Wat Phra Boromathat Chaiya

Wat Phra Boromathat Chaiya Rat Worawihan (วัดพระบรมธาตุไชยาราชวรวิหาร) is the most important Buddhist temple of Surat Thani, and also one of the most beautiful ones. The central chedi in Srivijaya style with its many golden ornaments is even the iconic symbol of the province Surat Thani.

The reason why the main temple of the province is not located in the provincial capital lies in the history of the province. In fact, the temple was originally in the capital of the Mueang Chaiya, one of the semi-independent city-states which made up Siam until the administrative system was completely overhauled at the begin of the 20th century. Though by then the town Chaiya was moved closer to the sea to present-day Phum Riang - it came back to its original location after the railway was built in 1915. However, by then the province Surat Thani was established by merging the area formerly under Chaiya with the one under Kanchanadit, and the new center of the province was at the mouth of the Tapi river in Ban Don.

Every side of the chedi shows a different ornament, though I don't know much about the actual meaning. Pointing north is a peacock, to the south is Erawan as the multi-headed elephant, to the east a Buddha surrounded by regalia which reminded me of the old coat of arms of Siam. The one on the west side I could not recognize at all. The chedi is surrounded by a walkway with lots of Buddha statues, and several smaller chedis, elephant and other statues, as well as nice small trees. If only it were not so hot and sunny, which made walking around on the hot plaster barefooted far from comfortable.

Much less spectacular than the chedi is the bot, though religiously it is the more important building. Inside are just several smaller Buddha statues, and no murals at the walls.

The three Buddha statues outside next to the Bot are also notable. Normally Buddha statues are always under a roof protected from the elements, however these three are believed to prefer to stay outside - when they were placed under a roof in past, lightning struck and destroyed the building. I don't know if and when this story actually took place, but it sounds like a perfectly fit explanation for these statue's location.

Directly at the temple is also a local branch of the National Museum, which has several items from the Srivijaya times on display. Sadly not allowing photography I did skip the revisit and focused on taking photos of the temple instead. Since I did quite a lot of photos, like the views of the chedi from all four sides, I uploaded the whole collection to flickr.

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Wat Amphawa Chediyaram

With the Amphawa floating market becoming more and more popular as an more authentic alternative to the standard tourist target at Damnoen Saduak, I have used the opportunity to drop it a visit as well. Though I think it is definitely worth a visit, I instead write about the temple right next to it, which normally visitors to the market only notice as their parking lot. Since shopping isn't among my favorite pastimes, I had some time to spend while the family was still busy, and did some walking around the temple complex. It was quite surprising how few people I saw strolling around there, compared to the crowded market area.

Most beautiful is the main hall, which contains the large Buddha statue. While for me as a non-Buddhist the statue did not look any special, the murals on the walls were the most interesting thing to look at in the hall. The one behind the Buddha statue shows, if I am not totally mistaken, the former capital city Ayutthaya before it was destroyed by the Burmese in 1767. But not only the mural behind the Buddha is worth looking at, between each window it has one showing some historical or mythological scenes. It even has small signs under them explaining what it depicted - but sadly only in Thai, so I could not understand which one is the most notable of these murals.

But not just this main hall of the temple has something special to show, in a small and inconspicuous building is another Buddha statue, and more notable a large footprint. Light inside was a bit weak, so the photo turned out to be a bit blurred, I did not bring the tripod since most of the photos I do in Thailand are in the strong sun outdoors, when a tripod is only unnecessary weight.

The final building I entered is the courtyard, a walkway with the donated Buddha statues at the walls, and a white chedi in the middle. Though this part looked so similar to the ones I had seen in countless other temples already, here's a photo of the smaller statues.

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Wat Phonimit, Surat Thani

The temples within the city Surat Thani did not impress me that much, there are neither really historical ones - maybe except the one building of Wat Pattanaram - nor as lavishly decorated. Slighly outside the city center however is one temple which is worth a short visit just to admire the architecture and handicraft necessary to create it. Of course compared with the temples in Bangkok it is just a normal one, yet for Surat Thani city it is apparently the most interesting one.

