My partner and I surely had a fun time exploring the Vimanmek Mansion, which was very accessible to a lot of hotels in Thailand like the Convenient Park Hotel Bangkok.To start with, Thais claim that the Vimanmek Mansion is the world’s biggest golden teakwood mansion.  It is also sometimes referred to as the Vimanmek Palace.  It took us more than an hour to go through the huge exhibition rooms which were filled with various memorabilia from King Rama V’s reign.  The English Speaking guide, who was assigned to tour us during that hour, showed us the different rooms, décor, collection of photographs, silver, ceramic items, porcelain, jade, and items that were made of glistening gold.  But of course, we had to pay attention to whatever time we had left on our hands.  Our guide told us that we have to hurry so that we can make it in time to our next destination.

It was a comfortable and short ride from the Vimanmek Mansion to the next item in our itinerary.  Our guide said that we will be thrilled with what we were about to see.  True enough, our hearts leaped when we found out that we will be visiting Wat Po which was home to the magnificent golden reclining Buddha image.

Wat Po is now called Wat Phra Chettuphon Wimon Mangkhlaram Ratchaworamahawihan.  It is also more popularly known as The Temple of the Reclining Buddha.  This particular Buddhist temple is specifically located in Phra Nakhon district of the capital city of Bangkok in Thailand.  It can be found in a street very close to the Grand Palace.  Our guide mentioned that the officially recognized name of the Temple of the Reclining Buddha is Wat Phra Chetuphon Vimolmangklararm Rajwaramahaviharn.  Our guide further shared that Wat Po was built on an area which used to be the center Traditional Thai Medicine instruction and education.  There were even statues within the area that depicted different positions used in Yoga.  It was in 1962 when a school for the traditional form of massage was established here.

The Temple of the Reclining Buddha is said to the one of the oldest wats in Bangkok and it is also one of the biggest considering that it covers a total area of 80, 000 square meters.  About a thousand Buddha images can be found here but the most famous, of course, is none other than the Reclining Buddha or Phra Buddhasaiyas.  This Buddha image was completed as part of King Rama III’s renovation and restoration project.  The Reclining Buddha measures about forty-six metres long and fifteen metres high.  It is impressively adorned with gold plating.  Some parts of its body like the eyes and the soles of its feet were made of Mother of Pearl.

One of the things that I enjoyed during this visit was that I got to make a few wishes again at the hall of the Reclining Buddha.  One caretaker was in charge of selling a handful of coins to visitors for 20 Baht.  Visitors then drop one coin in every tin pot and make a wish afterwards.  The entire hall was filled with the musical sound of coins clicking together.  That was quite interesting!

A lot of visitors think that once they have seen the Reclining Buddha that they have seen all that there is to see at Wat Po.  They are actually very much mistaken.  The entire complex of Wat Po is composed of two walled compounds.  One can find the Reclining Buddha is the northern compound.  In the southern compound, one can find the Tukgawee which is a working Buddhist monastery.  This is a school and also a place where monks took residence.

There are also people who flock to Wat Po to learn more about Traditional Thai Medicine.  Our guide mentioned that there is a pavilion where one can attend lessons on Thai medicine and where one can go to seek specific treatments.  Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we were not able to visit this pavilion.  Those who are fanatics of different forms of massages can also head to Wat Po for a taste of traditional Thai massage for a very affordable price.
We were just about done when it started to rain very very hard.  We ran to the nearest temple and waited until the rain was over.  While we were inside the temple, my partner and I said silent prayers of thanks that that we were given the chance to visit such wonderful places and learn what we could about Thailand’s colorful culture.  We promised ourselves that will go back and hoped that it was sooner rather than later.

HELPFUL INFORMATION:
Address:  Chetuphon Road, Bangkok, Thailand
Operating Hours:  8:30 am to 5:00 pm
Entrance Fee:  50 Baht
Website: www.watpho.com

Posted in Attractions, Thailand

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