Today I would like to tell you about our second temple visit to Bangkok, which was even further back than our visits to Chiang Mai. Only the Wat Arun we visited as a temple before, I wrote a post about it already some time ago (please feel free to drop by ;).
But today it should be about Wat Pho.
Wat Pho is a royal temple, a Buddhist temple (Wat) which lies in the centre of the historical old town of Bangkok (see Rattanakosin), directly south of the royal palace. It is named after its historical name Wat Photharam, which should remind of the monastery of the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya. The Wat Pho should have been founded already in the 17th century. For the foundation of his new capital Bangkok king Rama I. restored and extended the temple, which took about ten years and gave it the today's name. All other kings of the Chakri dynasty also extended and restored this royal temple.
The main attraction today is the famous 46 meter long and 15 meter high gold plated reclining Buddha statue (you can see it on the first two pictures). In fact, it was so big that it was hardly possible to get it on the photo. This statue is actually even more impressive than it looks on the pictures. It is almost completely gold-plated and radiates a lot of elegance and grace, but most of all it radiates calmness.
The rush in general in the temple, but especially in front of this Buddha statue was enormous. It is no comparison to smaller temples, for example in Chiang Mai. Here, one can really talk about a mass tourism, but therefore, Wat Pho offers a lot and the lying Buddha is not the only attraction. Also, the whole area surrounding Wat Pho is many times bigger than that of other temples, one can easily get lost here, at least if one has a good sense of orientation as I do.
If you are there once and you like the lying Buddha so much, you can also look around in other temples, you can find them relatively often in temples.
However, such big, huge Buddha statues are very rare. For example in the temple Wat Khun Inthapramun, province Ang Thong (50 meters long, from bricks with stucco disguised) there is a similarly big statue. In the temple Wat Bang Phli Yai Klang in the province of Samut Prakan there is a 53 meters long statue, which is even walkable, I have to say: The Buddha was not walkable, also there was a kind of protection device, so that nobody could touch the Buddha easily.
A little insider tip: Wat Pho also houses a famous massage school that teaches traditional Thai massage. Here you can book a "General Thai Massage" course as an untrained tourist. The course takes place daily from nine o'clock in the morning until four o'clock in the afternoon on five consecutive days (unfortunately I don't know how it looks like in corona times at the moment). But what we found even better: You can not only learn how to massage there, but also be massaged. Foot massages are also offered, which can be really pleasant after visiting Bangkok all day, especially since it is often very warm in Bangkok. The prices here are higher than usual in Thailand, probably also because Wat Pho attracts many tourists. They start at 260 Baht, about 6,50 for half an hour of Thai massage.
If you visit Wat Pho you should definitely also have a look at the room in the middle part. This accommodates the statue Phra Phuttha Thewapatimakon. Before this there were many believers who prayed. The statue is very calming and beautiful, there were many offerings here. But the place is also very pleasant, because it is away from the hustle and bustle.
All in all I can only say that you should definitely visit the temple if you should ever be in bangkok - for me it is definitely a must. Even if you will be surrounded by a lot of tourists on the site, the lying Buddha will "compensate" you for that ;) But in Bangkok it is generally rather difficult to avoid the masses of tourists. Chiang Mai is more suitable for that.
By the way, you don't have to worry too much when choosing your clothes. We put on a jacket and long pants, but we also saw many tourists with shorts and t-shirts. But you better take a light cloth or something with you ;)
Here is a small tip for your journey: The best way to reach Wat Pho is via the express boat station Tha Tien. One stands then right in front of the temple if one walks a few steps further from the pier. From the Tha Thien pier ferries go also in the minute rhythm over the Chao Phraya to Wat Arun.
I hope you enjoyed my Post today, I had a lot of fun reporting about it today. Especially also because I like to remember the time back and I remember the temple as incredibly beautiful.
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