Bangkok has a plethora of temples to explore. Many temples have visitors flock to them constantly, and the crowds begin to wear on you. It gets a little old paying entry to some of these places too, with some charging as much as 400 Baht per person. Looking at our options, I realized many of the main attractions could not be accessed via the metro – only via taxi, tuk tuk, or water taxi. We really didn’t want to bother with that, so I set about finding us a different itinerary. It would all begin with Wat Traimit.

Wat Traimit Quiet Temple Tour

I came up with a wonderful route, easily walkable and accessible from the metro system. All I did was go on google maps and find random temples nearby. I’ll go into detail here about the temples, and the routes so that you can follow in our footsteps.

Wat Traimit

We began by exiting the metro at Hua Lamphong Station. We took a quick walk across a canal and found ourselves at the famed Wat Traimit. The Temple of the Golden Buddha. The temple was bustling with tourists when we arrived just after noon. We proceeded to get our tickets to see the temple for 40 Baht each (~$1.10), but declined to see the museum. On the second and third floor of the temple is a Buddhist museum that you can see for 100 Baht, but we were just here for the temple.

We presented our tickets to gain admission and then made our way up the many steps to see the Golden Buddha. Once reaching the top, we took off our shoes and began to make our way to the entrance. The ground was very hot, luckily they had rubber walkways, but even then it still scorched the feet. Everyone is expected to dress modestly, so you must not have your legs or shoulders showing. Luckily, we had prepared. If you don’t, you can rent clothing for 10 Baht.

We then proceeded up into the main temple and sat in the cool gaze of the Golden Buddha. It’s really quite astonishing how big the statue is. The origins of the statue itself are uncertain, made in the Sukhothai Dynasty style of the 13th and 14th century. It is thought that some parts of the statue were cast in India. In 1403, the statue was moved from Sukhothai to Ayutthaya, about 100 km north of present day Bangkok.

Hidden, Lost, and Rediscovered

In 1767, Ayutthaya was invaded by the Burmese and the statue was covered in stucco and plaster to conceal it’s identity. The invaders laid waste to the complex, but the statue remained unscathed. In 1801, King Rama I established Bangkok and ordered the Buddha along with others to the city.

A Larger Complex to Explore

We sat and rested for a few minutes before finally making our way back down the steps. At the bottom we then went to a slightly smaller building that housed another large golden Buddha. We sat here for a few minutes as well, and witnessed a monk blessing a few tourists with water. We then made our way out from the crowds and the temple on to the next location.

Wat Pathum Khongkha Ratchaworawihan

We took a walk down the street, and quickly came to a much quieter street away from the very touristy Wat Traimit. Our street took us about a kilometer down what seemed to be the street for mechanics and machine shops. A few small turns, and we found ourselves at the entrance to Wat Pathum Khongkha Ratchaworwihan alone.

Entering into the temple, we found ourselves in a mostly empty complex with two large buildings within the courtyard.

The temple was so quiet and serene. A few monks went about watering plants and cleaning the facilities, but aside from that, we had the place to ourselves. We wandered around the perimeter, which was lined with dozens of life-size, gold Buddha statues. The buildings themselves were beautifully built, each exhibiting a unique curve to it’s design, much like a boat curves up.

We were gestured in by an old monk sitting in front of one of the buildings, so went and sat inside for a few minutes. Here, we were alone yet again in front of many golden statues. The lights were off, but we were much closer to the statues than we had been at any previous temples. We could see that these statues were very intricate as well.

We then proceeded on our way to the next temple on our route.

Wat Uphait Ratbamrung

We wandered down the road a bit further, yet again down streets of mechanics and metal works. We came across a few other travels who happened to be looking for an art exhibition, so after a few hundred meters we parted paths and we made our way to the Wat.

The street we were coming down didn’t appear to have any entrance, but we could clearly see the temple within the walls. We walked the perimeter and eventually came to it’s entrance and proceeded inside.

 

Once again, we found ourselves completely alone in a beautiful temple. The sound of drums and chanting came from within the temple that we slowly approached. Inside we could see monks in performing their rituals, so we did not feel comfortable entering. But we could see within, and what we saw was the most magnificent Buddha yet – made of gold and studded in diamond and other precious gems. Even in the dim light, the statue glittered and sparkled. Beside it, numerous other statues resided.

 

Walking around, we could see that this temple was in fact a Vietnamese Buddhist temple. I could tell because having just come from Vietnam I recognized Vietnamese writing, as well as the heavy use of dragons in it’s displays. The Wat was built in 1787 by Vietnamese immigrants.

After spending about 20 minutes here, we then proceeded on our way to our final destination for the day.

Wat Maha Purettharam

Proceeding further down the road and crossing a small canal, we finally came to our final temple – Wat Maha Purettharam. This temple complex was far larger than the others we’d been to. Upon entering, we were immediately greeted by the temple cats, which Briana was not able to pet much to her disappointment and a nearby monk’s amusement.

The grounds housed three large buildings – though the center building was undergoing construction. One of the buildings housed a Buddha statue much like the others. But the building on the far side housed a surprise for us. We came across a reclining Buddha – I had opted for this route, rather than go to Wat Pho, the temple of the reclining Buddha. But not large as Wat Pho, this Buddha was still quite large and very impressive.

We gave a small donation of 10 Baht and then proceeded on our way, and saying hello to the numerous cats along our path. Once again, as with the other temples, we could see the monks going about their daily chores.

Just before leaving the complex, there was a small building that housed the mummy of a previously residing monk. Here there were a few cats keeping the monk company. We made our way out of the temple, passing the monk’s housing along the way.

 

Tired Legs but Light of Mind

With our itinerary having been completed, we felt quite good with the day’s decision. We learned that you can get a much better tour by getting off the beaten path and just going to the quiet temples. They’re just as grand, but far quieter and private. We’d definitely recommend taking this route during your stay in Bangkok, you’ll enjoy it. You should allow yourself about 4 hours to do the whole thing at a leisurely pace.

 

With the sun beginning to go down, we made our way north along the canal, back towards the Hua Lamphong station to get home. I stopped real quick though some grilled mystery meat from a street vendor. I have no idea what I ate, I think it was pork though they said chicken and tasted like neither – but it was good nonetheless.

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