The Spectacular Wats of Bangkok

Written by Kyle about Thailand. Feelin' happy

As we wrote before, Bangkok is a crazy city full of seemingly incongruent dichotomies. But, it is also a city that is the center of Thai Buddhism which is reflected by the wats in the Old City.

Note that one thing the pictures do not show is how increadibly hot it was. With temperatures around and over 100 degrees with swealtering humidity, we spent most of our time running from shade to shade. Fortunately, we were looking at quite beatiful temples, so the heat didn't affect our experience too much.

Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn)

The prang (tower) is decorated by broken pieces of porcelain.

Wat Arun, Bangkok, Thailand-15

The top of one of the prangs with modern Bangkok in the background

Wat Arun, Bangkok, Thailand-51

I love the tiling on the temple roofs.

Wat Arun, Bangkok, Thailand-48

Wat Pho

The world's largest reclining Buddha!

Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand-19

Buddha, buddha, buddha, buddha...

Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand-36

Temple kitty

Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand-35

Did I mention I like the tiled roofs?

Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand-31

Wat Phra Khaew

This is Thailand's most sacred temple. Wat Phra Khaew is also the home of the Emerald Buddha which is, as you imagined, an emerald-covered Buddha. We're not allowed to take pictures of said Buddha, but it's suffice to say that it is quite small and on a very high pedestal. It's not very exciting to the untrained eyes, like ours, but the surrounding grounds are spectacular.

Left-over flower petals from an earlier ceremony.

Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok, Thailand

This is actually the Grand Palace. I like the look on the guard's face that clearly does not approve of my photo taking.

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April 14, 2010 Jenna: I love it! The details and close-ups are especially interesting. I studied all this as a student of art history in college and have visited some temples in Indonesia but none in Thailand. Thanks for sharing!

April 16, 2010 Kyle: Well, now I envy you! We're super excited to hopefully hit up the temples in Indonesia someday...

April 14, 2010 Paul: when i look at these pictures all i think about is Mortal Kombat for some reason

April 16, 2010 Kyle: Nerd!

April 14, 2010 Den & Sue: Totally beautiful but it sounds like summer in Chicago!

April 15, 2010 Carin: Bangkok is probably my favourite city I've visited so far..but you are right about the heat. It gets unbearable!

April 16, 2010 Kyle: Yes, I'm eternally grateful to whomever invented air conditioning.

April 18, 2010 Earl: Excellent photos...one of my favorites is Wat Suthat, where I'd often go to sit in the shade and get out of the heat for a while. It always amazed me how in the midst of such a chaotic city, all you need to do is step into the compound of a wat and you can easily forget that you're in a massive city at all.

April 19, 2010 Kyle: Now we have another wat to check out the next time we are in Bangkok. Sweet!

April 18, 2010 Susan: I loved all the color. I loved the tiled roofs too, Bessy.

April 21, 2010 Linda: Beautiful photos! The temples are incredible works of art! The colors of the tiles rival the colors of the textiles that you saw in Latin America.