Wat Buppharam

Wat Buppharam, still widely known by its old name Wat Plai Khlong (“temple at the end of the canal”), is the oldest temple in Trat province. It stands among trees on a low rise at Ban Plai Khlong, a couple of kilometres west of Trat town. Tradition dates its founding to 1632, in the reign of King Prasat Thong of Ayutthaya, and King Narai granted its consecrated boundary in 1682.

It is a quiet, shady place where the age of the buildings shows: an old wooden viharn, the oldest structure in the grounds, a laterite hall for the reclining Buddha, and an ordination hall with layered tiled roofs. Few foreign visitors make it here, so you will often have it to yourself.

• The murals: early Bangkok-period paintings cover the walls of the ordination hall, the reclining Buddha hall and a mondop. Look for the Chinese touches: dragons, birds and deer among the flowers, and Chinese characters worked into the designs, a reminder of the town’s merchant past.
• The wooden viharn: part timber and part masonry, near the north wall, once the temple’s ordination hall.
• The mondops: three small shrines, one holding four Buddha footprints stacked one on top of another.
• The temple museum: a collection built up from the temple’s treasures, including gilded and silver-plated Buddha images, a small glass stupa holding relics, Chinese and European porcelain, and an old bronze drum.

Dress respectfully (shoulders and knees covered) and take your shoes off before entering the halls.

The temple is about 2 kilometres west of central Trat, off the main highway on Plai Khlong Road. Take a motorbike taxi or songthaew from town, or cycle out on a rented bike.