Wat Arun

There are over thirty-one thousand and two-hundred Buddhist temples spread around Thailand. In Thai these are called wat. One of these, the Wat Arun or the Temple of Dawn, is named after Aruna, the Indian God of Dawn. Sitting majestically on the Thonburi side of the Chao Phraya River, the legendary Wat Arun is one of the most striking riverside landmarks of Thailand.

This Wat or Buddhist temple is an architectural representation of Mount Meru, the center of the world in Buddhist cosmology. Wat Arun is among the best known of Thailand's landmarks and the first light of the morning reflects off the surface of the temple with pearly iridescence. The Wat Arun, commonly known as “the Temple of Dawn”, is one of only six temples of the highest grade of the first class Royal Temples, and therefore one of Thailand’s most revered temples.