Bangkok, Day Two (19th April)

One thing I must say about our visit to Bangkok is that it was very much a business trip for the committee members of Nandaka Vihara. I managed to tag along because my wife is a member of their committee, and I paid fully for my own airfare and stay at the Ibis Styles hotel. On this trip, I played the part of photographer for the group, and got some free meals in exchange 😃.

The committee’s main purpose was to visit foundries that were capable of casting bronze Buddha statues for the newly constructed stupas at Nandaka. Along the way to the first foundry on the second day of our Bangkok visit, we made a short stop at Phutthamonthon (พุทธมณฑล), a large Buddhist park located in Salaya Subdistrict, Nakhon Pathom Province, about an hour’s drive west of our hotel.

The main feature of Phutthamonthon is an impressive 15.87-metre-tall Buddha statue that is set within a 400-hectare park established in 1957. The statue was cast in 1981 and the previous king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, named it Phra Si Sakkaya Thotsaphonlayan Prathan Phutthamonthon Suthat (พระศรีศากยะทศพลญาณ ประธานพุทธมณฑลสุทรรศน์), meaning The Graceful Statue of the Shakyamuni of the Tenfold Power, the Presiding Buddha of the Beautiful Phutthamonthon. Due to our tight schedule, we spent only about 20 minutes there, but I managed a quick detour to the base of the statue before anyone even noticed I had wandered off.

From Phutthamonthon, we continued our westward journey with another hour’s drive to the Phonlert Buddha Image Foundry (โรงหล่อปฏิมากรรม พุทธปฏิมาพรเลิศ). The owner welcomed us warmly and treated our group to lunch before his son guided us on a tour of the foundry’s facilities. It was an exceptionally hot day—as every day was during this trip—with temperatures hovering around 37 to 39 degrees Celsius, and we were all sweating buckets wherever we went around the foundry.

Despite the heat, the tour was fascinating. We spent over four hours at the foundry and gained a good understanding of their production process. The most critical part, we learned, is the casting ceremony itself, conducted with chanting and prayers by Buddhist monks to bless the creation of the statues. After the tour, the foundry owner sat down with our Chief Abbot and the main committee members to discuss pricing and project details.

By the time we left at 2.40pm, it was too late to visit a second foundry as originally planned. Instead, we decided to make our way to the Ang Thong International Meditation Centre (ศูนย์ปฎิบัติธรรมนานาชาติอ่างทอง), which turned out to be about 120 kilometres north of Bangkok, roughly a two-hour drive away.

Established in 2013, the meditation centre is relatively recent—newer even than Nandaka Vihara—but its grounds are immaculately maintained and extraordinarily beautiful. Lotus ponds, lakes and neatly kept lawns create an atmosphere of deep calm and serenity. It can accommodate a significant number of practitioners, including monks, nuns and both male and female lay meditators. 

Meditation spaces include open, roofed areas and conventional meditation halls, all thoughtfully arranged around water features and expansive fields. Modern facilities have been seamlessly integrated into the natural landscape, offering comfort without disrupting the peaceful surroundings. Because the grounds are so expansive, some of the meditators were moving around on bicycles.

We spent some time speaking with their Chief Abbot and were later taken to visit the centre’s sima hall. Before we left, we were shown their vegetable garden, where a variety of crops were under cultivation—a wonderful reflection of their self-sustaining way of life. On our way back to Bangkok, we made a momentary stop outside the gates of the Asia Fine Art Foundry (โรงหล่อ เอเชียไฟน์อาร์ท จำกัด) which was already closed for the day. We would be visiting their showroom tomorrow. Moving on, we made a final stop for dinner at the Ayutthaya Seafood Restaurant (大城食虾 ผ่องพรรณ), conveniently located along the highway, finally reaching the hotel at 10.40pm.

Click here to read Day One

Click here to read Day Three

Click here to read Day Four

#Phutthamonthon #AngThongInternationalMeditationCentre