…Wats Of All Types.

I don’t know how I managed to miss this place the first time I went to the Chandi area. Wat That Noi pops up very prominently on Google Maps, prompting me to check out why. And having looked at some photos I figured I’d better go view it for myself.

Actually, Google Translate made the place sound most unusual, by making its normal dog’s breakfast of translating Thai script, and informing me that “The temple is very beautiful and the people are always precipitation south tattoo.” I don’t like precipitation nor tattoos, so I was hoping they would both stay far to the south!

Anyways, there’s no direct route from Khanom to Chandi. The mountains get in the way. Google Maps offers me two alternatives, which together make a nice circular route.

So that’s what I did yesterday. The circular route. Left side outbound, and right side inbound. Either way it’s only just over two hours to the wat, so an easy drive. And there were other places to visit on the way home, by not quite sticking to the blue route.

The wat’s main claims to fame are a “Phra Nom” or reclining Buddha, and a large stupa, or chedi, housing the remains of a revered monk. But the area is large and in fact there’s a wide variety of buildings…

As I mentioned, there’s the reclining Buddha…

…who is quite difficult to fit into one photograph. And there’s the chedi…

…which to be honest looks pretty-much the same no matter how many different ways you photograph it.

Climbing up to the second floor of the building at the base of the chedi gives some good views of the whole complex and surrounding countryside…

And inside, there’s not only the remains of the monk – which I decided to miss, as I’m not enthralled by looking at a pile of bones – but also some bizarre murals on the walls. If it looks like a tiny space, it is. Don’t forget this is the inside of the second level of the chedi…

The whole place was busy. There were tourists, all Thai as far as I could tell, and most of the large buildings were filled with school children being taught, I assume, how to be good Buddhists. This meant there was prayer chanting coming from all corners of the complex. That was rather nice. It gave it an authentic feel, rather than just being a place to visit and photograph.

Wandering around at the back I found a Chinese temple…

Then a mostly-wooden building, filled with kids who all started to giggle as I walked past. Who can blame them?…

And lastly a more traditional style wat building. Well, to me, in this part of Thailand, that’s what I thought. The white and gold buildings against a blue sky are spectacular, but I do like the reds with the gold, so for me, this was my photo du jour…

Which brought me back to the main entrance, where I could see from the sky, it wasn’t likely to be dry all day…

No matter. I’d definitely made a good start. This place I would recommend, despite the number of tourists.

Oh, but wait, I’ve missed one important photo. I think not many people have a door in the bottom of their feet…

So now I can claim to have found the entrance to the Buddha’s sole!