Fah Thai Magazine - Inflight Magazine of Bangkok Airways Issue Sep-Oct 2023

Clockwise from
Top Left
Ancient wooden
pulpits at Wat
Choeng Tha —
a single seater
and a longer one
for several monks
Buddha statue in a
royal uniform Inside
the sermon hall of
Wat Choeng Tha
gesture of forgiveness after his
daughter eloped to marry the man
she loved. His daughter, however,
never returned so he decided to
transform the newlyweds’ house
into Wat Khoi Tha – the Temple
of Waiting.
During the reign of King Rama
IV (1851-1868), the name was
changed to Wat Choeng Tha in
reference to the Ayutthaya royalbarge
boatyard that stood next to
the temple.
Wat Choeng Tha houses two
ancient wooden preaching pulpits
– a single-seater and a longer
one for several monks. The longer
pulpit is gilded with gold and
topped with a spired roof in the
distinctive curved design of the
late Ayutthaya era. The two pulpits
grace the sermon hall, where murals
illustrate the 10 incarnations of
the Buddha and the way of life in
old Siam.
Wat Na Phra Meru is also a
must-visit destination, being
another rare temple that escaped
destruction during the 18th-century
Burmese-Siamese wars. Burmese
King Alaungpaya deployed his
artillery at the temple to attack
the Ayutthaya royal palace on the
opposite riverbank. But when his
cannons misfired, fatally injuring
the king, the Burmese forces
suddenly withdrew from their siege
of Ayutthaya.
The original architecture of the
Ayutthaya era was thus preserved at
Mural paintings
inside the sermon
hall depict the story
of the Lord Buddha,
the tenets, and the
way of life of the
people in old Siam
Detailed Chinese
altar paintings
were popular
during the reign of
King Rama IV
Wooden gable at
the sermon hall,
Wat Choeng Tha,
carved in the images
of Thep Phanom
among Kanok flames
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