
My most current blog entry:
Entries in Nahkon Nayok (1)
Rural Nahkon Nayok Exploration

In late June 2025 I accompanied my wife on a golf junket to rural Nahkon Nayok. While she golfed for two days with her friends, I explored the nearby countryside and small towns.
Many of the excellent, but rural, Thai golf courses, like the Watermill Golf Course, have modest hotel facilities.
Armed with my GoogleMaps, and a search term of Thai Wat, I set off in search of an ancient Thai Temple (Wat) marked on the map about 25K away from the golf course . . . and what I found was truly a marvel!
I stumbled upon a very large wat under construction. I have seen a few wats being built, but none so grand. There is some confusion about the name of this wat. It is noted on Google Maps as "Wat Krathum Suea Pla," but if you search for that wat you discover a wat by the same name in Bangkok, not Nahkon Nayok . . . . and no online reference for this wat. Very strange.
What a fantastic sight: a giant Buddha statue being enclosed in a beautiful Thai style temple building.
What a fantastic sight to behold!
Amazing to see such a magnificent wat under construction.
It must be a great honor for these workers.
A perfect sky, perfect light and shadow, and a perfect place.
Incredible artistic skill is needed to make these giant Buddha statues.
In the not-too-distant-future the giant Buddha image will be completely enclosed in the new Wat. I felt lucky to be here at this time to see it in this form.
I left the wat construction site and began to walk around the temple grounds. I looked back to see this view. You can see that they are planning some amazing gardens to surround the new wat. Marvelous.
This wat is VERY RURAL. What a view!
I wandered back around the front of the wat construction site and found a small altar set up to take donations . . . and a very helpful attendant. I paid respect to the Buddha with flowers and incense.
I was so inspired that I hade a substantial cash donation toward building materials for the new wat. The attendant asked me to sign the underside of some roofing tiles . . . for posterity.
I discovered that, based on the size of my cash donation, I was entitled to so many commemorative amulets. Thank you. And I was also entitled to a personal tour of the whole wat property by the attendant.
I appreciated the offer of a tour. It became obvious that this wat had been here for a long time . . . and that somebody had invested a lot of money to develop these beautiful spaces everywhere.
There seems to be an expectation that this wat will become a tourist hot spot, in spite of its very rural location. A very nice coffee and gift shop, but looking like I was the first person to visit it. My guide offered me a couple of bottles of water. Thank you.
It really was a beautiful and peaceful place.
Throughout the wat grounds were displayed a wonderful collection of antique rice mills.
I loved the patina on these antique rice processing machines.
There were many beautiful spaces scattered throughout the wat property.
There is a nice pond/lake in the middle of the wat. You can see. some young novice monks "at school" across the pond. There are covered colonnades around the pond.
There was an extensive collection of antique buffalo carts displayed under the colonnades.
I discovered a "monk school" on my walk around the pond. The young monks and their teacher had taken a break for lunch.
Around the back of the monk school were a line of monks cottages. These were very well constructed, showing the big investment some donor has made.
When nature called, I found this amazingly clean and modern toilet, without a doubt the best wat hong nam I hace ever seen in Thailand!
A fantastic wooden sala next to a burly tree.
There was a huge collection of these antique wagon wheels at the other end of the colonnades. These must be very valuable as Thai people like to decorate their houses, gates, and gardens with these.
Before I left Wat Krathum Suea Pla, I stopped for a "self portrait" in this large jewel.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
After I left the wat construction site, I took a small road back to the golf course. I came across two wonderful wats on the way back, but unfortunately I was not able to get the names of these wats. The first was this fabulous wat with an amazing bodi tree out front.
This is the only wat in Thailand I have seen with this honeycomb patterned walls. Beautiful.
A fantastically photogenic temple!
There were two traditional wat structures on the grounds. The second one had a very ornate exterior.
Very beautiful. I wish I could have gone inside these beautiful wats . . . but the doors were locked (I checked), and here were no monks around I could ask.
Wrapped bodi tree, representative of where the Buddha sat when he gained enlightenment.
About 5 kilometers up the road I came across a dilapidate old wooden wat. It didn't look like much on the outside, just a shed-like structure. I pulled over . . . . but when I went in . . . WOW!
A fantastic scene of polished wood and a remarkable altar.
A n amazing scene of polished wood and golden wood columns. I love these old wooden wats . . . .
One corner of the wooden wat was more "lived in" than the rest. When I pointed my camera in this direction two young monks quickly left . . . and left the television turned on.
Sometimes good photography is just being in the right place at the right time. A smoking monk shaves the head of another monk.
I had a great day out and about in rural Nahkon Nayok. These 'rambles' are among my favorite things to do. I am very glad that these experiences are still available to me.
