Nakhon Pathom Temple Festival at Wat Phra Pathom Chedi
Nakhon Pathom Temple Festival at Wat Phra Pathom Chedi
I just got back from the annual Nakhon Pathom Temple Festival at Wat Phra Pathom Chedi.
The festival, which is more like a sprawling market with lots of clothes and food, is worth a visit.
The market itself is similar to the Kasetsart University Fair. It included the normal Thai range of second hand clothes, many other random trinkets, and a lot of the same things you see everywhere else. Not the most exciting in terms of shopping.
But the temple itself is quite a sight, as is the buzzing atmosphere of the entire area. Nakhom Pathom is also a wonderful town to walk around and explore with lots of food and market scenery. I spent half my time walking around the festival surrounding the temple and half my time in the streets outside the gate of the temple.
Here are some photos from the festival which is taking place right now (more details posted below).
You’ll be greeted by the tantalizing aroma of grilled chicken!
Plenty of rather unappealing clothing
Mountains of snacks
Pickled fruits and vegetables
Get your dose of protein while you’re there too!
Just outside Wat Phra Pathom Chedi, there’s more delicious street food
Dried salty fish
Don’t miss the khao lam, sticky rice in bamboo dessert
A group of monks out walking around the market
Frying up a batch of sen yai rice noodles to be used in the dish below…
Sen yai radna – wide rice noodles in pork gravy
Details:
Nakhon Pathom Temple Festival at Wat Phra Pathom Chedi takes place this year 2012 from November 25 – December 3rd. It’s open from midday to night. I got there at about 12 noon and left by 6 pm.
How to get there:
Nakhon Pathom is about an hour outside of central Bangkok. I went to Victory Monument and from there took a van which dropped me off at the Big C in Nakhom Pathom which is just a 5 minute motorcycle ride from the temple.
If you take a van, tell the ticket vendor you want to go to Nakhom Pathom and the Big C next to Wat Phra Pathom Chedi (60 THB). When you get out of the van, take a motorcycle (20 THB) to the entrance of the temple – you’ll can see the giant chedi.
