Bangkok House Sitting Photography Thailand travel

Day Trip to Phutthamonthon

So, here we are. Into our second week of a four week house sit in the suburbia of Bangkok. More precisely a community called Nakhon Pathom. It is a lovely home in a quiet, secure gated community with all the necessary amenities within walking distance. We are very much enjoying being home bodies and looking after two entertaining dachshunds. We did however venture out to explore Phutthamonthon, a huge Buddhist park not far from where we are staying.

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The centrepiece of this 400 hectare park is a 15.8 metre bronze statue, said to be the tallest free standing Buddha statue in the world.

We had read that the park can get very busy during the evening and on weekends, so we headed over on a weekday morning. This, I highly recommend. Other than the gardening crews and the occasional monk leading a group of school children the place was nearly empty.

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Giving the topiary a close inspection.

Due to the massive size of the park and the ideal growing conditions, the areas out near the edges are a bit over grown. However the closer you get to the centre the more immaculate the maintenance becomes. No matter where we went in the park it was quiet and very peaceful.

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Though there are not a huge number of flowers here there were more than enough to keep the bees busy.
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If you kept your eyes open, there was plenty of wildlife to take in as well.
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 We saw dozens of turtles about the park. This one was very patient with me.

The statue is at the centre of the park, with four stations representing Buddha’s life set in a semi circle around it approximately 300 metres out and 300 metres apart. Due to the heat we did not visit them all, but we made a good dent exploring the area.

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The roadway leading from the centre statue to the Viharn.
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We also came across the Viharn, which is a set of buildings with this statue set in the centre of three wings which contain 1418 massive marble stones with the Buddhist scriptures carved into them. Quite an awe inspiring site.
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Just trying to get a bit artsy. This is the glass orb in the monks hands with the entrance to one of the wings visible in it.
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Whether it is for spiritual reasons or just because you appreciate beauty and peace, this park is well worth the visit. Just plan it for a weekday in the morning.
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Until next time.

Welcome to our travel blog. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to say, "I'm out of here?" Well we did, and in 2013 we made it a reality. We sold or gave away all of our possessions other than what fit in our luggage and we set off on an endless adventure. Part of our goal is to share our experiences with others and hopefully provide some information, motivation, or just a moments escape. The general idea was to look for a place that would be ideal to settle down in. However in the meantime it is about experiencing life in different countries amongst different cultures and learning how to understand and appreciate each other. A large part of our time is spent housesitting which provides an excellent opportunity to experience more of the "normal" neighbourhoods as opposed to the tourist locales. Though we make sure to enjoy those as well. So through plenty of photographs and a running commentary come and share with us our life on the road.

4 comments on “Day Trip to Phutthamonthon

  1. Looks beautiful!

  2. Great shots…not too sure about the elephant tree shot though!!! Didn’t know you were an arbourist and a vet 🙂

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