Nakhon Pathom 9

Taken on: 1st October, 2007. Copyright: Attribution-NonCommercial License - See Geoff_B's page of Flickr

Read more about Nakhon Pathom

There's an old legend that says the Gulf of Thailand once extended further north, and the city of Nakhon Pathom was a bustling harbour on the Gulf.

While there's some doubt about the legend, there's no doubt the city has been a centre of Buddhist learning for well over a thousand years. Nakhon Pathom's pride and joy, the Phra Pathom Chedi, bares testament to this.

The city revolves around the Chedi -- said to be the tallest Buddhist temple anywhere in the world. The chedi's extensive outer grounds are a popular place for the locals to eat, chat and lay about and while Nakhon Pathom is not so much a place travellers come of itself, (most visitors are package tourists making a side-trip form the nearby Damnoen Saduak Floating Market) there is a trickle of travellers who do make it here.

The Phra Pathom Chedi Fair, running for ten days at the end of November, is the biggest party Nakhon Pathom puts on. Hundreds of food and amusement stalls set up within the ... Read our complete Nakhon Pathom travel guide

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