Wat Pho, Wat Phra Kaew, and the Grand Palace are some of the most visited locations in Bangkok. So it is worth getting to the Wats early – if not to beat the crowds, at least to beat the heat!
Wat Pho, also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, is located near the Chao Phraya River and the Grand Palace. In addition to being a temple, Wat Pho housed the first public university in Thailand, established during the reign of King Rama III. The university used pictorial inscriptions in stone installed around the temple complex to cover a range of subjects. The temple was also home to a medical training center. Today, traditional Thai medicine and massage are still practiced on site.
Before you enter the individual chapels, you will need to remove your shoes. There are mini cubby holes near the chapel entrances for storing footwear. But the back and forth traffic of people dropping off and/or picking up shoes makes the entrances a little difficult to maneuver.
The Reclining Buddha, one of the main allures of Wat Pho, spans 46 meters in length and is covered in gold leaf. If you are attempting to get the entire Buddha in a picture – as I also attempted and failed – it will seem near impossible. The hall is lined with 108 bronze bowls, representing the 108 actions or characters of Buddha. Visitors can purchase a bowl of coins and, starting from one end of the hall, drop a coin in each of the Buddha’s bowls to bring themselves good luck. Even if you don’t get 108 coins to disperse among the bowls, you can still wander the hall admiring the Reclining Buddha and listening to the clink-clink-clink of accumulating good fortune.
And don’t forget to look up when you are outside! The roofs of the temple buildings are spectacularly colorful, with intricate patterns and spires reaching skyward.
