Hello everyone. There are only a few days left in this year. Since Japan is having a 9-day weekend, I am hoping that the number of searches for my blog will increase due to tourism. Today, I would like to write about the Ayutthaya section of Thailand, and one of the six major temples, Wat Lokaya Staram.
Even if I say Wat Lokaya Stararam in one word, it’s just the Japanese pronunciation of Thai or something, so there are many subtle ways to pronounce it, and just by searching on the Internet, there are many ways to call it, as shown below, so it’s a bit tricky for searchers and SEOs.
- Wat Lokaya Sutharam
- Wat Lokayasutharam
- Watlokayasutharam
- Wat Lokayasutharam
In this article, I could unify them into one or the other, but I don’t want to do that at the moment because it might lead to the Resorts World incident in Manila (laughs).
▽Learn more about the 6 major temples here.▽
Wat Lokayaster Overview
Wat Lokayasthar is located in the Pratochai district, behind the Royal Palace and Pratochai Elementary School, in the area where Wat Wora Po (Wat Lakang) and Wat Wora Chetalam are located.
Wat Lokayar Sutta features a huge reclining Buddha image called Phra Bhuddhasaiyart. Made of bricks and stucco, characteristic of the mid-Ayutthaya art style, the huge reclining Buddha is 37 meters long and 8 meters high, and is said to be the largest of Ayutthaya’s other impressive reclining Buddhas.
▽Ayutthaya Temple with Reclining Buddha▽
His head is placed on a lotus, his legs are straight and overlapping, and his toes are nicely extended. Behind the Reclining Buddha are the remains of other temple buildings, and on the other side of the road there seem to be many souvenir shops. Apparently, this is where the tour buses park.
【Reference】Wat Lokayasutharam (Phra Noon), Ayutthaya
At Wat Lokayasthalam, you can tanbun orange robes, which can be purchased for 5,000 to 8,000 baht at the store on the other side of the road and hung on the reclining Buddha. In this case, in Thai, you can just say, “Yaak Ja Hong Paa Panong (I want to do tanbun to Buddha).
The model for the Sagat stage!
As with the six Ayutthaya temples, I don’t know who said it, but there is a rumor circulating that the reclining statue at Wat Lokayasthalam is the model for the stage of Sagat (สกัด) in Street Fighter II.
Indeed, Sagat is from Thailand, and the background of Sagat’s stage has a reclining statue of a reclining Buddha. However, the appearance of the statue is not very similar, and perhaps the “huge reclining statue,” “outdoor location,” and “empty space in front of the reclining statue” have all gone by themselves, changing “Wat Lokayasthalam is similar to Sagat Stage” to “Wat Lokayasthalam is modeled after Sagat Stage.
However, I think the middle-aged generation will be interested even in the level of resemblance, even if it is not modeled on them, so in terms of advertising, “Wat Lokayah Staram is similar to Sagat Stage” is successful enough.
Access to Wat Lokayaster
Wat Lokayaster is located 800 meters from Wat Phra Mongkol Bophit, with Wat Worachetalam and Wat Worapo also nearby. However, it is definitely one of the most difficult temples to find in Ayutthaya. This is because there are few signs and the roads are complicated, so if you are not going on a tour, you will surely get lost.
Below I would like to guide you to Wat Lokayasthar, where I actually went, with a map. As all of the map images in this blog are, they are designed to open a separate Google map when clicked, which I think is convenient.
I was coming from Wat Mahathat, so I went south on Chikung Road and found a traffic circle. Turn right at this roundabout and go west.
After a short distance at the traffic circle, you will see the Ayutthaya Wittayalai School on your left. If you translate the homepage using your browser’s translation function, you will see “Ayutthaya University Ayutthaya Wittayalai School,” which makes me think it is a university, but I’m not sure.
【Reference】http://www.ayw.ac.th/web/
Although this blog is on a mission to visit local universities, I was not able to visit many universities during my trip to Thailand this time.
▽I only went to Bangkok University.▽
I was able to see elephants near the second traffic circle on the way to Wat Lokayaster. And further to the west, there is a spot where you can ride an elephant. I’ll introduce the elephant riding spot in another article.
When you reach Khlong Tho road, turn right and go north. On the way, you will see the picturesque Eyeglass Bridge.
As I walked north on Khlong Tho road, I saw a little sign on my left. If you look closely, you will see a notation like “Reclining Buddha is here”. It’s an old-fashioned, handmade sign, but I muster up the courage to enter the pathway, which is overgrown with trees like Totoro’s forest. The scary thing is not the ghosts, but the wild dogs.
After passing through the forest and a pond with people swimming in it, I came to a little ruin. Yes, I had arrived at Wat Lokayastha. In the center of the photo is actually a reclining Buddha.
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