Named Wat Phonimit (วัดโพธิ์นิมิต), the temple is located on the road towards Kanchanadit, about 4 kilometer from the city center. I went there together with family, and while they attended a ceremony in the Sala I was free to stroll around in the temple complex and took lots of photos.

The main building is of course the Ubosot, most lavishly decorated and with a small fence around it. The gate inside as well as lion statues, and of course the gable of the building made great photo locations. Note the wasp nest glued on the gable in one side. Sadly the building was locked, so I could not get a view on the Buddha statue inside, or see if it has any interesting murals on the walls inside.

Interesting were also several statues located around a tree, the hermits in behind I could recognize, yet I don't know about the symbolism of the other figures. Also, several smaller chapels and Salas are spread over the compound, for example the one housing three monk statues.

Separated from the main compound by the street towards Rama IX park is the crematorium and the graveyard - the small chedis house urns of the deceased.

Since I could not add all the photos here I have created a set on Flickr, and when I have the chance to add more photos of the place I will put them there as well.

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Wat Khao Suwan Pradit, Don Sak

Most tourists only know Don Sak, the easternmost district of Surat Thani province, only because the main ferry from the mainland to Ko Samui leaves near this small town. Though it is not that spectacular, a stop-over in the town is a worth it, not just the sea food restaurant directly at the mouth of the small river into the sea. On the hill overlooking the town is the temple Khao Suwan Pradit (วัดเขาสุวรรณประดิษฐ์) - literally the "hill of artifical gold".

The buildings at the entrance, the area usually used for parking the park, are not much spectacular, the only interesting was a smaller shrine with the mummy of a monk inside. I guess this is Luang Pho Choi (หลวงปู่จ้อย), who founded the temple in 1982. To me it seemed quite strange to have him laid out in that glass shrine.

But the much more interesting place is reached after walking up the long stairs. These lead to the hilltop pagoda, a beautiful white chedi surrounded by a building. This chedi enshrines a Buddha relic, originally from Chiang Mai. But for me as a non-Buddhist, apart from the beautiful building the view from the hill to the sea was much more breathtaking. One can see the Ang Thong archipelago and Ko Samui easily, as well as look down to the town center.

As this temple and especially the chedi is the most important landmark of Don Sak, it is no wonder the municipality Don Sak (เทศบาลตำบลดอนสัก) uses it in their official emblem. Quite nicely to see in the top of the street signs, like the one of the road from the town center to the temple.

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Surat Thani night market

When I checked through my photos from last year I noticed the one to he right as a quite good one I simply needed to share. It shows the temple Wat Sai (วัดไทร) located in the center of the town Surat Thani. But - actually apart from this view the temple isn't anything special, the large open place is often used as a parking lot, and I haven't been able to check the inside of the bot if it has any special murals or Buddha statues.

So in order to be able to show this photo, I instead write on the night market of Surat Thani, which is held every evening in the small side street in front of the temple. Like all markets it is always busy, and since it has predominately food stalls offering meals as well as diverse snacks every time I am in the town we go there at least once, usually having Pad Thai at the corner to Na Mueang road. Also the book store from where I shot the night view belongs to a distant relative, so we always have to pass there as well to say hello.

It is of course only a small night market, just 200 meter long, nothing compared with the huge one in Chiang Mai, but on the other hand it is much more authentic as there are hardly any foreigners to be seen there.

For some additional photos, take a look at Camille's review of this market on his Samui info and weather blog.

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Wat Boromratcha Kanchanaphisek

Wat Boromratcha Kanchanaphik (วัดบรมราชากาญจนาภิเษกอนุสรณ์) is a newly built Chinese temple in Bang Bua Thong district, Nonthaburi, northwest of Bangkok. It is also commonly named Wat Mangkhon 2 (วัดมังกร 2), as it is related to the Wat Mangkhon (Dragon temple) in Chinatown.

