Temples Off the Tourist Trail

So you think you've done Bangkok's temples. You've been awed by the Wat Phra Kaeo and marveled at Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn. But Bangkok and its environs offer a selection of weirder wats for those who know where to look.

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Consider Wat Hua Krabu, an unassuming temple in the seaside suburb of Bang Kunthien—except for the fact that it happens to have more than 5,000 buffalo skulls stacked amid the incense and amulets. For centuries Thais have deposited the skulls of their favorite beasts of burden there in the hope of speeding them to a...