoint. After some digging, it seems these are called Door Gods, which are to protect the temple from evil spirits and bring peace and good fortune to the temple.

Heading out and retrieving my shoes, and wandering around the ground floor, I noticed that other tourists were arriving. So, not wanting to get in their way, I headed for the upper level.

Heading up the stairs, my knees reminded me why stairs are not my thing, but regardless, I made it to the top.

This level is different from the lower one; there are multiple statues in groups on each side.

In addition to these, there is a collection of smaller ones right at the front. So far, I have not been able to get any more information on the significance of these, and yes, I did try Google Translate on some of the plaques, but it did not give anything that helped.

Moving past the smaller statues, and looking down onto the lower level with the jetties in the distance.

Just check out the sky, there is rain coming, and just as I was thinking about heading back to my hotel, the first drops started falling.

Not good, and as I did not have a plastic bag for my DSLR, so I headed back into the temple to wait for the rain to stop.

Thankfully, the rain did not last too long, although it did look like more rain was coming, so I headed back to the hotel.

Final thoughts on the Hean Boo Thean Kuan Yin Temple.

I have visited many temples all over the world, and this is one that was well worth the visit.

And yes, I did leave a donation at the front desk, not that one was expected, with the person at the entry desk just thanking me.