Bangkok Temple Tours

There is a little Angkor Wat miniature model in the Grand Palace (Wat Pra Kaew) in Bangkok. Have you ever wondered why that is? The answer can of course be found when we take a look at the history of Thailand, Angkor Wat and Cambodia. And the Emerald Buddha, which possesses magic powers as many Thai people believe to this very day.

Angkor Wat miniature model in Wat Pra Kaew

The Emerald Buddha was in the possession of the Khmer, and in 1432 the Thai conquered Angkor Wat and took the Emerald Buddha with them.

So in the 20th century, the construction of this miniature model was started as a reminder of how far the Kingdom of Thailand once reached.

In Thailand, Buddha statues are often placed in caves. This goes back to animistic beliefs that were widespread in the region even before Buddhism arrived in Thailand.

Sometimes, “artificial caves” are build to recreate that. In the wall you can see pictures of people who are cremated inside the walls, and whose families made donations.

It’s kind of funny that there is a lightbulb placed so prominently and out in the open – after going through all the effort of creating an artificial cave, they didn’t seem to think of hiding it a bit more subtly.

Photocredit: Vaseka

Here you can see the unique pagoda of the Wat Ratchanatdaram temple which is located in Bangkok’s old city district, about a ten minute walk away from the Eastern end of the Khao San Road. It is particularly famous for the pagoda, Loha Prasat with it’s 37 copper spires, which represent the 37 virtues that one must possess in order to reach enlightenment.

Photocredits: Igor Prahin

Buddha teaches compassion. And this monk practices it. You can often find dogs on the compounds of temples in Bangkok, they roam about and are taken care of by the monks and the visitors.

Photocredits: mistifarang

This picture was taken in the Wat Phra Kaew temple in Bangkok. It shows offerings that are being made. You can see some typical elements in this picture. For example, the flower garlands – puang malai.

There’s also water, some cookings and fruits. Typically, depending upon which deity to make offerings to, there are special things that you offer to them, and certain things how we can do the offering.

When you go on a Bangkok temple tour with us, we can show you how to do these offerings, why we offer certain things and what the meaning of rituals and so on is.

Photocredit: yoga&alberto

Thai people still are deeply religious. In fact, Thailand is the country where the largest part of the population are practicing Buddhists.  And you can still see that when you walk into a temple – people perform ceremonies, pray and meditate all the time. They make offerings to shrines, dieties, monks and holy figures. They ask for something they want or need in their life. They go to the temples to talk to monks and ask for their advice and blessing before embarking on a venture or when they have obstacles, difficulties or problems. They come to express their gratitude for positive things they experienced and to honor their ancestors.

If you want to go on a Bangkok temple tour, you can often see many rituals being performed, gestures being made and so on. It helps to have someone with you who can explain the meaning of these things and even guide you through a ritual if that is what you want.

Photocredit: Gabriel Perez

The murals at the Wat Phra Kaew temple in Bangkok (also known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha) tell a story. It’s the national epic of Thailand, also known as Ramakien. It’s a long and fascinating story, and only some of the scenes are depicted on these walls (nobody knows why some scenes have been selected for inclusion and others not).

Here is a picture of an old Thai man who seems to look at the skillful paintings and plays the story in his mind.

If you want to know more about the story behind this, and be walked through the story to let the pictures come alive, simply book one of our Bangkok temple tours where we will provide you with a knowledgeable expert tour guide in Bangkok.

Not many people think of Bangkok as a “green” city – way too much concrete. But it still has it’s green pockets, where it’s junglish past is revealed. Just have a look at this temple which is surrounded by lush green, almost as if nature wants to absorb it into the swampland.

Photocredit: Milan  Swolfs

Here is a picture from the Wat Pho temple in Bangkok (also known as Wat Phra Chetuphon Vimolmangklararm Rajwaramahaviharn, or among tourists as The Temple of the Emerald Buddha). It shows a Chinese stone statue in the foreground, who is guarding a door entrance.

A lot of Chinese statues and porcelain has been brought into Thailand from China in the past, when there was a lot of sea trade. Sometimes the ships that came back from China did not carry enough merchandise, and they just use these stone statues and broken porcelain as ballast, to make the ships heavier (if the ships were too light, there was a risk that they wouldn’t make it through the sea).

Photocredit: Noxunas

I thought this is a really cool picture – it shows a couple of friendly smiling Buddhist monks in their typical orange robes walking through a big gate, behind which an armed guard is standing.

The photographer has created a very nice artistic effect by decoloring the whole picture except for the orange robes of the monks.

Photocredit: Stewart White