This Is Thailand

Wat Thammakhosok
Wat Thammakhosok or called “Wat Rong Kho” by villagers was built in the early Rattanakosin period. It is on Si Uthai Road, Tambon Uthai Mai in the municipality. It was used to hold rites by Uthai Thani government officials to pledge allegiance to the king as well as an execution site. The most interesting places in the temple are the chapel and the main Buddha image hall. The chapel is of the Rattanakosin period. A tiled roof covers the building. The Buddha image here is highly sacred. There are beautiful murals inside, the works of late Ayutthaya artists. The main hall is a larger building that is higher than the chapel. A pedestal inside has around 20 Buddha images on it. The outer windowpanes have plaster drawings of the epic Ramayana as frames. The doors have wooden floral patterns painted in bright red.

Khao Sakae Krang

Khao Sakae Krang is a mountain where you can use stairs from the temple court of Wat Sangkat Rattanakhiri to climb up to the top. Otherwise, take Highway No. 3220 for 4 km. Pass the provincial stadium and drive along the route to the top of the mountain where you can admire the beautiful panoramic sights of Uthai Thani. It houses the replica of Lord Buddha’s footprint, built in 1905 and moved from Wat Chantharam. In front of the mondop, there is a large bell which was constructed by Phra Palat Chai and the people of Uthai Thani in 1900. It is believed to be a holy bell which all tourists coming to Uthai Thani should not miss to tap. Near the mondop on top of the mountain, there is a statue of Somdet Phrapathom Borommahachanoknat or the Royal Father of King Rama I, whose name of birth was Thongdi. Later, he was designated to be Phra Akson Sunthonsat, a chief clerk of the Interior Department. In the Ayutthaya era, he was Chaophraya Chakri Si Ongkharak. After that, in the Rattanakosin era, King Rama I (who was formerly called Thongduang) promoted the relics of his father to be Somdet Phra Chanakathipbodi in 1795. The Statue of King Rama I’s Royal Father was cast in double life size, sitting on a seat. In his left hand, a sword of the position of Chaophraya Chakri is kept in the sheath and put on the left thigh. The statue puts its right hand on the right thigh. On his right, there is a Phra Mala Sao Sung, a royal hat without Yi Ka (bird feather), placed on a footed tray. He wears sandals. There is a ceremony to pay respect to the statue on 6 April of every year, at the same period when Suphannika or Fai Kham – yellow cotton trees, the symbolic flower of Uthai Thani, bloom all over Khao Sakae Krang. In the forest behind the mountain, approximately 200 metres from the statue, there is a world map pin, a tool for mapping, which was built in 1932.