Wat Choeng Len

Wat Choeng Len is a working neighbourhood temple on the Chao Phraya’s west bank in Pak Kret, Nonthaburi, dating to the mid-Ayutthaya period — though no record fixes the exact founding year. Its name comes straight from the site: “choeng len” (เชิงเลน) describes the shallow, muddy riverbank the temple sits on, not a person or event.

The temple has had an unsteady history. At some point it was abandoned for lack of resident monks, sitting empty until 1907, when local donors Iem and Prom Amdaeng gave land and funds to restore it. It received royal consecration in 1913. Under the current abbot, Phra Khru Nonthakunphiphat, most of the temple’s buildings have been rebuilt in reinforced concrete rather than preserved as ruins: the ordination hall houses a Buddha image in the Maravijaya pose (subduing Mara), a two-storey sermon hall went up in 1993, and a multipurpose pavilion followed in 2002. The temple also holds an old inscribed dharma stone and a cabinet of Buddhist scripture texts — its most tangible link to its centuries-old founding, even though the buildings around them are modern.

This is a working, sixteen-rai riverside temple rather than a restored monument — expect monks going about daily routines, occasional merit-making visitors, and river traffic passing just beyond the grounds, not a curated historical site.

Insider Tip: Combine the visit with Koh Kret, the pottery-making river island a short distance away — both sit in the same stretch of Pak Kret and make a natural half-day riverside loop.

Watch out: There’s no formal published visiting schedule — this is an active temple, not a ticketed attraction, so time your visit for daylight hours and be ready to step back if a ceremony is underway in the ordination hall.

For a river-temple day beyond Bangkok’s busiest sights, Wat Choeng Len works best paired with the rest of Nonthaburi’s Pak Kret riverside — it’s a genuine local temple rather than a destination in its own right.