What is a wat?

A 'wat' is the thai word for temple. In and around Bangkok there is loads of them. Around 80% of the Thai are Buddhists, so they need a lot of temples.

Some of the big wats in town are also the real tourist attractions, but a lot of them are really quite with just a few Thai offering insence or flowers to Buddha.


Wat Pho has an enormous reclining Buddha. Almost the complete building is filled with a golden statue of a lying Buddha figure. When walking in you need to be bare feet, so there is a hudge row of flip-flops at the entrance.
Inside this wat is was also possible to drop a number of small coins in a row of metal bowls. The sound of this would fill up the whole temple.

The Grand Palace. Entrance fee is free for Thai, like a lot of the tourist attractions. This hudge temple complex also has a miniature of Ankhor Wat inside.

Inside with the 'Golden Buddha'. I got here with the free 'shopping tuktuk'. A lot of the tuktuk drivers have coupons which give them 5 liters of free gas, when they take tourists to travel agents, suit shops or jewelery stores. But I managed to withstand the insisting salesmen at the suit shop and in return my tuktuk driver took me to a couple of wats and the palace.