It is a huge temple complex, which merges together elements from Chinese, Buddhist and also Hindu temples. It is the most lavishly decorated temple I've visited in Thailand. When entering the temple, one first sees the Chinese parts - lions next to the stairway, several statues which look like monks but unlike the normal ones seen in Buddhist temples. Next come the pavilions with several statues of Chinese gods, and all the wall and even the roof painted with many religious symbols.

The next building is the main hall, in which it has the three Buddha statues, and when we went there also had monks chanting their sermons.And of course all the things it has in every other Buddhist temple, people lighting incense stick or donating flowers, rubbing gold leaves and placing coins on stone balls spread around this main hall.

In the behind it has a two-stored building, with a small part of it closed since it is used by the monks themselves, probably as their living quarters. But the two main rooms offer even more interesting views. On the ground floor it has some small Buddha statues in middle, but the real attraction is the wall, which is completely covered with thousands of small Buddha statues. In the second floor it has the already mentioned Hindu parts, a multi-handed statue - but I don't know which of the many Hindu gods it shows.

Altogether I strolled around there for one hour, and took lots of photos of the many details within the temple - even simple things like the balconies of the walkways have ornaments, and without repeating each is different from the next. Or small figures on the roofs, simply heaven for a photographer, only sometimes needed more zoom to catch the best views. I have uploaded an album of my photos to flickr because there are simply too many to show them all in this posting.

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Wat Rakang

Wat Rakang Kosittharam Mahawihan (วัดระฆังโฆสิตารามวรมหาวิหาร) is one of the 32 temples in Bangkok Noi district, but one of the most significant. And since I love to explore the city by walking, this temple makes a good target as it's just 3 kilometer away from where I normally stay. I have thus visited there twice, and only lack of time and lots of other targets made me skip this tour the last two times I was in Bangkok.

The main feature of the temple is the bell tower, because those bells gave the temple its name - Rakang (ระฆัง) is the Thai word for bell. The temple got its name when the original bell was moved to Wat Phra Kaeo by King Rama I, and the king sent back five new bells as the replacement. These bells were hanging in the bell tower in the southeast of the compound, but are now in Wat Phra Sri Rattanasattadaram in Bangkhen district, so the bells seen here are replacements of the replacements.

The bot is also well worth to go inside, it not only has a big Buddha statue like most temples, but even more noteworthy are the murals on the walls. Though a bit weathered already they are still worth looking at. Since 1949 they are registered as a national heritage site.

Around the bot are several small and large chedis, and one can see that temple is also a popular place for the final rest - in the walls and chedis it has many urns with the photos of the deceased. I have however only taken one photo of the largest of these chedis.

Another noteworthy building is the library, at first look an inconspicuous wooden building hidden between the trees next to the bot. In my first walk there I hardly noticed it, only to learn later about its significance. Sadly during my second visit the building was under reconstruction, so the photo shows more of the scaffolding than the actual building.

Towards the river is a large temple market, mostly selling those stuff Buddhist need for making merit - incense sticks, flowers, buckets full of items for the monks, animals to set free to gain "tambun", but of course also some small food stalls. But if you are looking for a "normal" market, just walk north next to the historic Patravadi theater towards Sirirat hospital. The last part of this walk then inevitably leads you through that market.

Apart from walking there, the temple is quite easy to reach as it is located very close to the Chao Phraya river. The Wat Rakang pier (photo) itself is only used by ferries or hired boats, but the nearby Phran Nok pier is serviced by the Express boats, and then walk from that pier towards Wat Rakang through the market.

