Wat Traimit (2/7)

I thought Korea had a lot of Buddhas. Boy was I wrong! Thailand lives and breathes Buddhism. It is everywhere! And if Buddha isn't there, then there is a Hindu shrine, Muslim mosque, or a Sikh temple in its place. I have seen a few Christian churches, but they are few and far between.

Thailand is a very spiritual country. Walking down the street, I have seen little shrines built by businesses to different gods to try to bless their business. When walking past these shrines, many people will stop for a few seconds, fold their hands, and mutter a short prayer before moving on.

Not only are there these random gods in every nook and cranny on the streets, but the Thai people as a whole revere the King of Thailand as a deity. Thailand has a royal family that even today holds an important part in Thai society. At almost every official building and public place, there is a painting of the King with a small shrine surrounding it. It is so different even compared to Korean culture, so I have definetey gone through some culture shock!

I had heard from some people at my hostel about Wat Traimit. It is a Buddhist Temple downtown Bangkok with a solid gold Buddha. Downtown Bangkok, there are over fifty Wats (Buddhist temples) that are listed on my city map. I picked a few that I want to visit this week, so Traimit was the first. After taking the Skytrain (which is a fabulous public transportation because it gives you a great view of the city while travelling), I walked a few blocks to the temple.

The temple was a stunning pure white with gold detail, four level temple. It was so different from East Asian Buddhist temples. In Korea for example, temples are always green because green is the color of peace. They also share very similar architecture to the rest of the traditional buildings in Korea. The temples in Thailand are varied bright colors, usually with gold detail. They also appear completely different from their surrounding buildings.

After standing there for a few moments just soaking in the exterior of this temple, I climbed the stairs up to the fourth floor to see this gold Buddha. It was interesting to see so many similarities with this Buddhist temple and the temples I have seen. There was the usual bell that calls people to prayer, there were the monks wandering the temple complex, and there were a lot of people passing in and out of the temple. I can now say that they weren't kidding in my map that this Buddha is one of the most beautiful pieces of Thai art.