Temple made from Oyster Shells
I was driving around in Pathum Thani Province one day when I came across a temple with an intriguing name. It was called "Wat Chedi Hoi". This basically translates as "The Shell Pagoda". I went inside and found this Buddhist monument made from literally thousands and thousands of giant oyster shells. What is even more surprising is that this temple is to the north of Bangkok and the sea is about 60 kilometers to the south. Apparently, hundreds of years ago, this whole area used to be under the sea.
Giant Dragon Climbs Building
I was driving to Nakhon Pathom one day when I spotted in the distance this giant dragon climbing up a building. I just had to go and take a closer look. The 17 storey building is in the grounds of Wat Samphran. Wrapped around it was this dragon which went all the way from bottom to top. I have never seen anything quite like it before in my life.
University Campus in Thailand
One of the most amazing university campuses that I have visited in Thailand must be this one at the Bang Na campus of ABAC. The site is in the middle of nowhere. Due to the very tall 38 storey block you can see it from miles away. It almost looks like the tower of a grand cathedral juxtaposed with the traditional Thai style sala in the front.
A Beautiful Chinese Temple
Undoubtedly the most spectacular Chinese temple I have seen in Thailand is Wat Boromracha Kanchanapisek Anusorn in Nonthaburi Province just north-west of Bangkok. I would say it also rivals anything I saw even in China. Parts of the temple reminded me of the Forbidden Palace. This temple, in Bang Bua Thong District, took over ten years to construct and cost hundreds of millions of baht. It was built to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the King's reign. And it certainly lived up to its promise. On the wall in this picture are thousands of small Buddha images.
Ministry of Defence
In front of the Ministry of Defence in Bangkok there is an open air museum of ancient cannons. What is most interesting here are not the guns themselves, but the fact that in 2004 someone decided it wasn't a good idea to have the guns pointing directly at the Grand Palace. So, they decided to swing them around like you can see in this picture. Not sure if the fortune of the country improved because of this. But that is what they believed at the time.
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