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Phra Samut Chedi

The most significant Buddhist temple of Samut Prakan province south of Bangkok is Wat Phra Samut Chedi (วัดพระสมุทรเจดีย์), located on the western bank of the Chao Phraya river not far from its mouth into the Gulf of Thailand. In the past it was surrounded by the river and is still also known as Wat Klang Nam (วัดกลางน้ำ, temple in the middle of the water). The temple was constructed by King Rama II and was finished in 1828. It was then the first significant sight of visitors coming to Bangkok by boat. Anna Leonowens, famous by her fictionalized character in the musical and movie Anna and the King in her travelogue and diary wrote

On the other, which at first I took for a floating shrine of white marble, is perhaps the most unique and graceful object of architecture in Siam; shining like a jewel on the broad bosom of the river, a temple all of purest white, its lofty spire, fantastic and gilded, flashing back the glory of the sun, and duplicated in shifting, quivering shadows in the limpid waters below. Add to these the fitful ripple of the coquettish breeze, the burnished blazonry of the surrounding vegetation, the budding charms of spring joined to the sensuous opulence of autumn, and you have a scene of lovely glamour it were but vain impertinence to describe. Earth seemed to have gathered for her adorning here elements more intellectual, poetic, and inspiring than she commonly displays to pagan eyes.

I have to admit, when I went there I was much less impressed. As you can see in the photo, the chedi was not fully white and had lots of black sprinkles of mold. There's no significant Buddha statue and no lavishly decorated bot like in other temples, the only place which was more interesting was a pavilion containing a statue of King Rama II and with some murals on the walls. I just learned now that in fact this pavilion normally isn't accessible, so we were very lucky to be able to go inside. Sadly I only photographed the statue and did not shot the murals.

For some more information on this temple take a look at Richard Barrow's site, which also has a description on the annual Phra Samut Chedi fair.

Update: Richard has posted several more photos in a new thread at his forum, including photos of the murals.

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Wat Bang Kung, Samut Songkhram

A sight which is also in the list of the "official" unseen Thailand sight is the temple Wat Bang Kung (วัดบางกุ้ง) in Amphawa district, Samut Songkhram. The main attraction of the temple is the chapel overgrown by a Banyan tree. Except at the behind, the roots almost completely cover the building so it is hardly recognizable as such. Thus the chapel is normally know as Bot Prok Pho (โบสถ์ปรกโพธิ์), ordination hall covered by Bodhi tree, even though the actual name of it is Bot Luangpho Dam (โบสถ์หลวงพ่อดำ).

Inside the chapel is a large Buddha statue, and of course every visitor is praying and placing incense sticks, rubbing gold leaves and so on.

However this chapel isn't the only important place of the compound. In fact, this temple is an historical significant place, as it was the camp of king Taksin during an attack by the Burmese army in 1768. However after the successful campaign the site was abandoned for almost 200 years, until in 1967 it was redeveloped by the Ministry of Education. However I did not read about the historical significance of the place before, so I focused my photography on the chapel.

The most easy thing to notice are the two rows of muay thai statues, there are also statues of soldiers in the dress of the 18th century amid cannons and bushes cut into the shape of horses, and in the middle a statue of king Taksin. This is all still right next to the chapel, but actually the temple extends on the other side of the street as well till the shore of the Mae Klong river.

There it has the pier to enter the temple on a river tour - which we did not do because for the Thai family it was too hot. The cannon above is next to that pier, protecting the temple in the past. As usual at all sights near a river or lake it has fish food on sale and it has many feeding the fish there. It also has a small zoo there, some birds, a monkey, nothing really spectacular but nevertheless our small daughter liked it a lot. One oddity in my eyes was the fence around this part of the temple - on each of the fence post it has a figure in uniform, mostly soldiers and policemen.

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Wat Tham Singkhon

Wat Tham Singkhon (วัดถ้ำสิงขร) is an ancient temple in Surat Thani Province, in Khiri Rat Nikhom district directly at the Phum Duang river. I had found it listed as one of the attractions of the province, but since all which I could find was in Thai I didn't know much of what would be waiting for me there. I also only saw photos of the dark chedi in Srivijaya style, and I did not realize that the name of the temple actually already gives a hint of what more there is to see - Tham (ถ้ำ) means cave.

After entering the ancient compound through a wooden roofed bridge the first one to see is the set of Buddha statues under an overhang, all the seven days with their specific gesture. Walking up on the cliff one shortly thereafter reaches the above-mentioned chedi, which is located opposite the cave entrance.

