Thai funeral home offers quiet lodging

BANGKOK, Thailand - Cheap and quiet accommodation is available for visitors to Thailand's upcoming international horticultural show, but some may find it too quiet, the lodgings are in the funeral hall of a Buddhist temple.

Three million visitors are expected at the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006 which opens Wednesday in the northern city of Chiang Mai and lasts until Jan. 31, the Bangkok Post reported Saturday.

The yellow, five-petaled Ratchaphruek is Thailand's national flower. The event, being held in honor of the country's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, is expected to strain the capacity of the area's numerous hotels and guest houses, so local temples are also throwing their gates open to visitors, the newspaper reported.

At least one temple, Wat Jet Yod, will allow guests to sleep in its funeral hall, where religious rites for the dead are held before the departed is cremated, also on the temple grounds.

The price is a bargain 20 baht ($0.54) per person per night. No alcohol is allowed on the temple grounds and guests must refrain from making noise, the temple's abbot, Phra Kru Baideeka Prasert Santipalo, was quoted saying.