Mon-Thai Temples & Culture
in Riverside Nonthaburi

🔄 Updated 21 Jun 2026

To understand Nonthaburi on a level deeper than markets and cafes, you have to start with the Mon people. They fled war and settled along the Chao Phraya in several waves, the biggest of them during the Thonburi era and the early Rattanakosin period. They brought their Mon (Raman) Buddhism, their clay-shaping skills, and their sweets with them. Today those traces still live on in the temples, in the kilns, and in the small sweet shops on Koh Kret. We've laid out a route you can actually follow, from the key temples through to the food and souvenirs that are part of the Mon legacy.

Wat Poramaiyikawat — the Mon heart of Koh Kret

This is the first place to come if you're talking about Mon culture in Nonthaburi. It was originally called Wat Pak Ao, with the Mon name "Phia Mu Kiak Toeng", meaning the temple at the cape, because it sits right at the tip of Koh Kret. The temple fell into ruin around the fall of Ayutthaya, then the Mon migrants restored it. Later, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) ordered a full renovation and granted it its current name.

The symbol of the temple is the white Mon-style Mutao stupa standing right at the riverside cape. A red cloth is tied around its spire, a marker of Mon culture, and many people call it the "leaning stupa" because the current has eroded the foundation enough to tilt it slightly. It has become the most photographed landmark on the island. Inside the temple there's also a museum holding old artifacts, a Mon-language palm-leaf Tripitaka, and a reclining Buddha you can go in to see.

Wat Chaloem Phra Kiat Worawihan — Thai-Chinese art from Rama III's reign

Cross over to the Nonthaburi town side and you'll find Wat Chaloem Phra Kiat, a riverside temple whose artwork is beautiful enough to be worth a trip on its own. It was built around 1847–1849 at the wish of King Nangklao (Rama III), to honour Queen Sri Sulalai, his royal mother. It's said to be one of the last temples that held Rama III's personal devotion.

The ordination hall and the vihara are works of royal-favoured Thai architecture mixed with Chinese influence: Chinese-style ridged-tile roofs, with pediments decorated in brightly glazed tiles imported from China, arranged into hibiscus-flower patterns. Inside the ordination hall is enshrined Phra Phuttha Mahalokaphinanthapatima, a copper-cast principal Buddha in the subduing-Mara posture, with a lap span of about 6 sok (roughly 3 metres). Legend has it Rama III ordered copper mined from Nakhon Ratchasima to be used in the casting. The temple is calm and uncrowded, a good spot to sit, rest, and catch the river breeze.

Other old temples worth a stop

If you've got time to spare, Koh Kret and the surrounding area have several more old temples to walk on to. Each has something different to see, from Mon-style stupas and mural paintings to the still-quiet atmosphere of a riverside temple.

Pottery — handed down by Mon craftsmen

The Nonthaburi specialty most tied to the Mon people is pottery. It's believed to have been made on Koh Kret since the Ayutthaya era. Its hallmarks are the orange-red clay and the finely pierced fretwork patterns around the neck of each pot. The intricately patterned Koh Kret water jars have even been registered as a GI (Geographical Indication) product. To this day there are still potters making them by hand in the community.

A spot worth stopping at is the Ban Kwan Aman Pottery Museum. The phrase "Kwan Aman" in Mon means village of potters. It displays pottery in ancient patterns and gives shaping demonstrations, so you can see how many steps a single pot passes through in a craftsman's hands. It's on Koh Kret, in Koh Kret sub-district, open daily 9:00 AM–5:00 PM.

Sweets and Mon local food

Mon culture doesn't live only in the temples, it's in the food too. Koh Kret still has Mon sweets and dishes that are hard to find in Bangkok, and visitors almost always buy some to take home as a souvenir.

• Thot Man Nor Kala (fried fish cakes with nor kala) — a Koh Kret specialty, made by chopping nor kala (a riverside plant) into the fish cake mix for a crisp, lightly sweet flavour all its own, hard to find elsewhere.
• Mon-style khao chae — rice in chilled, flower-scented water, eaten with crisp fried side dishes, a Mon hot-season cooling dish that's usually sold during summer.
• Mon sweets — thong yot, foi thong, khanom kong, and rare old-style sweets still made and sold by individual specialists on the island, perfect to take home as a gift.
• Dok mai krop and look choop — finely crafted Thai sweets, with several shops to choose from in the Koh Kret market.

Getting there & planning a temple-culture route

The temple-and-culture route is an easy single-day trip. Start with Koh Kret, since it bundles the temples, the pottery, and the sweets all in one place, then cross over to the town side if you still have the energy. Getting there is easier than you'd think.

• Getting to Koh Kret — drive or take a taxi to Wat Sanam Nuea in Pak Kret, then take the cross-river ferry to the island. The boat costs THB 2–4 and takes just a few minutes.
• Getting to the town side — Wat Chaloem Phra Kiat and Wat Bua Khwan are reachable via the MRT Purple Line plus a short onward ride, or take the Chao Phraya express boat to Tha Nam Non pier.
• Suggested order — Morning: Koh Kret (Wat Poramaiyikawat → Ban Kwan Aman → wander the market sampling sweets). Afternoon: cross over to riverside Wat Chaloem Phra Kiat, finishing at Wat Bua Khwan in town.