Quiet Canals and Abandoned Temples

Thonburi is Bangkok's twin city. Sitting just across the Chaophraya River, it is, for all intents and purposes, part of Bangkok. Nowadays, the BTS Skytrain and the MRT system both reach into Thonburi. Historically, Thonburi was even capital of Siam for a while (one reign, to be exact) after the fall of Ayutthaya in the 18th century. The two cities, however, couldn't feel more different. Now, Thonburi is quiet. It has a reputation for being calm, laid-back, and incredibly peaceful. Crossing into Thonburi is like going back in time to before Bangkok became the big crowded city that it is today.

crossing the river from busy Bangkok to quiet Thonburi 

On Saturday, I joined in another walk with my walking tour group. This time the trip took us deep into Thonburi's quiet neighborhoods to discover some of the city's old temples. One orange-flag public boat ride and a short ferry crossing later, and Noi was leading our small group of ten adventurers through the back alleys and quiet canal-side sois of Thonburi. After a few minutes of walking, the narrow alleys opened up to a beautiful old temple, Wat Kharueha Bodi.

a golden Buddha from Lanna (northern Thailand) 

The royal-grade temple dates back to 1824 during the reign of King Rama III and the small Buddha image enshrined inside the temple hall is a holy relic from the Lanna Kingdom (Kingdom of Chiang Mai), and is made of solid gold.

beautiful patterns adorn the doors (left) and walls (right) at the temple

To honor the temple's connection to the northern kingdom (originally an independent kingdom until 1802 and a vassal state to Siam until 1939), the temple is guarded by an elegant statue of an ancient Lanna queen.

a statue of the historic queen of the Lanna Kingdom 

Inside a second prayer hall, a large golden Buddha sat beneath a multi-tiered umbrella. To the side of him was displayed a collection of khon masks from the traditional Thai masked opera.

Buddha shrine inside the temple hall 

Khon is the national performance art of Thailand. Khon masks, which represent gods and heroes from the Ramayana (the Hindu epic which is also the national epic of Thailand), are seen as sacred, almost as if they are imbued with the spirit of the performers and masters who have worn the masks previously. As such, they are treated with extreme reverence. The masks stored at this temple were displayed next to and slightly below the statue of Buddha himself.

khon masks on display inside the temple

As we wound our way deeper into Thonburi, Noi told us about Thailand's unique relationship with Buddhist temples. Thailand is a deeply religious country, with about 95% of the population adhering to Buddhism. As such, there are some 40,000 Buddhist temples throughout the kingdom! Approximately 33,000 are still in active use today.

beautiful street art of a naga 

What happens to a temple when it becomes abandoned? That was one of the big questions that this particular tour was designed to explore. Over the course of our walk, Noi took us past a few old Buddhist temples which are no longer in use, at least as they were originally intended to be.

an abandoned temple in Thonburi

An abandoned temple doesn't mean that it's truly a ruin, although a few that we visited were visibly crumbing. Being abandoned just means that the temple no longer houses monks. One small temple, which dated back to the Ayutthaya period in the 18th century, though no religious ceremonies or services were held there anymore.

We respectfully removed our shoes, leaving them in a row outside the exposed brick wall of the tiny neighborhood temple. We stepped inside the dark interior, and Noi fumbled in the gloom for a breaker box, flipping on a few dim lights to reveal a simple, but still cared for shrine inside.

inside the old temple 

Instead, it's cared for by the local community. Occasionally, monks will be invited to the temple for blessings or services, though it is not regularly used. Incense still burned from a brazier in front of the shrine, and portraits of the ninth and tenth kings were displayed against the yellow stone wall.

there are no monks, but it's still maintained by caretakers 

Some communities don't have an official temple, but still want to have a place to pray and worship. Further on, we came to a sala, a traditional Thai-style wooden pavilion which was constructed as a sort of shrine hall for the local community.

a community shrine hall 

As it's not a temple, the sala did not have any monks attached to it, although it was full of statues, icons, candles, and incense. Even though it has no monks of its own, it still hosts monks for local religious ceremonies. In fact, as we visited, an elderly caretaker was setting up a place for several monks to sit during chanting. I think a group of visiting monks would be stopping by later in the day.

inside the shrine hall

Presently, we made our way back out of the alleyways towards the river, and found ourselves underneath the magnificent cables of the Rama VIII Bridge, one of several similarly grand suspension bridges that span the Chaophraya River.

one of Bangkok's beautiful bridges 

The Rama VIII Bridge is a beautiful piece of engineering. It may be less grand than the soaring Bhumibol Bridge, but it's no less incredible to stand beneath. Looking up at the bridge really gives you the sense that Bangkok is a city on the edge of the future.

looking up at the Rama VIII Bridge 

In stark contrast, the narrow canal which we walked along on our way to visit the next stop on our tour threw us back into the past fifty or more years to a time before Bangkok was a city of shopping malls, cinemas, and international business.

a quiet canal deep in a Thonburi neighborhood 

This side of Thonburi is a peaceful and quiet place, a neighborhood full of memories where wooden stilt houses and tin-roof shacks are built up against the canal and where banana trees grow in abundance.

another abandoned temple in Thonburi

Another abandoned temple stood in all of its quiet lonely glory, looking almost as if it was starting to sink into the ground. Like the other temples that we visited, it no longer is home to monks, though it seemed to be kept up relatively well by the local community. A small library housing the Buddhist scriptures sat on stilts above a small turtle pond. Someone had left out some leafy green veggies for the turtles, and the temple grounds were clean and well-maintained. It's obvious that even the abandoned temples are still loved.

golden standing Buddha at the temple 

This temple was locked up, and we weren't able to get inside to look around. We took a quick break to visit the ubiquitous nearby 7-Eleven where we picked up a few bottles of water and cans of coffee, then sat down in the shade outside the temple to rest from the heat.

abandoned, but still beautiful

This temple had a beautiful golden standing Buddha statue built into the back wall. The statue was standing with one hand held out, a symbolic iconographic representation of the Buddha's teachings to stop fighting. The standing Buddha with one hand out is also the "Monday Buddha" - my lucky Buddha according to Thai belief!

trekking through the neighborhoods

This week was a nice laid-back walk through a quiet part of Thonburi. It's been a busy few weeks, so I needed something like this. It's amazing how just crossing the river can feel like being upcountry! I also got to see a few of my friends whom I've met in the past few months through this tour group.

a quiet neighborhood in Thonburi 

I plan to keep exploring Bangkok and the surrounding provinces throughout the year. Stay tuned for more walking adventures in the coming weeks!

at one of the beautiful Thonburi temples