Sangkhlaburi #1

Two temples

By Grant Cameron

December 11^th, 2017

Road trip!

With a good buddy I decided to drive to Sangkhlaburi, a small village in Thailand’s Khao Laem National Park, and very close to the Myanmar border.

From Bangkok the distance is about 340 kilometers, and a drive should take around 6 hours allowing for comfort stops. Sangkhlaburi is famous for its Mon bridge or “Saphan Mon” and which is Thailand’s longest wooden bridge and the second longest in the world, measuring over 400 meters.

Two temples

Of course, we stopped en route and took in Prasat Mueang Singh historical park (another story cometh), and on arrival in Sangkhlaburi we went to the first restaurant for lunch (having left Bangkok at 06:30am).

The local restaurant provided excellent Thai food, albeit more hot and spicy than we were used to, and after a couple of beers we decided to drive across the road bridge and explore the south side of the village, particularly two temples we wished to see: Wat Chedi Putthakaya - the chedi in the above and immediately below photos, and Wat Wang Wiwekaram.

Wat Chedi Putthakaya

The Putthakaya temple houses a large golden chedi, modelled after the chedi of the Mahabodhi temple in the Indian town of Bodhgaya, apparently the place where Buddha reached enlightenment over 2,500 years ago.

Gold . .

Built in 1982 the chedi is primarily a steel reinforced cement structure, but entirely covered in gold paint, the quantity of gold used not being known but estimated to be several kilos worth!

The below image, from up close, and a composite of 3 images combined, still cannot adequately display the overpowering size of the chedi.

400 metres . .

. . is the length of the walk that will take you to the next temple (bear in mind the heat, so it's a hot and sweaty walk!).

But a last few images before we go . .

Wat Wang Wiwekaram

Wat Wang Wiwekaram or Wat Uttama / Wat Mon as it is locally known, was built by a Mon monk refugee from Burma’s civil war in 1949.

A friendly temple

The temple’s founder and head monk, Burmese refugee Luang Phaw Uttama, passed away in 1983 but is still widely revered throughout Thailand. He was never cremated and his remains are in a closed coffin on a large shrine in the main building.

In the huge main building with very high ceilings, a senior monks blesses visitors with holy water every day, including foreigners who are most welcome.

Our visit to these two temples was most enjoyable; we were welcomed by monks and visitors alike, and as sometimes happens, were asked to take photos with the local people; not a hard thing to do especially if they are lovely young ladies.

Getting there

The map shows the location of Sangkhlaburi relative to the rest of Thailand, along with the GPS coordinates to take you to the entrance to the village, and from where you will be able to easily find the temples, and of course the bridge.

Sangkhlaburi: 15.157336N, 98.451490E
Wat Wang Wiwekaram: 15.132398N, 98.444892E
Wat Chedi Putthakaya: 15.129446N, 98.449634E