Further Buddha statues are located at the entrance, including one large black sitting Buddha. It already got quite difficult to take a photo of these, since they are located in the twilight, and I did not bring a photo tripod. I only succeeded but placing the camera on the rocks on the opposite side of the cave. As it was even more dark inside, only very few photos turned out without blur, which is a pity as there are several further nice views.

The cave is not such the large overhang opposite the chedi, but it continues quite long inside. A bit sparsely illuminated at parts, it is nevertheless easy to go inside as there are concrete steps on the way up into the cave. In a first hall it has several Buddha statues in a row, later another statue on top of a wall which looks like a waterfall from the speleothem covering it. Since it was dry season there was no water on it, but the monk who guided us through confirmed that in the raining season the small pools in this formation is actually filled with water.

At other places inside the cave bats are resting for the day hanging from the roof, one place is known to be the resting place of tigers in the past, and another large hall was used by the monk as a meeting hall. Finally the way ends nearly on top of the cliff, where the roof of the cave has collapsed and allows the daylight to stream in.

As the monk who was our guide only spoke Thai I could not get much of the many things he explained, but even then the natural beauty of the cave mixed with the religious items and the small details like the stucco decorations make it a visit definitely worth the on hour drive from Surat Thani city.

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Wat Phra Phutthabat, Saraburi

Wat Phra Phutthabat, the temple of the holy Buddha footprint in Saraburi, is one of the most important Buddhist temples of Thailand, but since it is located a bit far from Bangkok and without any further attractions nearby foreigners don't come there as much as Thai. However for a Thai this is a place which every good Buddhist should visit at least once in their life. The kings of Ayutthaya went there every year, even though at those times the travel was still much more arduous than today, where it's just 2 hours of driving by car from the capital.

During the reign of king Songtham at the beginning of the 17th century, Thai monks were sent to Sri Lanka to make merit at a Buddha footprint there. Soon thereafter in 1622, a hunter named Bun discovered the footprint near Saraburi, though actually it was only a puddle in a depression of the rock. The king visited the place, declared it an authentic footprint and ordered the construction of the temple.

The footprint is now located within the lavishly decorated Mondop dating from the end of the 18th century. It is 52 cm wide, 180 cm long and 27 cm deep, and always has coins and banknotes thrown into it by the pilgrims. The other very notable architectural feature of the temple is the stairway with the five-headed mythological snake Naga on each handrail.

The Wat Thai Temple Blog wrote about this temple before. For those who speak German fellow Wikipedia Hdamm has a travel report on his website, also Ben wrote a report on his blog on some of the traditions during the pilgrimage to this temple.

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Wat Thep Sathit in Ang Sila

Wihan Thep Sathit Phra Kitti Chaloem (วิหารเทพสถิตพระกิติเฉลิม) or Nacha Sa Thai Chue Shrine (ศาลเจ้าหน่าจาซาไท้จื้อ) is a very impressive Chinese temple in the town Ang Sila, close to the city Chonburi, about halfway between Bangkok and Pattaya. It is thus an easy place for a day-trip from either location.

Sadly photography inside the building was not allowed, so I can only show pictures of the outside, but from the many decorations visible in these photos one can already get an impression of the similar details inside. On four storeys it has statues of many Chinese deities. Knowing almost nothing about the Chinese belief I could only be impressed by the artistic work in these statues.

From the website of the temple - sadly only in Thai - I could find the history of this temple. In March 1991 the teacher Somchai Choesiri (สมชาย เฉยศิริ) established a small shrine at this place on an area of 200 square wa (800 m²). The shrine became very popular to the local population as well as businessmen, so on July 18 1995 Somchai Choesiri could lay the foundation stone for the new building, in order to finish it for the celebration of the 72th birthday of HM the King in 1999. On January 11 1998 the Supreme Patriarch presided over a ceremony of casting 7 Buddha images and bestowed the name Wihan Thep Sathit Phra Kitti Chaloem to the temple. The whole site now covers 13 rai (2 ha).

