The Dragon Temple

The temple is notable for its 17-story tall pink cylindrical building with a gigantic red-and-green dragon sculpture curling around the entire height. The interior of the dragon feature is hollow and contains a spiraling flight of stairs. It also contains a huge Buddha statue as well as many additional Buddhist statues. The Wat Samphran is 80 meters high because Buddha died at the age of 80 years old.

The view from the top is amazing and there is a lift for those not wishing to walk up the stairs or up through the inside of the dragon. There are multiple levels with different things to see at each level.

The dragon that encompasses the building from the bottom to the top symbolises a human’s journey from sorrow to happiness and from hell to heaven. According to a Thai story, Phaya Naga (a serpent), was declined spiritual power by Buddha. The serpent then approached Buddha for ordinance by assuming a human form and was permitted to be a monk who wore white, unlike the other monks who wore yellow.

At the footsteps of the main building are seven small shrines dedicated to Buddha for each day of the week. The seventeen floors signify the heavenly realms that one reaches in the afterlife based on the strength and quality of their past karma. Making a wish before climbing up the temple through the dragon belly is considered to bring good fortune.

If you love Wat Samphran you’ll also like The Erewan Museum

It is open from 6am – 6pm everyday.

How to get there:

You can take the BTS to Bang Wa station, then change to the MRT to Lak Song station. From there, you can take a taxi to the temple. You could also get a Taxi from Bang Wa or direct from the City Centre