Wat Krok Krak

Wat Krok Krak stands on the bank of the Tha Chin River in Krok Krak subdistrict, Samut Sakhon, founded around 1832 and granted Wisungkhamsima status in 1880. Entry is free, daily 08:30–17:30. The reason people travel here from across the province is a single laterite Buddha image that wears dark sunglasses.

That image, Luang Pho Pu, sits in the Mara-Vijaya (earth-touching) posture and dates to the Sukhothai period. The sunglasses tradition began during a conjunctivitis outbreak that once swept the village: with no medicine available, residents vowed that if the epidemic passed they would cover the image’s eyes in gold leaf as thanks. It did pass, and villagers duly gilded the eyes — until the abbot at the time, concerned the gold leaf was wearing down the laterite, fitted the image with a pair of sunglasses instead. Devotees have brought glasses rather than gold leaf ever since, and stacks of donated sunglasses now sit around the shrine. Temple accounts also hold that the original image was carried here by Mon refugees who settled along the Tha Chin generations earlier, and that King Chulalongkorn’s royal barge stopped at the temple on a journey between Bang Pa-in and Phetchaburi.

The compound itself is modest: a traditional wooden ubosot with a tiled roof, two stupas standing alongside it, and a riverside deck where locals feed fish. None of it competes for attention with Luang Pho Pu — most visitors are in and out within 20–30 minutes unless they’ve come for the January fair.

Wat Krok Krak sits in a working part of Samut Sakhon rather than a tourist strip: fishing boats and salt-pan barges pass on the Tha Chin River behind the temple, and the surrounding streets are lined with seafood traders rather than souvenir stalls. That setting is part of the draw for visitors coming from Bangkok, an hour or so away — a genuinely local temple rather than one built around tour buses, even with its unusual centrepiece.

Insider Tip: Visit on a weekday morning outside January. The temple is quiet, the abbot’s assistants are happy to explain the sunglasses story, and you can see the stacks of donated glasses up close without a crowd.

Watch out: The January fair draws some of the largest crowds in Samut Sakhon province — parking along Thamkhunakon Road fills fast and the ordination hall gets packed for the gold-covering rite. Go earlier in the week if you want a calmer visit.

Wat Krok Krak sits a short drive from two other Samut Sakhon temples worth combining on the same trip: Wat Nangsao, with its 400-year-old windowless ordination hall, and the working seafood trade at Mahachai Market by the municipal port.