Generally, this temple is not normally on tourist programs, even though it is a very important temple, and not only that but it is situated in an interesting part of the old town, more on that later.

Wat Suthat as it is known in short is designated as a royal temple of the first grade, there are only ten such temples in Bangkok, therefore you can understand the significance of this temple. Construction began in 1807 CE by King Rama I, and took forty years for the temple to be completed in 1847 CE in the reign of King Rama III.

There’s also a ghost story associated with the temple, regarding a Pret, which is a very tall ghost with long legs, who is always hungry 🙂 This folklore probably has to do with the fact that there is a giant swing standing in front of the temple, and in the moonlight before street lamps, it probably looked like a long legged ghost.

Regarding the surrounding area of the temple, here are some brief information as follows;

• Just in front of the temple is the Giant Swing, aka Sao Ching Cha.
• Make a right turn and head towards Bamrueng Muang Road, this road has a bit of history to it, being the 2nd paved road in Bangkok, built in 1863. There’s more to the road but you can study that on your own, here you will find shops selling giant golden Buddha statues, and items related to temples, monks, etc.
• Turn left on to Mahachai Road and head north towards Loha Prasart, Wat Ratchanatdaram, this temple is definitely worth visiting.
• From there you can turn left onto Ratchadamnoen Klang Road and head towards the Democracy Monument.
• If you are hungry you can turn left into Dinso Road (Pencil Road), the street is lined with all kinds of local eats.

Obviously there is more around this area, but I’ll save that for another day, another post, in the meantime enjoy the video below.

There’s a bit of camera shake the camera was handheld without the use of a gimbal.