Wat Kriangkrai Klang

Wat Kriangkrai Klang is a working Buddhist temple on the Nan River outside Nakhon Sawan, founded around 1631 with an ordination hall dating to roughly 1681 — Ayutthaya-period construction, not the “early Bangkok” attribution sometimes given to it. Entry is free. The two names to know here are Luang Pho Samrit, a Buddha image with a rescue legend tied to Sukhothai, and Luang Pho Pak Daeng, a gilded image whose worn plaster has revealed a red-painted mouth underneath.

According to local temple history, as Sukhothai’s power waned, its people floated a revered Buddha image down the Nan River on a raft, hoping to keep it safe. The raft sank near the mouth of Khlong Chiang Krai — the waterway the temple and surrounding subdistrict take their name from — and the villagers who recovered the image covered it in plaster to disguise its worth from raiders during wartime. It’s still the principal Buddha in the old vihara today, seated in the Mara Vichai (subduing Mara) posture. Separately, “Luang Pho Pak Daeng” — the Red-Mouthed Buddha — gets its nickname from centuries of plaster wearing thin over an originally gilded surface, exposing the red pigment beneath at the mouth. Around the grounds, faded murals depict the Buddha’s victory over Mara and guardian spirits painted near the old wooden sermon hall’s windows.

Insider Tip: The ordination hall itself, built about 1681, is worth a slow look even without a guide — at roughly 345 years old it predates most of the “ancient” temples marketed to tourists in this part of Thailand, and it’s still standing in close to its original form.

Watch out: This is a working neighbourhood temple, not a tourist site with English signage or a ticket booth — cover shoulders and knees, remove your shoes before entering any building, and keep your voice down if a service is underway.

Visits here run quiet — locals stopping to make merit outnumber tourists on most days, and there’s no crowd management or set viewing route. Early morning brings the best light through the pines for photos of the ordination hall’s weathered brickwork.

View on Google Maps. Phone 0 5635 4183 for temple contact.