After exploring Chaiyaphum, we challenged ourselves for an adventure. This time we came to Nakhon Pathom, a city 57 km West of Bangkok. The trip was truly bold, with only bunch of foreigners and no local friend around us, and no self-arranged transportation. Everything was done with public transport and limited Thai proficiency.
Firstly, to get to Nakhon Pathom we would need to get ourselves onto the minivan from Victory Monument BTS station. Get out from Exit #4, and look for the minivan heading to Kanchanaburi & Nakhon Pathom at the Ko Phaya Thai (blue) area.
Credit to easymap.in.th to provide the guidance in English
When you purchase the ticket to Nakhon Pathom, the minivan will usually drop you along Route #4 Phetkasem Rd. and the minivan will proceed to Kanchanaburi. For your convenience, tell the driver that you are going down at Wat Srisathong, and from the junction you just walk for about 500 meter into the village and you will reach the temple after crossing a rail track.
However, we were not doing it this way. The minivan dropped us in front of Big C supermarket along Route #4 together with some other passengers, and we went into the mall for toilet break & asked for the direction to the temple. The kind shopkeeper advised us on the bus number to ride on and then went out to the main road and wait for the bus heading to Bangkok (Sorry I could not remember the bus number, otherwise I would have put it here as guidance). When the bus came, we were the only foreigners on board. Ticket was cheap for the non-air conditioned bus to get us to our destination. The bus conductor was very friendly and tried to speak a little to us, probably she would never expect foreigners travelling on the local bus that she conducted.
We came to our first destination of the day, the Wat Srisathong. This is a famous temple with Phra Rahu, the god of darkness. The Phra Rahu statue in Wat Srisathong at Nakhon Pathom, was said to be the largest in Thailand. The worshipers usually seek the blessings from Phra Rahu to repel the bad luck.
The special things here were the offerings for Phra Rahoo. They were all in black color, which each of the offering carried different meanings.
Even the roses and the incense stick were in black color.
After visiting the temple, we had our simple snack sold by the villagers nearby, which was one of the famous food in Nakhon Pathom - Khao Lham (coconut glutinous rice). Nakhon Pathom is famous for the coconut production, and thus the famous food here are related to coconut. There were 2 types of Khao Lham, which were the white glutinous rice and the black glutinous rice. The rice was cooked with the coconut milk in the bamboo stick over the charcoal top. We could smell the fragrance of the coconut even when we were still far from the stall. Khao Lham was very suitable for the people who have sweet tooth.
Under the soaring heat, coconut juice is the remedy. In this place, fragrant coconut are famous too. The locals drink coconut juice in 2 ways, some drink directly from the fresh coconut, while the others take the coconut to heat it on top of charcoal. This process made the fragrance of the coconut to be even more outstanding, and the coconut juice is much sweeter! You could feel the taste & fragrance are much more compact than fresh coconut.
Next, we took another local bus heading to Phuttamonthon. Over here, we would be able to see one of the tallest standing Buddha statue, and perhaps the world's tallest copper Buddha statue. The Buddha stands at 16 meter tall and looks over the large reservoir. The Buddha statue was built in 1957 to mark the 2500th year of Buddhism.
Phuttamonthon Buddhist park was a huge well-kept garden sit over 400 hectares of land, and the garden was landscaped tributes to the four stages of Buddha's life: His birth, enlightenment, teaching and nirvana. In the garden, we came across a cute little puppy, which each of us cuddling and playing with him before we left.
And, we faced a BIG problem. Phuttamonthon was more than 10 km away from the main road Route #4, and there were no public transport at all! As we were wondering how shall we get out from Phuttamonthon, suddenly, we saw a truck was about to leave the place. I quickly approached the driver and told him our situation and asked for advise on how to get out, and unexpectedly he offered us free ride to the town! Feeling grateful, all of us climbed to the back of the pick-up truck, and started our journey to the city center. What a wonderful and lucky day!
After the truck-ride, we came to the most significant landmark of the city, the Phra Pathom Chedi. The temple is located right in the center of the city of Nakhon Pathom, and from here the public transport are easily accessible such as tuk-tuk and motorcycle taxi. The visitors are able to see this chedi from far, which stands at 120 meter high.
Visitors could walk around the chedi and admire the large golden Buddha image on the Southern side.
While walking around the inner courtyard of the chedi, the visitors could also visit the smaller temple halls located next to it.
Phuttamonthon Buddhist park was a huge well-kept garden sit over 400 hectares of land, and the garden was landscaped tributes to the four stages of Buddha's life: His birth, enlightenment, teaching and nirvana. In the garden, we came across a cute little puppy, which each of us cuddling and playing with him before we left.
And, we faced a BIG problem. Phuttamonthon was more than 10 km away from the main road Route #4, and there were no public transport at all! As we were wondering how shall we get out from Phuttamonthon, suddenly, we saw a truck was about to leave the place. I quickly approached the driver and told him our situation and asked for advise on how to get out, and unexpectedly he offered us free ride to the town! Feeling grateful, all of us climbed to the back of the pick-up truck, and started our journey to the city center. What a wonderful and lucky day!
After the truck-ride, we came to the most significant landmark of the city, the Phra Pathom Chedi. The temple is located right in the center of the city of Nakhon Pathom, and from here the public transport are easily accessible such as tuk-tuk and motorcycle taxi. The visitors are able to see this chedi from far, which stands at 120 meter high.
Walking up towards the inner courtyard of the chedi, we stopped by and worshiped the Buddha image together with the locals.
This massive chedi is the largest in the world, and you can see it from every corner of the city.
Visitors could walk around the chedi and admire the large golden Buddha image on the Southern side.
While walking around the inner courtyard of the chedi, the visitors could also visit the smaller temple halls located next to it.
Finally, we went to the last stop of the trip which was the Sanam Chan Palace, located 2 km West of the Phra Pathom Chedi. This beautiful place was previously the summer residence for King Rama VI. This palace was also a top choice for the university students from Silpakorn University adjacent to the palace, to take their graduation pictures.
This place was built in 1908 but only had the housewarming party in 1917. The residence was the centerpiece in the style of European castle.
In front of the palace was a monument of Ya-Leh statue, which was the beloved dog of King Rama VI.
The trip ended with us taking motorcycle taxis to the minivan station, which we moved back to Bangkok. The trip made us to fall in love with Thailand even more, with so many kind and friendly people around. We were really thankful for all the kind people who had helped us all the way throughout the trip.
Next trip, the floating market trip with unexpected surprises!
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