Tuesday 16 December 2024
Walking east to see flood damage

Continuing east from the Nawarat Bridge, I turned right onto San Pa Koi Road to visit the small, neighborhood temple Wat San Pa Khoi again, as I did on this same walk last year. There was some evidence that the area had been flooded with dried mud on some sidewalks, but the area is generally well cleaned up.

Wat San Pa Khoi

I entered the temple grounds from a side gate I do not think I saw last year. A much more direct route than the circuitous route I took last year being less familiar with the neighborhood. The first thing that struck me was that there were many cars parked inside, but I saw no people. The second thing was these very rustic statues near the entrance to the viharn (assembly hall). I do not know what they are, similar to yaksha, but different. Regardless, I like them.

The viharn is of Lanna style with Naga serpents and along the balustrade to the entrance, and the roof in tiers sweeping low along the sides.

There is no evidence of the flood here, everything is clean. To the left of the viharn is what I am pretty sure is the ubosot (ordination hall). A color seldom seen at Buddhist temples is blue. There is a lot of red, a lot of gold, some green, some yellow, and less purple. This ubosot has almost a blue theme to it, with the blue thewada (angels), the blue of the gate, the fence, and blue in the artwork over the entrance. I noticed this blue because I so seldom see blue at temples here. Here are the photos:

Inside, the ubosot is fairly plain with only three Buddha images at the altar. I did see a man in the ubosot, so I took one photo and left.

I went to the main entrance and saw the gate I noticed last year with the blue writing and blue silhouette of a thewada, continuing the “blue” theme at this temple.

Wat San Pa Khoi is a very nice neighborhood temple, away from the tourist area, very peaceful. Many internet searches go to information about a similarly-named temple in Chiang Rai. I found no information about the history of Wat San Pa Khoi; I’ll keep looking.

Next: Railway Station Walk 4 – the Railway Station