What's Wat?

A wat ?


" A wat is a temple . In Bangkok alone we have lots of temples , both big and small , " explained Nancy .

" Yes , she said ." ...I am a Buddhist . I have a Thai name . But now my name is Nancy .........In my company where I worked for .....all female guides are known as Nancy. Easy for tourists to call me ......." That explains it .


True as to what Nancy said ......Bangkok is full of temples ..both big and small ...you will be sure to find one at every nook and corners ...along the waterways too .........along the river banks .....in front of houses ..........its practically everywhere .


One of the temples that Nancy insisted we ought to visit was the golden Buddha . So of we went in the van ...weaving in and out of Bangkok's traffic .........going thru little lanes . We finally reached Wat Traimit ; the temple of the Golden Buddha . A bustling place ; located among some other buildings ...which one could easily missed .There were other tourists going in and out of the premise . There were vendors selling golden Buddha images as well as other souvenirs nearby .


Of course , to enter the place we need to pay the entrance fees at a litle kiosk ...about RM2 each . Walking up the stairs and the moment we walked in , we saw this impressive sight !





A gleaming statue ....a Buddha of solid gold ..all 3 meters high of it . Nancy said it was built during the Sukhotai era and was rediscovered about 50 years ago ....accidently . The Buddha used to be covered in mud or cement . About 250 to 300 years ago , Thailand was under attack from the Burmese . Afraid that the Burmese would reach the temple and took away the Golden Buddha for its gold , the Thai people covered this golden Buddha with mud .





For 2 hundred years nobody remembered about it . Until the day the authorities wanted to move this Buddha . One of the workers dropped something heavy on the mud statue and the outer covering chipped away........revealing the solid gold !!




Tourists walked in and out .......taking pictures ....some praying ...some leaving candles and offerings .


As for us that was a first time we saw a 5 tonne solid gold . Come to think of it , I didn't see any guard at the entrance of the temple ......perhaps they know nobody would be brave enough to steal that hugh statue and get away with it .