Wat Nok Pak Thale

Wat Nok Pak Thale already existed in the reign of King Chulalongkorn: the royal daily records of 1904 note a royal visit to “Wat Nok” at Ban Laem, which probably refers to this temple. The National Office of Buddhism gives its founding as 1891 and its royal grant of consecrated land (wisungkhamsima) as 1896.

The ordination hall is a ‘maha ut’ style wooden Thai building with a front porch, wooden bargeboards inlaid with coloured glass and panelled walls. It houses the principal Buddha image in meditation posture, named Luang Pho Thep Narumit.

The sermon hall is a wooden Thai-style building whose roof tiles form the number 127, probably its year of construction, R.S. 127 (1908). Traces of a Rahu-swallowing-the-moon design can still be seen on the west gable.

The ship-shaped Phetra Nipphanang Vihara is stucco work blending Thai and Chinese art, with carved takhian-wood windows and gilded black-lacquer (lai rot nam) paintings covering the interior walls.