Breakaway Destination Guides (International)

The important part of temple etiquette in Thailand is to be dressed properly. Visitors should ensure that their shoulders and knees are covered. Short skirts are not at permitted within the temple compounds. Outside the temple compound, visitors can hire covering cloth if they are dressed to enter.

Usually conical or bell-shaped buildings [a different term would be stupa or pagoda] is a domed edifice, often quite tall, under which relics of the Buddha or revered religious teachers are buried.

A Viharn is a sermon hall. It is usually the busiest building in a Wat and open to everyone [provided the visitor behaves according to the temple etiquette! You must be properly dressed, take off your shoes before entering a building and behave quietly] Just like the Bots, Viharns hold an altar and one or several Buddha images.

[also called Mandapa] Usually an open, square building with four arches and a pyramidal roof, used to worship religious texts or objects. Often in some temples having been erected above the library with the sacred Buddhist scripts.

The Bot (also called Ubosoth) is the ordination hall of a Wat. It is the most holy prayer room, also called the "ordination hall" as it is where new monks take their vows. You can recognize a building as a Bot by the six boundary stones [Bai Sema] that define the limits of its sanctuary. Bots are usually open only to the monks. Inside are always an altar and one or several Buddha images.

Chofahs are the bird-like decorations on the end of the temple roofs. If you visit the Museum of the Emerald Buddha, near the Grand Palace in Bangkok you can see examples of chofahs displayed in glass cases in the ground floor and have a closer look at them. Chofahs are often decorated with little bells that tinkle in the wind.

A Naga is a representation of a mystical serpent that according to the holy scripts sheltered the Buddha while he was meditating. In temple architecture, it runs down the edge of the roof, or, especially in Lanna [North of Thailand] temples, flanks the staircase that ascends to the Viharn or Bot. In sculptures, it is depicted sheltering the head of the Buddha with its own. Beautiful representations of Nagas are known from Khmer art, as found in the Khmer ruins in the Northeast of Thailand.

A pavilion for relaxation or miscellaneous activities.

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