Buddhamonthon & Rama IX Park

Buddhamonthon is found a short outside of Bangkok.  This Buddhist monument was built to commemorate the Thai people's deeply routed faith in Buddhism.  The park was started in 1957 and is also the residence of the Supreme Patriarch. 

The main Buddha statue (standing nearly 16 meters tall) is beautiful. 

Around the park are also monuments to various times in Buddha's life, from birth, enlightenment, the preaching of the first sermon (below) and nirvana.  All these monuments were set on small islands with bridges or stepping stones over to them.

The parkland was well maintained and peaceful.  On my second visit, Alan and I walked the less formal parts of the gardens, taking in mango groves and even a soi dog rescue area.

Near the main statue was a candle making area.  Here the candle wax was melted in a large wok.

The melted wax was poured into large trays.  When it cooled, the wax was cut into small bars.

These giant moulds were used to make those huge candles you see at temples.

For a donation, you could melt a bar of wax in a giant wok, then using a ladle spoon some melted wax into the candle mould.

The other new treat for me this week was visiting Rama IX park.  What a hidden gem that park is.  Visiting mid week it was more or less empty, in fact there were what seemed to be hundreds of grounds people working there, who far outnumbered the visitors.

The park was divided up into different areas.  There was even a geodesic dome for the cacti.  The park really was huge.

 Part of the park was dedicated to different countries.  My favourites were the Japanese garden

 and the Chinese garden.

Once you moved away from the main lake, the park held lots of surprises, such as this boardwalk through a lotus  pond, one of several.

 I loved how the water sat on the lotus leaves, looking like glass beads.

 There were also quite a few water lilly pads in the main lake.

A delightful and stunningly well maintained park and it is well worth the effort of getting there.  I have seen a number of parks that were new to me over the last couple of months and it confirms one thing to me, Thais really do make lovely parks.