Bangkok, Thailand
One of the negative impressions about our beloved Thailand is that many centrally-located Bangkok temples ask foreigners to pay entrance fees. When you are a vacationer, it's not big trouble to spend a certain sum for sightseeing (although such a commercial orientation of a spiritual place and double prices cannot but cause bewilderment). As for me, I just want to enjoy walking and taking images in the center of Bangkok - I passed the stage "a traveler in Thailand" many years ago. So entrance fees are an obstacle to my photography exercises. Fortunately, there are amazing temples in old Bangkok that are completely free.
One of them is Wat Ratchanatdaram Worawihan - on google.maps. What is even more surprising (in addition to free entrance and a free bathroom there), this grandiose temple is usually almost empty.
It's probably not included in tourist must-see tops of Bangkok so travelers pass by (and that makes me happy, of course! 😀)
Loha Prasat is the shorter name of the temple, and it means the Metal Castle due to the 37 metal spires of this pyramid building.
Upon entering the temple, you will immediately notice that it is cool inside despite the heat in the street. And this will immediately give you strength to climb the steep stairs up.
The building has three floors with beautiful stone corridors and galleries along the outer wall, great for meditation, walking or just having rest, and taking images of the surroundings from above.
A wooden spiral staircase connects the levels of the building.
What a quality of materials and work! This is how it is in this temple.
There is a observation area on the top level that opens up an amazing panorama of the Bangkok City:
I had a 24mm lens mounted on my camera and it was great since you need a wide angle to take pictures of architecture and interiors.
But would be curious to check how telephoto lens will work there (like my one, Nikkor 70-300mm). Shooting the Bangkok downtown is tempting there:
This is a crop since 24mm isn't supposed to shoot far.
On the very top of the top level, there is a storage of Buddhist shrines:
You cannot enter this room, but only look through the bars at this wonderful golden object. What's inside is anyone's guess.
After we had enjoyed the views, we set off down the stairs to examine the temple's yard and alleys for cats...
We are always in search of them, as a (better) half of the human race, the army of cat lovers 😀
And look who is meditating in the gallery of the ground floor!
For those who aren't full with temples, there is another wat to the South of Loha Prasat called Wat Thepthidaram Worawihan (Wat Ban Phraya Krai Suan Luang) - on google.maps. Less impressive but worth visiting if you have peaceful mood and don't want to hurry up to anywhere.
Older interiors there (as well as a Burmese cat in their yard!)
For those who wonder where a photo of the mentioned Burmese cat is, check my older post 🙂:
More Bangkok stories are ahead! Check out the previous ones on my personal pinmapple map.
I took most of these images with a Nikkor 24mm 2.8D on a full-frame DSLR Nikon D750 on March 19, 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand.
