Wat Pho- Temple of the reclining buddha

We had been to Bangkok last year sometime when Avaneesh was 1 year old. Compared to now it was quite easy to go any place which is not kid friendly or has nothing to do with kids. Now we have to think and research if there is anything for kids before we go anywhere. Although I must admit he loves to see beautiful places and things. 

Coming back to the topic we went to the beautiful Buddhist temple in Bangkok. Wat Pho is one of the largest and oldest temples in Bangkok. It features the largest single Buddha - the famous reclining Buddha - measuring more than 160 feet in length. 

The image of the reclining Buddha is made of stuccoed bricks and gilded with gold leaves. It is 46 meters long, 15 meters high at the head end and 3 meters at the feet end. The The 3 m high and 4.5 m long feet of Buddha's sole (in the last pic below) are inlaid with mother of pearl. They are crafted with 108 auspicious signs of the Buddha in Thai- Chinese art style.

The gorgeous wall mural is made with gold and ink in the Hall of the Reclining Buddha in the temple. The great wall mural is composed of a coordinated series of paintings illustrating the life stories.

       The intricate mural are some 200 year old and are made all through the top on a 100 feet tall wall. The doors and ceiling look stunning with beautiful patterns made in combination of either black & gold or red & gold.

Some features I attracted to and saw everywhere in the Wat Pho were beautiful metal bells, stone statues,Chinese guards, Foo dogs,  ballasts from ancient trading ships from China, Miniature gardens to name a few.

The roof and entrances are heavily decorated with carved images with multiple tiers.  Ornamented multiple tiers style of roof is reserved for roofs on temples, palaces and important public buildings. Two or three tiers are often used, but some royal temples have four.  Dynamic visual rhythms is created by layers of roof - smallest at top , larger in the middle and the largest at the bottom.

In the inner large ground of the temple were images of 1000 Buddha  from different temples which were ruined.We ventured in other parts of Vihara-  Chedis of four kings, Thai Massage school, Ordination Hall, Pang Nak Prok and some more.  

It was hot and humid on that day. We were exhausted by the end of visit. We had kept one day of our trip to the city to view only temples. There are around 400 Wats in Bangkok. We saw only a few. This was one of them. 

 Wat Pho was on our ' must visit' for long time. 

Joining Travel Tuesday!!

Thai Buddhist temple, Penang, Malaysia

 The capital of the gorgeous island of Penang,Malaysia is George town. It has many tourist sites along with a heritage city and two beautiful Buddhist temples. Though both temples are Buddhist, their origins are different and hence the design and the architecture of the both is different. Both temples are next to each other yet the experience is different and it is hard to say which is more prettier. 

Today I will take you to the Wat Chaiya Mangkalaram which is a Thai Buddhist temple. Build in a typical Thai temple architectural style, the temple has stunning ornate design and fine detailed carvings and statues stenciled with gold leaf. 

The front section has a huge compound .. Dragon headed flying serpents and traditional guards of Thai style  welcome you .. These are beautifully decorated with hues of maroon, emerald green, pink and blues with intricate gold work..

It has ornamented multiple roof tiers which is important element of any Thai temple. It is said that 2-5 tiers are must in Thai temple architecture while some royal temples have 4 tiers. 

As you step inside you will see beautiful lotus on the floor ..

In Buddhist scripture, it is said that after finishing his sermon , Buddha sat in the lotus position and meditated. Then white and red lotuses rained down from heaven and fell upon the Buddha and all those that had gathered to hear the Buddha’s sermon. 

You can see the how big the lotus design on the temple floor by comparing its size with the people's feet..

The walls...

The cross hatched sections on the ceiling with ornate flowers in center..

The pillars stenciled with bodhi leaf design with gold leaf .. The pink lotus shaped candles were lit by deities at the feet of  the Buddha..Even the windows and doors had a delicate wrought iron design in shape of lotus painted in red and green..

The Reclining Buddha statue is 33 meters in length..painted with gold leaf.. It is said that the significance behind the reclining Buddha is that the head pointing northwards- resting in the palm of the right hand symbolizes enlightenment or Nirvana. Also Buddha's one hand is pointing towards earth and other towards heaven signifying link between earth and heaven.

The Reclining Buddha is in the main hall which is the main attraction. In the other side of temple there are several statues of Buddhas from all over the world, small prayers rooms are at the back and also there is a  huge beautiful mural on the wall depicting the tree of life and meditating Buddha in the lotus position. Outside the front section is another smaller ornate temple, a Malay/Nyonya style house. Also there is a nine-storey pagoda which is approximately 165 feet high. 

We went here some 1.5 year back..Glad that I have finally documented it before I forget the details!! While I was digging some information about Thai temple architecture I found two lovely blogs about Buddhist temples, if you are interested in beautiful temple architectures then definitely visit them:

Dale's Korean temple adventours and
way of design