Wat Phai Tan
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Walked & published
The only Buddhist monastery in the whole of Phaya Thai district, and older than Bangkok itself: it has stood in Soi 15 since about 1770, when this was market gardens and the buffalo still had a bridge to cross. Fourteen rai, no entrance fee, a six-storey school inside the wall, and nothing like quiet.
- Not a quiet place
- Open to the street
- No entrance fee
- Annual festival
- School on the grounds
Location & contact
Inside Soi 15 off Phahonyothin, which is why it is missed from the road. Khlong Bang Sue runs along the northern boundary; Or Tor Kor market is 235 metres away.
Reading
Longer pieces about this place.
Essay
Wat Phai Tan: How a Bangkok Temple Renamed ItselfA monastery has stood in Soi 15 since about 1770, which is to say it is older than Bangkok's claim to be a capital at all. For the first two and a third centuries of its life it was called Wat Sai Tan, which means something close to "blocked gut" or "blocked intestine". In the year 2000 its abbots altered a single syllable, and it became Wat Phai Tan: solid bamboo.