Wat Plai Laem

Wat Plai Laem is a simple and somewhat dated temple complex featuring two large, eye-catching statues of Buddhist and Chinese deities. While the statues are impressive in size, they don’t offer much beyond a quick photo opportunity. The most interesting part of the site is the main Buddhist temple located in the center, surrounded by a small lake. However, overall, the area feels more like a quick stop than a must-see attraction. Unless you have extra time to spare, this is one you can easily skip. If you’re in the area, a short 15–30 minute visit is more than enough to walk around and take a few pictures.

I do not know if it would be everyone's experience, but for my wife and myself it was a great place to find cats taking their naps which was fun to see as they were relaxing admist this grand temple. The statues and general grounds were among the best we saw in our trip to Thailand.

Lovely quick visit. Not a large temple but interesting to see. More of a modern twist in ancient temples. Ie felt a but like being in a theme park rather than places like Bangkok. But worth a visit as not much in Koh Samui. We got a taxi to the big Buddha close by, then a tuk tuk from here to fisherman’s village before a taxi home late in the evening. Fantastic day out. Free to enter, bought some fish food, the fish and turtles were huge!

A beautiful temple near the Big Buddha, built in a lake and surrounded by a giant lotus flower. The main reason to visit the place is the statue of Guanyin, the Buddhist goddess of mercy and grace with 18 arms and a giant footprint of Buddha. If you throw a coin at the statue and make a wish, you are guaranteed that it will come true. There are giant goldfish in the lake that will be happy if you feed them with food sold there.

This temple complex is relatively new, it was not built when I visited Samui 35 years ago. There are 3 prominent statues here, Guan Yin, Laughing Buddha and Buddha. Quite a lot of tourists when we were there!

Very impressive temple area that offers a lot of optical highlights. The fantastic architecture of these buildings and buddha statues are outstanding. The positioning of some buildings on little islands creates an unique arrangement which will be kept in the memory of the observer for a long time.

Judging by the photos attached to other reviews, some people are including photos of "Statue of Goddess Guanyin" and "Statue of Chinese Laughing Buddha" but these are separate sites within the lake, not part of this Temple. The building is actually an Ubosot (Ordination Hall), easy to identify because of the Sema (Boundary) stones placed around it. There are some beautiful murals inside the temple, which are well worth a view.

Beautiful place with many religions and cats :) We really liked it, but is not for longer visit only if you are religious and want to pray. As a tourist I guess 30-45 minutes are enough for a nice walk. Also if you are visiting at the middle of the day it is very hot because of the concrete.