Bangkok’s Wat Pho: Temple of the Reclining Buddha

To see more photos of Wat Pho and the Reclining Buddha, visit the วัดพระเชตุพนวิมลมังคลารามฯ (Wat Pho) location page!

In Bangkok, Thailand, directly adjacent to the Grand Palace, sits Wat Pho (วัดโพธิ์), known popularly as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.

The Reclining Buddha—measuring 160ft (43m) long and 49ft (15m) high—is the largest of the temple’s more than 1,000 Buddha images.

Prior to Wat Pho’s founding in 1788, the site was home to a center of education for medicine. To this day, the temple houses a Thai massage school and displays dozens of plaques inscribed with therapeutic diagrams and instructions.

Thailand Celebrates King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 85th Birthday

To see more of the festivites in Thailand, visit photos posted from the Royal Plaza (ลานพระบรมรูปทรงม้า) in Bangkok.

Bhumibol Adulyadej, Thailand’s king and the world’s longest-serving head of state, turns 85 years old today. King Bhumibol, also known as Rama IX, has ruled Thailand for more than 66 years, and is a popular figure throughout the country.

Many Thais, clad in yellow—a color symbolizing devotion to the monarch—have camped for days at the Royal Plaza in anticipation of the day’s festivities, which include fireworks, thousands of vividly colored marigolds, and a performance by Korean pop singer Psy.

Thailand Celebrates Loi Krathong (ลอยกระทง) and Yi Peng (ยี่เป็ง)

Want to see more photos of Loi Krathong and Yi Peng? Visit the ธุดงคสถานล้านนา, สะพานนวรัฐ (Nawarat Bridge) and Chiang Mai location pages.

Loi Krathong (ลอยกระทง), one of Thailand’s most beautiful annual festivals, is in full swing. Thai celebrants, as well as some Laotians and Burmese, pay homage to the goddess of waters in November each year to coincide with the full moon of the twelfth lunar.

The name Loi Krathong means floating cup of leaf, and describes one of the festival’s biggest events. Participants release small rafts, or ‘krathong’, decorated with flowers and topped by a flickering candle into the waterways of Thailand as a way to seek forgiveness for past sins.

Perhaps the most photogenic part of Loi Krathong is the Lanna (northern Thai) festival Yi Peng (ยี่เป็ง) that coincides with it. Thousands of floating lanterns, or khom loi (โคมลอย), are launched into the air in unison, lighting up the sky. The khom loi are made from a thin fabric, such as rice paper, and have a candle in the center which, when lit, creates enough hot air inside the lantern to lift the khom loi into the sky. The most elaborate Yi Peng celebrations take place in Chiang Mai, the ancient capital of the Lanna Kingdom.

Wax Castle Festival of Sakon Nakhon

Spotlight Explore more photos from the festival by browsing the hashtags #waxcastle and #SakonNakhon.

October marks the end of Wan Awk Pansa (วันออกพรรษา), the Thai and Laos observance of vassa (commonly referred to as the “Buddhist Lent.”)

Few people celebrate the end of vassa in a more spectacular fashion than those of Sakon Nakhon, Thailand. Each year, the event is marked by street celebrations, long illuminated boats, and unbelievably ornate castles sculpted from beeswax.