Wednesday Walk: an old temple with crocodiles, Bangkok.

I haven’t been to this old temple, called Wat Chakkrawat or Wat Sam Pluem, near Sampheng market. So this temple was very near my old house and Chinatown. This was the temple of my childhood adventures as it was a playground for many children in the evening.

This temple existed since Ayutthaya period, it was a very small rundown trmple. The army commander of King Rama III, Phraya Bordindecha, decided to rebuild the whole temple and offered the temple to the King. The King then changed the old name of Wat Sam Pluem to Wat Chamkrawat. There was a statue of Phraya Bordindecha in a shrine room at the temple. I used to pray to this powerful black statue as a kid, I was drawn to the old black statue by some invisible vibes. I thought he was a Buddha statue; only when I grew up I was told by the descendants of the army commander that it was their great grandfather’ statue.

These friends who were related to King Rama V and Phraya Bordindecha would gather at this temple for a yearly ceremony for their great grandfather. I was invited to the ceremony one day. My old friend was very surprised that I had been playing around this place as a kid and I had once disrupted their ceremony with my gang of small cyclists. I led a group of kids on bicycles zooming through the yard where people were preparing food and stuff for the monks and the ceremony.

My friend had a good laugh and said we might have met when we were both very young, but we didn’t have the chance to get to know each other. One of the reason why the great warrior of King Rama III built this temple was that his house was only five minutes’ walk from the temple. My friend told me that they were raised in the big house by the river. I told her that I did cycle to that big house and wondered why I wasn’t inside playing with all those kids.

There was a gap between rich and poor kids, so strange kids wouldn’t be allowed to mingle with kids from rich families. So, it was fate or destiny which drew us together and became good friends. I seemed to have odd connections to various people whose ancestors were related to King Rama III, Rama V and Rama VI. Most of my good friends were related to past Royalties which gave me a chance to learn about privileged information about our history which wouldn’t be made public.

I often wondered why some of these high ranking royalties liked me so much. My younger friend told me that her aunt really liked me for my directness. She said matured royalties got fed up with sweet talkers. That’s probably why they often seeked my opinions on various topics and I did shocked them for my opposite regards towards some respected politicians. Some weren’t pleased with me as I refused to assist some political work. In the end, things turned out exactly as I had warned them. It’s good to be psychic sometimes.

So, this temple connnected my past to my present and probably the future too. This temple used to have a man made cave deep under the bell tower. There was a huge snake, a boa constrictor, that was seen by kids in the evening. Some kids dared another kid to go inside this cave in the evening, and we didn’t hear anything since that day. I always felt something or some energetic power with calming effect in this temple. My parents had no idea that I spent lots of time alone at this temple, just sitting and watching. I also went there to greet my friend the one-eye crocodile in the pond.

There used to be a very big and long crocodile in the pond. He had only one eye due to his fierce history of fighting and hunting along the river. This crocodile caused a lot of fear along the river. So, a hunting party was set up to catch him. The abbot was too kind so he didn’t want people to kill this mighty crocodile. So, a pond was built to keep him and people safe. He was very powerful and awesome, I liked to sneaked at him while he’s sleeping. There was an old Chinese vendor selling food for visitors to feed that crocodile.

I was quite surprised that the pond was still in used after that legendary crocodile were dead. I thought that the pond had turned into a fish pond. There were smaller crocodiles in the pond. I wondered who donated these crocodiles! Sometimes Thai people could be quite crazy and they would donate odd things which the monks couldn’t refuse. I looked around the temple and noticed many changes over the years. The shrine room of Phraya Bordindecha was moved to a new location and the black statue was turned into gold. The powerful vibes were gone, people shouldn’t interfere with original work.

The bell tower was still there; I took a brief look and found that it looked a bit rundown. There were some new buildings in the yard making the place too dense. Some old trees were still there but new material progress just spoiled the spaciousness of the old temple. Nowadays, kids couldn’t cycle around the yard and play games in the evening. I wondered if the bing snake had been captured and given to a zoo. My parents would never allow me to play at the temple by myself as a kid. I was glad that I had my secret playground to myself.

My feelings were mixed after walking around Wat Sam Pluem. It reminded me of the law of impermanence and the need to let go. I longed for the good old days of my childhood and wished to see the same old surroundings being unchanged. Living in the present only seemed quite demanding at times. I had to remind myself not to be an escapist dwelling in the past too much. I guessed I should find out the next annual ceremony for Phraya Bordindecha so that I could join my old friends and do some charitable karma for the mighty army commander who fought off the enemy attacks on Siam over a hundred years ago. This might lead me to a glimpse of the future of my destiny one day.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.

#wednesdaywalk hosted by @tattoodjay