Thailand Guide
The central plains
Wat Sri Chum
Opening time: Daily 6am–6pm
Price: B100 includes entry to the rest of the north zone
Address: North zone, Sukhothai Historical Park; 12km west of New Sukhothai
Wat Sri Chum boasts Sukhothai's largest surviving Buddha image. The enormous, heavily restored brick-and-stucco seated Buddha, measuring more than 11m from knee to knee and almost 15m high, peers through the slit in its custom-built structure. Check out the elegantly tapered fingers, complete with gold-leaf nail varnish. A passageway – rarely opened up, unfortunately – runs inside the wall, taking you from ground level on the left-hand side to the Buddha's eye level and then up again to the roof, affording a bird's-eye view of the image. Legend has it that this Buddha would sometimes speak to favoured worshippers, and this staircase would have enabled tricksters to climb up and hold forth, unseen; one of the kings of Sukhothai is said to have brought his troops here to spur them on to victory with encouraging words from the Buddha.