Wat Sangkhatan TourIts 6.00 AM and you’re wide awake. You jetted in on a red eye flight arriving in Bangkok around midnight. You can’t sleep anymore in your hotel. What to do at this hour? Nothing opens ‘til 10.00 AM and the night life doesn’t start pumping until after 10.00 PM.
Get up, get ready and get a little Thai culture under your belt. Go visit the little known and beautifully located temple, Wat Sangkhatan (Sank-ha-tan). This trip will take you about four hours depending on how long you spend at the temple.
Forget the touts, tour guides, tuk tuk pirates and limo drivers, go get that Thai experience by following my six step guide. I can show you how to get there and back for less than $2 USD.
Step one. Print out this article before you leave home, or download it into your PDA, and take it with you. If you forget that’s okay you can go online in Bangkok at any of hundreds of Internet café’s, download & print it there.
Step two. Go to the concierge desk in your hotel lobby and get the following information:
• Ask how to get to Sathorn Pier on the Chao Prahya River. This tour starts from Central Pier (Stop No. 0).
• A hotel business card with the return address in Thai writing on it. This is important. You may get lost and have to take a Meter Taxi back to the hotel! Hey, there’s no extra c
harge for getting lost!• The nearest ATM machine location or money changer. Hotels give notoriously poor rates for currency exchange
Take 500 Baht ($12.50 USD) per person in small bills with you. The tour will cost approximately $2 (80 Baht) each return to start point but I am sure you’re going to want to buy something, right? The hotel cashier will give you small bills. If not, go to a Bank or money changer near the hotel and ask for change.
Step three. Get yourself to Central Pier on the Chao Prahya River anytime between 8.00 AM - 2.00 PM. I suggest you use the BTS Sky Train. Take the Silom line and get off at the last stop Saphan Taksin.
Step four. From BTS station Saphan Taksin walk towards the river and bear left. Descend to street level and walk 100 yards straight ahead. Look for the Ferry information booth on Sathorn Pier. Disregard the tour guides and touts. If you arrive by taxi walk to the pier from the taxi drop off point (50 yards).
Step five. Remember the name Central Pier and the Pier Stop Number 0 for the return trip. Ask the information booth attendant to guide you to the ferry that stops at Wat Kien (Kee-en). You can buy tickets either at a small table on the Pier or onboard from t
he attendant. Ferry fare 13 Baht.Ask the onboard attendant to tell you when you’re near Wat Kien (Pier No 28), second last stop before Nonthaburi (No 30). Settle back, relax and enjoy the river action until you see Stop No. 27, than start moving to the rear of the ferry. Pier stops are short!
Step six. Get off at Wat Kien Pier (Stop No. 28). Wat Kien is a very small, mostly in ruins monastery, with a small brick temple structure still intact. You have a choice. Walk or wait for a small Soi (Road) mini bus (Pick up). My advice is wait for the pick up. Wat Sangkhatan is about a 15 minute walk, in the heat and humidity. Come ashore at the pier (Stop No. 28) and with Wat Kien on your right follow the small concrete Soi to Wat Sangkhatan. Basically west, away from the river. The Soi minibus costs 5 baht.
Welcome to Wat Sangkhatan! Enjoy the forested location, beautiful Abbot's teak house, lake, nun's and monk's cute river boat styled chalets and the main Ubosot. Food vendors sell drinks and food in various locations around the monastery. Take note of the Dalmatian and Great Dane temple dogs. Unusual to see such large, well looked after dogs in Thailand.
Wat Sangkhathan was previously called Wat Sarikho. It was built around the late Ayutthaya period to enshrine Luang Pho To, a Buddha image in the Sadung Man posture. Later the temple was abandoned, but villagers continued paying homage to the revered Luang Pho To, thus monks residing nearby the monastery were invited for Sangakhathan.
The word “Sangkhathan” literally means to give offerings to monks.
This activity has been continuously practiced by villagers, hence giving the temple the name. The temple offers a peaceful ambience, which resembles a forested meditation centre. It is an ideal place for meditation amid a natural environment. Females who wish to practice the 8 precepts can join a special project of nun hood called “Nek Khamma.”
After you have finished and you’re ready to return simply retrace your steps back to the hotel. If you have a car or have friends who have a car, go along Rattanathibet Road and cross Rama V Bridge. Then keep left, there will be a sign, first left off the bridge, to direct you to Wat Sangkhatan. Turn left at this sign and carry on around 2 kilometers.
Enjoy your time at the Forest Glade Temple!
Definition:
• Ubosot. The ordination hall, where new monks are ordained and other important ceremonies take place.
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(C) Copyright Geoff Ogilvie 2006-2018
