An interesting afternoon at Wat Chonprathan Rangsarit

Relaxing by the pond

On our recent trip to Laos to renew our visa we met a very friendly Russian. Evgeny is from St Petersburg and is currently in Thailand on one year education visa. He is around 50 years old. He was a backstroke champion in his younger years and came second at the European championships.

We arranged to meet up when we both returned to Bangkok so he could show us the temple where he was staying. Celine and I took a taxi out to the Chonprathan Rangsarit temple but due to language barriers we were not entirely sure what to expect. The ‘temple’, as Evgeny explained, is in Nonthaburi district and was not so much a temple as a spacious compound where Buddhist monks live. There were areas for the monks to pray and also an area for cremations at the front near the main road. There seems to be cremations happening continuously. Evgeny was living in one of the tiny freestanding buildings that were occupied by the monks. He was the only foreigner. He had met a monk in St Petersburg who was living and working in the city at one of universities. I don’t know all the details but the monk offered his place to Evgeny while he was in Russia. Evgeny happily accepted and was now living in and around this peaceful relaxing world in a Buddhist compound in an outer district of Bangkok.


Monks walking


The house was a very small bedroom with an even smaller bathroom. Evgeny slept on the floor on a thin mattress. There was a small desk and two big bookshelves filled with Buddhist literature. Apart from that there were a few pictures and a small fridge. Evgeny had someone come each day to deliver food and wash his clothes. All this was free. I don’t know who this person was but Evgeny said he was like a ‘slave’ (Surely a communication breakdown). I was assured by Evgeny that the guy was not doing this against his will, instead, just an added perk of life on the compound. We all sat on the floor, covering the best part of the house, and enjoyed a wonderful Thai lunch.

Evgeny and Celine


Joining the living quarters is a shaded park, with tables and benches, which surrounds a peaceful pond where young monks stroll past in their orange robes. One Thai monk passed and smiled at us before saying “How ya going”? A little taken aback we started talking to him. He introduced himself as Mike and he spoke great English. He had just arrived at the compound after 3 years in Brisbane. He was obviously new to the monk thing because he went to shake Celine’s hand before abruptly pulling back saying in perfect Aussie accent “I can’t touch you”. Monks are not allowed to touch women.

Evgeny showed us around the rest of the compound before we headed back home. It was great to visit an area rarely visited by foreigners and see Evgeny, have lunch inside a monk’s house and meet Mike the monk. An interesting afternoon.