Some more photos can be seen in a Thai blog post by MeiJJ.

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Wat Mahathat, Nakhon Si Thammarat

The most important temple of the province Nakhon Si Thammarat is clearly Wat Mahathat, located in the southern part of the town. It is the oldest temple of the whole region, in fact it is the temple chronicle which provides the early history of the kingdom of Nakhon Si Thammarat.

The full name of the temple is Wat Phra Mahathat Woromaha Viharn (วัดพระมหาธาตุวรมหาวิหาร), and the actual age is not really known. Two versions of the temple chronicle exist, however centuries of copying and amending the text turned the oldest parts into something hardly distinguishable from legend. The reason to build a chedi at that site was to enshrine a tooth relic of Buddha, which according to one chronicle happened together with the foundation of the town in the year 1176. Yet both chronicles agree on several reconstructions of the chedi after it fell into disrepair, so the modern 74m high chedi in Sri Lankan style isn't the original one for sure.

The main chedi is surrounded by 173 smaller chedis in the courtyard, and a hall encircling it with many Buddha statues facing in all four directions. On one side of the chedi is the staircase to climb onto a gallery. The hall with this staircase alone is worth seeing, with figures of giants and lions protecting it. On the gallery one can encircle the chedi completely, and the sound of hundreds of small bells moved by the wind give it a great atmosphere.

Also within the temple area is a temple museum, which shows many historical items from the town. As it is already four years ago I can hardly remember any details on the exhibition, except that it seemed to me a bit unsorted - but still definitely worth visiting. South of the temple is a market, which among many other things also sells souvenirs styled after the traditional Lakhon figures used in shadow plays. However as I was traveling with Thai we only bought some snack there.

The town has several more historical places I haven't had the time to visit then - doing it as a day trip from Surat Thani only left some hours, and we spend most of the time in Wat Mahathat. I could at least take a few photos of the city wall, the city pillar shrine and Wat Yak - however though we passed them I missed the two Brahman shrines Hor Phra Isuan and Hor Phra Narai, and most of all the local branch of the National Museum would have been worth a visit.

Only after that trip to Nakhon Si Thammarat I learned about an English book on the history of this town, the visit would have been even more worthwhile if I had read it before and already knew about the significance of the various sites. I just wish it'd have more such books on other regions of Thailand.

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Wat Pattanaram, Surat Thani

The city of Surat Thani itself has no real touristic attractions, especially when it comes to historical places. But as I come to that town almost every time I am in Thailand, I have looked around in the town a lot already. And temples are one of my favorite places to visit.

One of the temples located close to the center of the city is Wat Pattanaram (วัดพัฒนาราม) - just 500 meter away from the site of the night market. As it's also one of the temples closest to where we stay in Surat Thani, I have been there several times. However the most impressive visit there was when some years ago my brother in law spend a week as monk in there, and I was honored to attend the ceremony. Though I did not understand much of what was happening, it is a special memory related to this temple.

While the temple has its charm, it is not really impressive, and I did not know about it even having some historical significance - I wish my Thai would be better and I could read websites like the one of the Wildlife club of Surat Thani and learn more about it.

So it was just a coincidence I noticed about the significance. As part of my project to process the announcements in the Royal Gazette, I also downloaded the announcements on historical sites (เขตที่ดินโบราณสถาน) quite some time ago. But just now I started to take a look into it, and noticed that in December 2001 one of the buildings within Wat Pattanaram was declared such a protected historical site by the Fine Arts Department (Gazette). The building protected is not the largest, but the giants next to the entrance are something I haven't seen like that in other temples yet. And it was this building where the ordination of my brother in law took place.

That historical building clearly looks a bit weathered, much unlike the larger newer one next to it with the standard colorful pediment. Not sure which one is the Bot and which one the Viharn however. In between the two is a small roofed shrine, which is always busy with people praying and lighting incense or candles. But again I am sadly ignorant of what is the object of worship there.

Now I know more a little bit more about this temple, the next time I will be around I will take more photos and trying to find out more about it.

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