| Where is it ? |
China town |
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| How to get there ? |
Get to China town or Hualompong train station. |
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| Entry Fee |
Free but you might get charged 20 Baht |
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| Main Attraction |
Solid Gold, 15' Buddha statue. |
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Wat Traimit, or Temple of the Golden Buddha is not the best or biggest temple in Bangkok but it does house the world's largest ( wait for it ) SOLID GOLD Buddha statue.
The buddha image itself is15 feet tall and from what I understand, it weighs about 5.5 tons. Now, if you are a speculator in Gold, you might be able to put some kind of price on that but it's be etimated to be worth between 13 and 15 Million US Dollars.
As with many of the temples in Bangkok and Thailand, you will be asked to pay an admission fee but when I went to take these photographs, I was not asked for any money, but then again I did not take a pamphlet, so you might be asked to pay 20 Baht if you do. If you are Thai of course, you won't have to pay which is always something that annoys me seeing as I live and work here and pay my taxes just like anyone else.
You can enter the temple complex from a few sides but which ever side you enter from, someone will probably approach you and offer their assistance as a guide.
This is your choice and I can't give any idea of what they'd charge but I'd not pay more than 300 Baht.
The temple that is the most prominent in the complex, which itself is quite small, is not the one that houses the Gold Buddha and when I went, the main temple was not open to visitors.
To get to the Gold Buddha, you need to walk past the two banks to a set of steps going up to an area where there are buddhist statues, rows of bells to ring for good luck, and a lot of people mingling about waiting to get to see the Gold Buddha.
The story about this Gold Buddha is that during wars with Burma and Laos back in the 13th century, this Gold Buddha was covered in plaster to hide its true value and to stop it from being stolen for its value.
The covering of the Buddha in plaster was a good idea but someone should have told someone else because it seems as though this highly valuable statue was forgotten about until fairly recently ( back in 1955 ) when during its move to its present position, some of the plaster got chipped off and they realised they had a very valuable item on their hands.
How anyone thought plaster weighed the same as solid gold is anyone's guess, but that's the story of the Gold Buddha.
Once into the main Temple complex, you'll notice one or two buildings that look like temples. It's hard to determine whether they are actually in use or not as some look to be in a state of disrepair. However, the main temple is in front of you no matter which entrance you take. The temple is fairly small and you can walk around it in a matter of seconds.
Without a guide it wasn't obvious where to find the Gold Buddha and we spent a while wondering around looking for doors that were open into Wat Traimit, but after asking someone we were pointed to some steps past two banks / money exchanges ( which is a strange place to put them )
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An indication of the dress code expected. |
Quite a few visitors are there. |
Wat Traimit seems to be quite popular with tourists and although it wasn't packed with people, there was still quite a large number visiting. Most visitors had guides with them and the guides all seemed to be good at English and knew their stuff although I did catch one being a bit bossy when it came to reminding her group to remove their shoes before entering a temple.
Once up the stairs, you will probably be confronted with a large number of tourists / visitors but the crowd disperses quite quickly so don't be put off.
One thing you will notice is how small the room is for housing the Buddha statue. Normally in Bangkok and elsewhere in Thailand, large temples house precious statues and relics of importance but this temple or section is very small indeed and more than 10 people at any one time is starting to get crowded.
Taking pictures is allowed and donations are welcome. 20 - 50 Baht is plenty.
There is not much else there except some of the original plaster that was used for covering the Buddha roughly 700 years ago.
The Gold Buddha is well worth visiting especially if you're in the area visiting China Town.
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