[Travel] Penang, Thai Buddhist Temple Side by Side with Burmese Temple in George Town

Finally I have the time to continue writing about Penang. Our third day in Penang, My sister, her husband and I decide to rent a car and a driver to go around the whole day. Now only we captured some of the hard-to-find art murals, the driver suggest a couple of good food to go, including trying the famous Teochew Chendul Ice Kacang, sight-seeing some temples and visit some Peranakan mansion along the way.

For the next three posts, I’ll be showing the temples from Thailand, Burma and the largest Buddhist temple in Penang.

First stop is Wat Chaiyamangkalaram Temple. It’s located at 8, Jalan Perak, Georgetown.

The Thai Buddhist temple was built in 1845 to serve as a place of worship for the Siamese community.

Inside, we see the Phra Chaiya Mongkol reclining Buddha with the width of 33 meters and it’s the third longest reclining Buddha statue in the world. There are also smaller Buddha statues in front for the worshiper to pray. Much of the temple is decorated richly with shining reflective surfaces like the Thai temples I visited in Bangkok.

The back of the giant reclining Buddha.

We didn’t spend that much time since it’s not a large complex and we’re more curious to go to the Burmese temple next door, Dhammikarama Burmese Temple at Burmah Lane.

The temple was build in 1803 and was named Nandy Molog Burmese Temple. The renovated Sima Hall is the highlight of the temple, imho.