Bangkok's Artificial Island is a Tourist's Treasure
When we think of islands in Thailand, the priceless Andaman Sea islands or The Gulf of Thailand party islands may come to mind. Although not filled with white sand beaches, Bangkok Metropolis has an artificial island that was built nearly 300 years ago, with the purpose of shortening an oxbow bend in the Chao Phraya River. Kret Island or Koh Kret is one of Thailand's oldest settlements of the Mon Tribe, dating back over 500 years. These days its filled with naturalistic social shopping with the locals on weekends, artistic pottery, some great bicycling & you get to experience some amazing temples.
Being an island, we hired a small taxi boat to drop us off in front of Wat Pai Lom, so we could be close to the pottery village. The village on Koh Kret has a superb reputation for pottery so there are many merchants selling Thai ice tea & alike products to promote the pottery drinking mugs. They have drinking mugs that have the "at home" appeal as well as ones with commercial designs like mugs with images of Ultraman & Hello Kitty for children.
These Thai iced black teas (without milk) & Thai ice teas (with milk) are served in these handmade pottery mugs. They're symbols of Kret Island so you already know, I had to quench my thirst with a couple.
Wat Pai Lom
We started our adventure at Wat Pai Lom or Pai Lom Temple, with a great & noble deed of donation, in exchange for praising materials of incense, a candle & gold flakes made of 100% real gold (so thin it's basically valueless). The donation was 10 baht for the materials (you are welcome to donate more but not necessary) & most temples have the amount written on the donation box next to the materials. There's always a lit lantern or lighters next to candle holders you put your candle after it's lit along with the incense. While still holding the incense and gold flakes, we kneel in front of the image of Buddha or grand guru monk and recite the most common Buddhist yantra:
Namo Tassa Pakawato Arrahato Summa Sumputtasa (repeat 3 times)
After asking for your spiritual empowerment, you would then insert the incense in a large holder (you'd see other ones already there), and paste the gold flake onto a statue being praised.
When we finished, we already felt empowered with happiness, like the trip was going to be a surreal experience together.
Traditional Thai Pottery
We found one of the great pottery families in Village #6 after Wat Pai Lom and we were impressed with the craftsmanship instantly. Being in their naturalistic business setup & getting to watch their production, gave me a newfound appreciation for our ancestors.
It's astonishing the ways they had to live & work for us to get to this point in time.
I was even more impressed after given the chance to speak to a skilled potter and listening to his story & his break down about pottery. We were talking about the deep and rich history into his family's lineage & their artistic skill sets that help make Koh Kret a trendy weekend getaway for Bangkokians. The special designs he creates on vases are incredible and with great detail.
He even suggested I walk around to the furnace to see the whole process of pottery, from the beginning to the end. It was great learning about pottery and I ended up buying 8 clay pots used to cook sukiyaki for future feasts.
Wat Sao Thong Thong
Another great deed was done at Wat Sao Thong Thong with donations in exchange for more praising materials. This time, it was 20 baht & in addition, they had flowers. After pasting the gold flakes on the intended statues, we did another great deed for good merit by lighting a holy candle specified for our day of birth. After reciting a specific yantra, the candle is then put into a revolving stream.
The stream is meant to represent our connecting life forces, traveling along together with love and harmony.
Our lunch was close to where we docked when we arrived and lucky for us, we found a sweet lady that was great at making som tham (Thai papaya salad).
Her food was really on another level so we ordered one of everything to see what each dish tasted like and we weren't disappointed.
A standout was her spicy mixed bamboo salad because of how the flavoring blended so well with the peppers. At some point, even though we had our mouths full of sticky rice, we managed to order two bowls of noodles from her. All of it delicious and we ate every last bite.
In front of Wat Pai Lom there's a booth to buy fish food and you usually see tourists, young couples and school kids feeding fish on weekends. It's in front of Pai Lom Temple so that's even a bigger plus of divine energy around as people do a great selfless deed by feeding the fish. Sure, there's someone selling food and making money in this great deed process but we're the ones doing the noble act of kindness. You're feeding both fish and fish food vendor if you think about it comically and selflessly.
Wat Poramai Yikawat
We were reenergized and headed to Wat Poramai Yikawat to see the infamous leaning pagoda. One reason the leaning pagoda is so famous is that its uniqueness can still be seen a great distance away. Standing next to this pagoda looking out over the Chao Phraya River into the city gives you a much different view of Bangkok. It's like still with the gridlock hustle of a Bangkok minute, but happily being viewed from afar & very close at the same time.
The temple's famed marble statue of Buddha is at the entrance of the impressive reclining Buddha. The marble statue of Buddha is crafted and sculptured at the highest level of artistry & innovation. After getting a chance to be in its presence and examining it, I have an even greater appreciation for sculpturists around the world. Sculpturists who make these timeless pieces for their cultures to be adored for generations.
As we walked into the room housing the reclining Buddha, the yantras at the statue's feet caught my eyes instantly. The well-crafted yantras are written in Pali and adds a mystical allure to the statue overall. The reclining Buddha is quite impressive in size & is a main spiritual symbol of Koh Kret.
Weekend visitors come to see this reclining Buddha by the hundreds. All for a chance to do a great deed by donating in order to ask for their wish in return.
The main hall's Buddha statue is simply breathtaking. I sat in there for a moment and soaked up all the great energy flowing through. The design of the whole room was artistically awesome. There are a few smaller Buddhas that accompany the main statue and is organized with a great visual appeal.
Before leaving, we found another famous dish of the Mon Tribe called tad mahn pla (fried fish cakes), which is a common dish in modern Thai cuisine. It's often served with cucumbers & fried basil, then dipped or smothered in a light sweet chili sauce. Although normally eaten with rice, ours was intended to be snack shared amongst the party. The taste of the fried fish cake and herbs used blends perfectly with the cucumber and sweet chili sauce, upon each bite.
As we cross back over to the mainland, we left with great memories of skilled pottery, spiritual enrichment & a great historic appreciation for the Mon Tribe. It was an awesome experience to enjoy a day with the family on Koh Kret. An artificial island that is known to the locals on weekends as Bangkok Metropolis' hidden treasure.
