Thailand Guide
The central plains
Kamphaeng Phet Old City (Muang Kao Kamphaeng Phet)
Opening time: Daily 6am–7pm
Price: B100, or B150 including Arunyik Temples
Address: Immediately north of the new town
Built almost entirely of laterite and adorned with laterite Buddhas, Wat Phra Kaeo was the Old City's central and most important structure, and given the name reserved for temples that have housed the kingdom's most sacred image: the Emerald Buddha, now in the temple of the same name in Bangkok, is thought to have been set down here to rest at some point. Seven centuries later, the Buddha images have been worn away into attractive abstract shadows, often aptly compared to the pitted, spidery forms of Giacometti sculptures, and the slightly unkempt feel to the place makes a perfect setting. Few tools have been unearthed at any of the Kamphaeng Phet sites, giving weight to the theory that the sculptors moulded their statues from the clay-like freshly dug laterite before leaving it to harden. Small, overgrown laterite quarry pits are still visible all over the old city. The statues would originally have been faced with stucco, and restorers have already patched up the central tableau of one reclining and two seated Buddhas. The empty niches that encircle the principal stupa were once occupied by statues of bejewelled lions.
Adjoining Wat Phra Kaeo to the east are the three stupas of Wat Phra That. The central bell-shaped stupa, now picturesquely wreathed in lichen and stray bits of vegetation, is typical of the Sri Lankan style and was built to house a sacred relic.