Travel Day 1089 – Bangkok, THAILAND
Today I visited another place that I had been passing by every single day since I had arrived in Bangkok, Wat Suthat…
Wat Suthat in Bangkok, Thailand
Generally quite unspectacular from the outside, Wat Suthat stayed rather in my focus because of two distinct circumstances. For once it was located facing the biggest open square in Bangkok and secondly it had a skinny red structure, Sao Ching-Cha right in front of it. While similar looking temples existed almost on every single corner in Bangkok, the gate like Sao Ching-Cha was actually a very unique structure and couldn’t be found anywhere else…
Actually from what I found out, Sao Ching-Cha used to have a Big Swing in-between the two red teak wood posts and it was apparently used in religious ceremonies. Initially erected in 1784 at a different location, it got eventually moved in front of Wat Suthat and was unfortunately struck by lightning, leaving it in a quite a desolate state. Luckily it was then completely restored in 2005 and had even been submitted to UNESCO for consideration in combination with Wat Suthat…
Sukkhuthai Buddha in Wat Suthat
The original Hindu ceremonies performed with 27 meter high Sao Ching Cha involved teams of three Thai men who were balancing on the swing while trying to catch a bag of coins with their teeth. Unfortunately many casualties occurred and paired with the desolate condition of the Giant Swing itself, finally led to the discontinuation of the ceremonies. Nowadays much smaller and less daring ceremonies were performed inside the premises of enclosed Wat Suthat…
As it turned out, Wat Suthat itself was in turn one of the holiest temples in Bangkok and the Big Buddha image had been specifically moved there all the way from the Sukkhothai Province. But I personally was mostly impressed by the seemingly endless rows of Buddha statues along the perimeter and the main Buddha statue in the big hall. Even if it wasn’t the tallest golden Buddha I has seen, still the main temple hall had somehow a special atmosphere…
Sunset by Giant Swing, Sao Ching Cha
It seemed the atmosphere inside of Wat Suthat was on the one hand due to all the many delicate wall paintings and on the other due to all the many users of the hall. The wall paintings alone would have been worth a visit and it seemed that what would have been the wheel of life in the Tibetan tradition; here it was rather that scenes of the different realms were covering the entire walls of the building from top to bottom and it was quite impressive to closely look at all the details paintings…
But the second circumstance that added to the special atmosphere was that a lot of people were sitting and meditating on the floor of the main hall. Wat Suthat really seemed to be special, quiet place and for 20 baht entrance fee, it would actually be well worth it to come back at some point and to sit as well, in case I needed a break from the otherwise quite busy and hectic life city of Colombo…
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