Wat Yannawa, Bangkok

The Junk chapel

It is amazing to realize how many interesting temples Bangkok effectively has. Athough this is not the true origin of its nickname – the City of Angels – it certainly suits the cityscape.

After four years spent in the city, I am always surprised there are still many places to discover and to visit. One of my friends, lent me a fascinating book written by a local farang called, Kenneth Barrett, with an inviting title '22 Walks In Bangkok' [Tuttle Publishing, Singapore, 2013].

So today, as I was in the river area and that it was on my agenda, I finally went there.

This eastern side of the Chao Phraya River used to be the old city port next to Charoen Krung Road

Group of novices

(the first road ever built in the city) at the gate of the former European quarter. Being close to the Chao Phraya estuary, Bangkok has long been a trading centre from both the West and the East.

Kenneth Barrett's book tells us that Wat Yannawa is the third version of a temple built at this very location near Saphan Taksin bridge (saphan means 'bridge' in Thai). This is where the Chinese junks used to anchor and consequently the place where many Chinese immigrants first landed. Today, Wat Yannawa bears the sign of its Chinese heritage. It is indeed a Thai-Chinese temple hosting some Chinese deities like 'the Goddess of Mercy' and even an authentic and colorful Chinese chapel on the premises. But what makes this temple (wat) so unique is an enormous Chinese junk made of concrete standing right in the middle of the inner yard (43m long). And this is a chapel known as sampao chedi (in Thai sampao is a 'junk' and chedi is the Thai word for a 'stupa'). So this is the 'junk with chedis' as there are two chedis on its deck standing as the junk masts. One explains the other. In Thai yan means 'conveyance' and nawa is a 'boat'. This is why Wat Yannawa represents the heritage of the past 'vessels for conveyance' (i.e. the (Chinese) junks). This was an idea of King Rama III in the 19^th century. In Thailand, King Rama III is known as 'the Father of Trade'.

There is another interesting fact about this temple. As you walk to the riverbank, there is a place dedicated to the feeding of the fish with hundreds of pigeons waiting. There is a booth that sells baits and you can watch huge fish swarming to be fed in the river.

Reading and being inquisitive is always a fruitful sport as it helps you finding places you might have never seen. It also provides another dimension to what you actually see.

Christian Sorand

Feeding fish & pigeons by the Chao Phraya River