Wat Mangkon Kamalawat

Step through the gate and you're in Wat Mangkon Kamalawat, the largest and most important Chinese Buddhist temple in Bangkok. Its Chinese name, Leng Noei Yi, and the Thai one given by King Chulalongkorn, Rama V, mean the same thing: Dragon Lotus Temple.

1Buddhism of another school

It was founded around 1871 or 1872 by a Chinese monk, Master Sok Heng. Unlike most Thai temples, which follow Theravada Buddhism, this one practises Mahayana Buddhism, the tradition of China. In the main hall you'll see the four heavenly kings guarding the entrance, several golden Buddhas and, in the side chapels, Taoist and Confucian figures, because in Chinese religious life everything coexists.

2Offerings for the ancestors

In the courtyard there's a furnace where paper offerings are burned: banknotes, clothes or miniature houses that, according to the belief, reach the ancestors this way. During Chinese New Year and the vegetarian festival in autumn, the temple fills to bursting and the incense smoke almost hides the roofs.

In Chinese tradition, Guanyin, the goddess of mercy honoured in one of the rear chapels, listens to the prayers of those who suffer.

Many locals also come to ask for protection for the year ahead, with offerings to the guardian deities.

3What to look for

• The dragons snaking along the roof ridges.
• The great bronze incense burner in the middle of the courtyard.
• The red lanterns and the golden inscriptions on the columns.