Wat Phra Chetuphon or known as Wat Pho

is a marvelous 16th century buddhist royal monastery that was built in 20 acres of land just to the south where the king resides. In this Buddhist monastery sits about 10 main buildings surrounded by pagoda made of tiles and a few stupas around the area. The colors of the building are vivid, cheerful laminated with gold that seems to be the standard color of important buildings in Thailand. But what seems to be attracting people to see this place is the luxurious giant reclining Buddha that is surrounded by historic murals containing some history and cultural items of Thailand.

If you are a temple enthusiast, this is one of the temples that is worth checking out when visiting the country. As overhyped as it is, the temple contains the rich history of Thailand and an easier gate to understanding the Wat (temple) of Thailand.

It was certainly a dream of mine to explore temples in Thailand. I have visited a lot of temples in Indonesia which were a lot more ancient but Thailand intrigues me with some of their temple history tied back home. Even then, the famous ones are just as intriguing to me. The materials used on these temples are something I have not found back home. They are made from broken tiles turned into mosaics that coated the pagodas and the stupas.

The temples are also more colorful and have something called Mondop which I think is what makes Thailand temples uniquely thailand.

Similarly like the Indonesian temple, there is a convention on how they are built and ways to understand the Wats. I suppose Wat Pho was my first that got me into looking for how the temple was constructed and the architectural principles of the temple in Thailand. I was amazed that their architectural principles are similar yet different. There are some aspects that don't exist in ancient temples in Indonesia but exist in thailand. Another important part is that Indonesian temples are only for heritage sites and some are non-functioning while Wats in Thailand are still functioning not only just for sightseeing but also for education and religious purposes.

In this post, I will show you how to get there and some tips, especially for visiting the area.

How to Get To Wat Pho

It really depends on where you’re staying but the temple is reachable by MRT and BTS which basically is the public transportation in Thailand. The most convenient way of navigating MRT and BTS is by downloading their APP to know the fare and where to go. But if you don’t like public transportation, metered taxis and grab will take you to this historical area. If you have a lot of time, you can also walk around the area to the Grand Palace and the souvenirs market.

How to Not Get Hustled in Wat Pho

If you’re using MRT, you’d get off at Sanam Chai MRT station with its beautiful architecture and they even have a board mentioning the significance of the building and why it was designed that way. From there, just go up and you will reach the museum of Siam. When I arrived, the place was closed so the next destination would be just Wat Pho.

Along the way, there are many tuk tuk drivers that are trying to get you into their tuk tuk and perhaps not to the destination that you want. They seem to be approaching just specific foreigners. The only way to avoid them is to just walk straight. It’s quite annoying to find the galore of hustlers but after getting inside the complex and seeing how packed it was with tourists, I think it was something normal, just don’t fall into it and I personally would rather get lost and find officials than to fall into these hustlers.

Inside Wat Phra Chetuphon

It seems like if you’re Thai, this place is free of entry but there is a specialized foreigner line that costs 200 Bath which is around $5-6. I have to say that the price is super fair for foreigners considering that in Indonesia they’re charging more for foreigners and it's a pretty expensive activity. Here, that's a pretty reasonable price to explore this maze-like architecture. So, I was fine with it and decided to check it out.

Inside the Wat, there are some directory that would be handy to guide your way navigating this massive temple. There are some more directories around the temple that would help you. One of the things that you should see around the area is definitely Phra Ubosot and Phra Vihara where the reclining Buddha is residing. They are also seem to be the most famous and seem to be the most visited in the area.

Around the compound there are people clearing the place and doing some renovation works. There are alos temples around where visitors can visit but have to take off their shoes. I visited one of the open buddha parts and tried bowing. I am not a buddhist but have been interested in that religion. Next on the buddha there are boxes with words written on it which seem to work like a fortune cookie. I guess even if you don’t believe in it, that was still a fun thing to do around the area.

Another thing that can be done in Wat Po is exploring the buddha statues that are lined up in the area.

At times, this place feels overcrowded and loses its mysticism. But in the quieter part, you can feel the charm of this place and the sacredness of it.

It was also interesting to see many foreigners trying to take selfies in front of the buddha. It’s nothing new to me but still remains interesting.

In this compound you can also find interesting scriptures such as this one

The reclining Buddha as the main attraction was interesting. It was packed and people were lining up to take the picture. Then by the middle of the buddha there are coin bowls where people pay 20 baht and try to fill up the coin until the exit.

I have to say that the place was quite crowded and I think that the morning wasn’t the perfect time to visit. Somewhere around the afternoon or just slightly around 2-3 PM would have been perfect. This place is worth a day if you’re strolling its nook and crannies but if you have some more energy left you can also explore other spots around the area.

I get tired easily in the crowd and that was it, a day in Wat Pho. I thought that I could do something like 6 hours in Thailand, especially bangkok but this place is big and there are many places scattered around.

It would be easy perhaps to live nearby the Wat but living in the local suburb, that’s a long way to commute and ways to transfer from public transportation to MRTs.

I have to say, that's going to take me a bit of time to explore places around here compared to when the area is much smaller. Or perhaps next time, I can find a better way exploring the temple within 6 hours which I doubt is impossible considering the traffic around the area.

Walking around Wat Pho though it was slightly hot, I quite enjoy it. The only minor inconvenient would be how crowd it was and the hustlers around it. But I suppose, it's pretty alright considering it's like that across touristy places.

More photo from Wat Pho