Thailand Guide
The north
Wat Umong
Address: About 3km west of the town centre
More of a park than a temple, Wat Umong makes an unusual, charming place for a stroll in the western suburbs. According to legend the temple was built in the 1380s by King Ku Na for a brilliant but deranged monk called Jan, who was prone to wandering off into the forest to meditate. Because Ku Na wanted to be able to get Jan's advice at any time, he founded this temple and decorated the tunnels (umong) beneath the stupa with paintings of trees, flowers and birds to simulate the monk's favoured habitat. Above the tunnels, frighteningly lavish serpents guard the staircase up to the overgrown stupa and a grassy platform supporting a grotesque black statue of the fasting Buddha, all ribs and veins: he is depicted as he was during his six years of self-mortification, before he realized that he should avoid extremes along the Middle Path to enlightenment. Behind the stupa, the ground slopes away to a lake and a Chinese pavilion, where informal discussions in English on Buddhism, and some meditation practice, are normally held on Sunday afternoons at 3pm.
Throughout the tranquil wooded grounds, the temple's diverse education-focused philosophy comes vividly alive: as you enter the compound you pass through a shady grove where signs are pinned to nearly every tree, displaying simple Buddhist maxims in Thai and English. At certain times of the day, your stroll is accompanied by a soothing Thai voice emanating from loudspeakers, expounding on Buddhism; the subject can be explored in more depth in the library, in the centre of the temple grounds, with some books in English, and at the adjacent bookshop – and outside at tables local people read, study and conduct discussions. The path leading to the stupa is lined with outrageous cartoons of sinning anthropomorphized dogs, moral maxims underneath each one, while surreal didactic paintings also cover the modern hall near the tunnel entrances. At the entrance gate, handicrafts are sold by the community of disabled people that has a house here.