As we headed off the boat pier towards Wat Pho, a Thai guy approached us saying that the temple is closed - “morning is only for locals to pray” he said, and then promptly offered to show us “other temples and good deal shopping”! Good thing we did our reading – many other travellers have documented common scams at attractions in Bangkok and ours was clearly “by the textbook”! So except for a brief detour to side-step the very persistent guy, we were back on track to see the wat, phew!
Wat Pho is the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. Touted to be the largest reclining buddha in Thailand, it is quite a sight to behold – 46 metres long and 15 metres high, its body is glaring gold and elaborate mother-of-pearl in-lay adorn the soles of its feet.
I had insisted that our visit to Bangkok include at least one temple visit – so that our kids have an introduction of sorts to Thailand’s religious heritage. Wat Pho seemed the perfect choice as I read about a novel activity it had that I thought the kids would enjoy!
As you head into the room where the buddha is housed, you hear a resonating humming sound that becomes louder as you go further in. Rounding the corner at the buddha’s feet, you see the source of the calming hum - a row of bronze prayer bowls along the wall. 108 of them in all apparently. For a donation of 20 baht, you can have a cup of coins – you are supposed to drop a coin into each bowl and wish for good luck. The kids had such fun doing this (by that I mean dropping coins, I doubt they actually made any wishes!), they almost went back for another round…
The grounds of Wat Pho are vast, well maintained and quite worth the visit!
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