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ThailandWe tell you in an article about one of the most unusual temples in Bangkok, Wat Pariwat, also known as the David Beckham Temple. We tell you what is interesting and unusual about this temple, whether it is worth visiting it and how to get to it on your own. Well, if something remains unclear or you just want to talk about a holiday in Thailand or share your experience, we invite you to our 💬 Thailand travel chat.
Description and is it worth a visit
Wat Pariwat Ratchasongkram Temple or simply Wat Pariwat is one of the most unusual temples in Bangkok, it is also known by the popular name "David Beckham's Temple". It is definitely worth a visit if you have not come to the capital of Thailand for the first time. If you are here for the first time, then to be honest, you can skip it, especially since it is not so easy to get to it without a taxi. We will tell you in detail about how to get to it at the end of the article, but first about the history of the temple and why it is so interesting.:
Initially, Wat Pariwat was just a small local temple, about which it is not even known exactly when it was built. Only an approximate period is known – the Ayutthaya era, i.e. from the XIV to the XVIII century. And for a long time it remained just a small temple, of which there are hundreds, if not thousands, in Bangkok and its environs. But at the end of the last century, someone came up with the idea to decorate the temple ubosot (this is the main building in the temples of Thailand, a kind of prayer house) with images of famous people and fictional characters. So there were statues and frescoes of Che Guevara, Barack Obama, Einstein, Superman, Pinocchio, some character from the movie Star Wars and much more. A special place was taken by the gilded statue of David Beckham, which was installed in 1998 in honor of the 16th World Cup. But we will not list all the famous characters from the temple, and we could not recognize them all, it's better to come and guess for yourself, it's quite fascinating.
However, this temple is interesting not only for unusual sculptures and frescoes. Not all tourists know that you can go beyond ubosot further towards the big stupa, and then you will get to the bank of the Chaopraya River. It is equipped with something like an observation deck overlooking the river, but the most interesting thing is that a huge number of fish and pigeons live here. They are fed by the monks of the temple at the expense of donations, and you can also take a bag of feed for a symbolic donation and feed them. And besides the fish, we also saw a snake in the water here.
🕐 Working hours
From 08:00 to 18:00, seven days a week.
💵Entrance fee / ticket price
Free of charge, donations are welcome.
🚶 How to get there
David Beckham Temple Wat Pariwat Ratchasongkram is located on the southern outskirts of Bangkok in silom district on the banks of the Chaopraya River (David Beckham Wat Pariwat Temple on the map). It is quite far from most tourist places and areas, so if you are at odds with local public transport, then the easiest way to get to it is by taxi. Ordering a car or a motorcycle taxi in Bangkok is more profitable and convenient through the Grab or Maxim applications, but Uber does not work here. A trip from pratunam district or from Khao San Road one way to the temple will cost about 200 baht. When ordering a taxi in these applications, you can pay in cash at the end of the trip or link a foreign bank card, Russian ones do not work.
If you are well-versed and already familiar with Bangkok's public transport, then you can get to David Beckham's Wat Pariwat Temple much cheaper from any district of Bangkok. However, you will have to take buses, since neither the metro nor the boats on the Chaopraya River go here. There are no direct city buses directly to the temple from the areas popular with tourists, so it is likely that you will have to go with a transfer. To plan a bus route, you can use the ViaBus application or Google Maps. But be careful with them, if possible, double-check the relevance of the information. Specifically, we were faced with the fact that we waited for almost an hour at the bus stop near the temple to leave it by bus number 3-39 EV (14 EV). But as it turned out, this bus route has not existed for a long time, but there is information about it both in the ViaBus application and on Google maps.
In addition to the usual city buses, it is very convenient to get to the temple by BRT buses. These are buses that run along a dedicated lane like trams, and one of the stops is right next to the temple and is called Wat Pariwat. You can get on this bus at its final stop Sathorn near the Chong Nonsi metro station, you just need to go from the station to this stop on foot following the signs. But keep in mind that, unfortunately, the BRT buses were not very successful in Bangkok, and their fate is unknown. At the time of our visit to the temple in November 2023, the BRT buses were still working and running very often, and even the passage in them was temporarily free, but before the trip we advise you to clarify the information whether they are working at all or permanently suspended.
Learn more We have told you about Bangkok's urban transport and how to use it here...
Friends, we remind you that it is much more interesting to get acquainted with the sights of Bangkok with the help of excursions, and therefore we advise you to look at options with online booking and reviews on these excursion aggregators: