Wat Chayamangkalaram is the city's main Thai Buddhist temple, founded in 1845 on land granted by Queen Victoria to the Thai community in Penang. It sits in Pulau Tikus, a quiet north-western neighbourhood about ten minutes by Grab from the centre, and houses a 33-metre reclining Buddha said to be the third-largest in the world. The statue, gilded gold and lying on a richly decorated platform, takes up most of the main hall — visitors walk around it to reach the urns and small altars at the far end.
Across the road is the Burmese Buddhist temple (Dhammikarama), the only Burmese Buddhist temple outside Myanmar and a near-neighbour of Wat Chayamangkalaram. Together the two temples make for a worthwhile half-hour stop — quieter than the central Chinese temples and atmospherically distinct in their Thai and Burmese architectural styles (gilded multi-tiered roofs, chinthe lions, ornate stupa cones). Both are working temples and free to enter; remove shoes and dress modestly.