Wat Prang Luang วัดปรางค์หลวง is an ancient Thai Buddhist temple in Nonthaburi province, it is believed to be the oldest monastery and archaeological site in Nonthaburi and the Bangkok Metropolitan Region. It is situated along Khlong Om Non, also known as Khlong Bangkok Noi.
The temple was previously called Wat Luang วัดหลวง meaning royal temple. It was presumably built in reign of the King Ramathibodi I (U-Thong) the first monarch and founder of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, more than 650 years ago. It is believed that this location used to be his residence after the cholera evacuation, before the establishment of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
Later in the Bangkok era the name was changed to Wat Prang Luang.
The prang is old and has had redtoration wirk done to it due to the dilapidated state it was in. It has been archaeological proven to date back to the early Ayutthaya period with a different structure than the other prangs of the same period.
A principal ...
Hỏa Lò Prison, known to American prisoners of war as the “Hanoi Hilton,” is one of Hanoi’s most powerful historical sites, linking the eras of French colonial rule and the Vietnam War.
Built by the French between 1896 and 1901 as Maison Centrale, it was designed to hold Vietnamese political prisoners and revolutionaries.
Overcrowding, shackles, solitary cells, and a guillotine defined life inside its thick stone walls. After 1954 the prison came under North Vietnamese control, and from 1964 to 1973 it held captured American pilots, including John McCain. Most of the complex was demolished in the early 1990s, leaving only the gatehouse and a portion of the original structures, which now serve as a museum.
Located at 1 Hỏa Lò Street in Hoàn Kiếm District, a short distance from Hoàn Kiếm Lake, the museum is open daily from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Adult tickets cost 50,000 VND, with discounts for students and seniors and free entry for children under 16. An audio guide is available for an...
The Khlong Tan Sunday morning market, officially known as Khlong Tan Railway Station Market and commonly called Talat Lao or the Laos Market, has operated for several decades along the active railway tracks beside Khlong Tan Railway Station in Bangkok.
Some longtime vendors report selling there for more than twenty years, while others have done so for no less than forty years, recalling earlier days when traders helped clear overgrown areas near the station and under a nearby bridge to establish informal stalls.
Traders from eastern provinces such as Prachinburi, Chachoengsao and Sa Kaeo, along with many from Isan regions including Sisaket, Kalasin, Sakon Nakhon, Chaiyaphum and Ubon Ratchathani, began bringing seasonal produce, wild ingredients and regional specialties into the city, often arriving by train or vehicle on Saturday evenings to set up for the following morning.
The informal name “Laos Market” arose because a large share of the goods reflect Isan culinary traditions, which share ...
Thai long boat racing, known as reua yao, is one of the country’s oldest living traditions, with roots stretching back more than six centuries to the Ayutthaya Kingdom. In those days the long, narrow wooden craft served first as war canoes and later as a form of military training that built strength, coordination and courage among soldiers.
Over time the practice moved from the battlefield into the heart of community life. After the end of the Buddhist rains retreat, when rivers and canals ran high, villages would gather to race, make merit, honour the spirits of the water and celebrate the unity of their people.
The boats themselves were carved from single great logs of hardwood, treated with reverence and blessed through rituals that still open every major race today. What began as preparation for war and a religious festival evolved into a cherished national sport, now contested for royal trophies and watched by thousands along the banks of Thailand’s waterways.
This same spirit of tradition...
