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.

Phra Ram Ratchaniwet Palace

Phra Ram Ratchaniwet Palace (พระราม ราชนิเวศน์), or simply Ban Puen Palace (วังบ้านปืน) is located in the southern part of town Phetchaburi within a military complex - but it is freely accessible, and at least according to the websites I have found it has no entrance fee.

The palace was built in European art deco style designed by the German architect Karl Doering. King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) ordered the construction shortly before his death in 1910, and it was finished in 1916. It was supposed to become his palace for the rainy season, and unlike nearby Khao Wang Palace the King chose an easier accessible location in the flat land.

Sadly we arrived there a bit too late - we did not know the opening times and the stay at Wat Mahathat took a bit long - so the palace was already closed when we came there. So we could only enjoy the view from the outside, and take several photos of the family posing in front of the building or the statue. But of course for the display here I have chosen only the photos without people.

A few photos from the inside I could find here, clearly worth to go again to see the inside as well next time.

District museum Bangkok Yai

One of several district museums I visited recently is the one of Bangkok Yai district. In fact I went the three times, the first time I was really too late, the second time I was there half hour before the closing time I read at the local museums database. But actually this had its good as well, because when I then returned there with my wife she could talk with the guide who was very talkative. And additionally to the district museum we could listen to a concert by the school orchestra which was preparing for a public performance few days later.

I was a bit cheating with the introductory photo - that one does not show the district museum, but the Rit Narong Ron museum (พิพิธภัณฑ์บ้านคุณหลวงฤทธิณรงค์รอน). This building was the home of Khun Luang Rit Narong Ron, who as being childless donated his land to become the public school which now bears his name. We couldn't see much in there as upstairs was locked, but it is a well-preserved old styled house. The district museum however wasn't built inside there, but in a large school room next to it.

The first exhibit is the mockup of the Vichaiprasit Fort, located at the mouth of Bangkok Yai canal to the Chao Phraya. On the wall it has posters with information on Wang Doem Palace, the palace of King Taksin and later residence of several other royals.This is now located within a Navy complex, so it was new to me that it is possible to visit it - next time in Bangkok it will be quite high on my list. But for me as a technology guy the old printing press and the original Thai types was even more interesting. It was within this district where Dan Bradley started printing in Thailand with the first newspaper Bangkok Recorder.

Further exhibits include a boat loaded with fruits, as the hinterland of the district was filled with orchards and only at the rim of the river and the canal it had actual settlements. Next to the exit it has two shop house facades. Though I don't know from which part of the districts these were supposed to originate, they are to show the style of living in the past - well, of the wealthy. There are also several more posters on the walls, giving the histories of the various temples in the district, most notably of course Wat Arun.

The museum is rather easy to find - when you drive on Phetkasem towards Wong Wian Yai, directly before the bridge over the Khlong (which also marks the beginning of Phetkasem) turn into the narrow sidestreet, Phetkasem Soi 2. This ends on the school yard, and you cannot miss to see the Rit Narong Ron museum depicted above. The museum is located to the right of that one. Though it is possible to walk there from the newly opened Wong Wian Yai Skytrain station, that's still a 30 minute walk.

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.

Santa Cruz Church, Bangkok

Santa Cruz Church (Holy Cross Church, โบสถ์ซานตาครูซ) is a small Roman Catholic church located on the east side of the Chao Phraya river, close to Memorial Bridge. It is one of the landmarks of the Portuguese community, at the river coast of Thonburi district.

The church was built in 1916 by two renowned Italian architects Annibale Rigotti and Mario Tamagno. It is however the third church of this name at this location, the first one was built in 1770 on land given to the Portuguese by King Taksin. The wooden church fell in disrepair, and was replaced by a second one in 1835 under Bishop Pallegoix.

Lately I visited the church for the third time, and for the first time was able to see the inside as well. I came there on the Saturday before Easter, and it had several people preparing the church for the most important catholic feast, especially preparing a cart which looked like it was to be used in an Easter procession. The only drawback of the date I went there - the cross at the altar was covered by a black cloth since Good Friday and the Saturday before Easter are the days of mourning before the celebration of the resurrection.

Behind the church are a few tombstone, the graves of past priests in this church. The central and largest one belongs to Father Khulianmokin Dakrut (คุณพ่อ คูเลียลโมกิ้น ดากรู้ส, 1880-1949), who if I read the only website with his name correctly was active in the construction of the church in 1916.

Quite a lot of the information in this posting originates from the great site Tour Bangkok Legacies, which also shows some more photos of the compound. It also includes a guide to the nearby Kuan Yin shrine, however I haven't yet visited that one.

Mueang Sing

Mueang Sing (เมืองสิงห์) is one of the ten historical parks in Thailand, but even though it is not that far from Bangkok and close to the River Kwai bridge visitied by almost every tourist coming to Thailand, it seems a very quite place. The day we went there I did not see any other tourist, except a group of Thai pathfinders who were camping next to the river.

While some historians identify the site with Srichaiya Singhapura mentioned in a stone inscription praising the Khmer king Jayavarman VII, however the first historical reference to this site dates from the reign of King Rama I at the end of the 18th century. At that time Mueang Sing was a fortified town, located on one of the major routes invading Burmese troops used when invading Siam. It is located near the end of the valley of the Kwae Noi river, thus protecting the way from the Three Pagoda pass to Kanchanaburi. But as it was just a minor town, it was reduced to a subdistrict (Tambon) when the administrative system of Siam was modernized by Prince Damrong.

The site is a Khmer temple complex, contemporary with the world-famous Angkor Wat. The most impressive and best restored building is named monument 1, with the main temple building (prasat) in the middle surrounded by a gallery wall with an entrance (gopura) in each of the four cardinal direction.

Next to it is a second large monument, however only the large foundation is preserved. In the past it also had three towers and a gallery wall, but these haven't been reconstructed.

Not all of the sites within the complex are as impressive as the main one. So called monument 4 is just a few foundation stones visible on the ground. The brochure from the park does not say much about it, but it was probably a religious building as well as a few artifacts were found in it. I did not stop at monument 3, which according to the brochure is just a little bit more than the foundation of a religious site.

In Michael Freeman's Khmer Temples of Thailand and Laos the author gives this temple only one star out of three, while the similar Phimai historical park in Nakhon Ratchasima get the full three stars. One point the author criticizes is the fact that the main monument of Muaeng Sing was reconstructed with too much haste and thus probably does not show the original architecture. Nevertheless I also enjoyed the trip to both sites, Phimai has much more to see but if you're around Kanchanaburi then Mueang Sing is worth a visit as well.

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.