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At Wat Bang Phli Yai Nai in Amphoe Bang Phli in Samut Prakan
Province, you can join boat tours at the weekend along the Samrong
Canal. The name "Bang Phli" dates back to the Ayutthaya period. In
1498, King Ramathibodi II commanded for Klong Samrong and Klong Thao
Nang to be built. At the point where the two canals intersected, two
images of deities were discovered. The king organized a ceremony to
make offerings to these images. In Thai, "phli" means "offering" and so
Bang Phli can translate as The Village of Offerings. Also during this
period, legend says that a famous Buddha image, Luang Pho To, was seen
floating down Samrong Canal. The legend says it was one of three
brothers who were escaping the wars during the Ayutthaya period. Many
villagers along the canal tried to entice the Buddha image to come
ashore. None of them were successful until the image reached Bang Phli.
Every year now, two days before the end of the Buddhist Retreat, the
locals pay homage to this famous image.
My boat tour started at Wat Bang Phli Yai Nai. There are two trips
you can take. Either "3 Temples" or "9 Temples". The most common trip
is the first one which lasts for two hours and costs only 40 baht per
adult and 20 baht per child. They told me that they have 3-4 trips per
day though on busier days they will put on more trips. The first boat
leaves at 10 a.m. The tours only go at the weekend and during public
holidays. However, you can rent a boat yourself for 1,200 baht. My tour
guides were two junior high students. They only speak Thai so you will
just have to make do with the scenary and fresh air. We passed quite a
few lotus fields on the water. Literally thousands of these are needed
for the pilgrims who come for the "rub bua" festival in October. We
also saw a lot of waterside activity such as fishing and boating.
Strictly speaking, we only visited two temples as the first one was
our starting point. The first stop was supposed to be Wat Bang Chalong
Nok. However, as they were rebuilding the waterfront they took us up
another canal to the nearby Wat Bang Chalong Nai. Nothing too
impressive as temples go, but a good opportunity for me to stretch my
legs. The Thai tour boats are not designed for the long legs of foreign
tourists. I asked my tour guides if they have many foreigners on their
tours and they said hardly at all. Usually they came with Thai
girlfriends. We stayed at this temple for twenty minutes and then came
back the same way. We stopped briefly by Wat Bang Chalong Nok where we
were allowed to buy loaves of bread for 20 baht to feed some really
massive fish.
We then came all the way back to our starting point then continued
further up the canal the other way. Here we passed the Old Bang Phli
Market which dates back more than 150 years to 1857. After your boat
trip, you can eat your lunch here at the many restaurants along the
canal. Our final destination was Wat Bang Phli Yai Klang. This is the
home for the fabulous Reclining Buddha which is the longest in the
country at 53 metres. Not only is it bigger than the one all the
tourists go to in Bangkok, this one you can go inside. The highlight is
the shrine for the heart of the Buddha. This is something unique which
I have never seen before.
Bang Phli is very close to Suvarnabhumi Airport. In fact, they are
both in the same district. If you are at the airport with some time to
kill, why don't you take a trip to Bang Phli. But be warned, it is
unlikely that you will meet any other foreigner despite being so close
to the entry point to millions of foreigners each year.
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