Posted by We have a long day of driving today so we don’t have a lot of time for sightseeing. But as we drive from the inland road in Sweden to the coastal road we see some signs for a Thai temple area – and we drive almost right by it. After having seen all the signs of this Thai temple we decide we need to figure out what a Thai temple is doing in northern Sweden – it was exactly what we expected to see during the drive.
It turns out the temple was built in 1997 to commemorate the hundred year anniversary of King Chulalongkorn visit to Sweden in 1897. The king was on a European tour to create diplomatic ties with the European powers in a hope to keep Thailand as an independent kingdom during a time when the European forces was dividing most of Asia between them. The king was eventually successful and Thailand was the only part of south East Asia which didn’t become a European colony.
The Thai temple is located on a fairly big area with a lot of flowers and a couple of ponds you can walk around. There is also a nice Thai style bridge across the pond and the whole area looks pretty much like something you could find in Thailand.
The central temple building has a statue inside and you are allowed to go in if you like – but this is a Thai complex so you will need to take off your shoes before you go in. as we walk around there is actually a few people who looks like Thai so the place do attract some members of the local Thai community.
There is a large Thai restaurant at the complex so if you are hungry and have a craving for Thai food this may just be your best option for this part of Sweden. Unfortunately we didn’t come during lunch time so we didn’t actually try the food so we have no firsthand knowledge of the quality of the food.
FrejaTravels 