Monkey King Temple @ Bangkok Chinatown in Thailand

From the outside, it's just a small temple an elaborately colorful roof that I wouldn't even bother to check it out. However, I happened to be searching for food in the vicinity on google map and something caught my eye.

The patron deity is super famous and I bet any person of Chinese ethnicity would know of him. In Singapore, the drama was so popular in the 1980s that other races knew of him. Of course, it also helps that this same god has an equivalence in Hinduism, the religion for most Singapore Indians. 

In case you haven't figured who that person is; it's the monkey king, Sun Wukong! Technically not a human, and not a primate too since it was born out of a stone, I thought it was rare to have a temple dedicated to this being that was so powerful; he claimed to be equal to heaven!

Colorfulness of the temple wasn't limited to the roof; even the interior had captivating colors that wowed me for two reasons; its vividness and how the operator managed to squeeze in so many images for such a tiny space! 

Wait, was that the legendary golden cudgel on the ceiling beam? The supreme weapon with the ability to shrink and grow, and was also known as the needle, that calmed the East Sea, before it was "borrowed" by the Monkey King! 

Storyboards on the wall; I actually knew both stories! The one on the left spoke of the time when the Monkey King went against the Heavenly Court and the gods in the court planned to send the army to destroy the primate kingdom; the right side narrated the story of the White Bone Demoness who tried to sow discord so that the Tripitaka and his two other disciples would sever ties with Monkey King. 

Many different statues of the monkey king; as the story (journey to the west) goes, our beloved Monkey King eventually attained Buddhahood and was given the title of "Victorious Fighting Buddha".

There's even a statue of the Monkey King in an attire he was so pissed off with; he eventually wrecked havoc in heaven. To manage him, the Heavenly Court decided to give him a role of a ranked official but what the Monkey King didn't know was that it's a lowly position with a nice title was in fact a stable-boy!

Photos showing the scene outside. 

The inside was more amazing.

The joss paper burner was inside the temple! There appeared to be a chimney connected the outdoors; if not, I bet it would be hazy and polluted within the temple, which wasn't the case.

Use of money as blessing! It's a phenomenon I don't see in Singapore and the first time I chanced upon such practice in Thailand was when I first visited Wat Arun in 2009. 

Lastly, a modern scene on the wall mural. It's quite funny to spot this image of a monkey holding on to a camera. I wouldn't be surprised if there's another monkey playing around with a stolen / discarded / lost mobile phone.

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Address

66 Rama IV Rd, Talat Noi, 

Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10500, Thailand

Map

As above.