The weekend started on Friday (if you are unfamiliar with the days of the week) when we left the apartment to go to Old Bar - the Lertlah after-school hangout for staff where you can get good food and enjoy Leos at a reasonable price. My Khao Pad Guy (chicken fried rice) was delicious. We then met up with Nick at the bus stop on the other side of Phetkasem (the street we live on) and squished 5 of us into a cab, going to Sala Daeng Station. Here it was our goal to find..
an Irish pub in Bangkok Thailand that had a Thai cover band of a British Band
... a funny enough combination but they were actually quite good. They call themselves the Betters in place of The Beatles and it's almost accurate, although I don't think I could ever say that they were actually better. Unbelievably close though. Here they also had fantastic North American style pub food. Christie had a quesadilla that came with guacamole and real sour cream, Sam, Lynne and Nick had burgers that were very tasty and I had fries that came with mayo and ketchup. Very satisfying. The Chang pints were huge! And a fairly reasonable price.
Despite all of this adventure, we were back by (I think) around midnight so that we could get to bed and get up for our tour the following morning at 9am.
I was very excited to get up at around 7:30am on Saturday and actually made it out for a run in the morning before we left for the Temples. This was great because if I had left it for later I would not have followed through - it was over 35 degrees on Saturday! As it was, we sweat our way through the tour and thoroughly enjoyed the air-conditioned restaurant we went to for a late lunch.
The first temple we went to was Wat Prah Kaew - attached to the Grand Palace. This temple and palace have become more of a tourist destination as the royal family does not live there and most of the buildings that surround the center temple are closed to the public. The central temple is open to the public and is a major draw, since it houses the Emerald Buddha - an approximately 45 cm Buddha statue carved out of Jade. It was beautiful but it was set atop a tall structure so we did not get a great look at it (and cameras are not allowed inside this temple so we could not even zoom in).
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| from outside the temple |
The surrounding buildings and the variety of stuppas were amazing to look at. Judianne best described it as having her breath taken away as we turned every corner.
What I found most interesting about this temple was that it combined so many different styles within the Buddhist architectural circle instead of just being one particular style. For example, in the picture you can see Chinese, Thai and Cambodian influences in the different stuppas.
The beauty of these structures was enhanced greatly by the fact that the sun was so bright and there is a lot of gold on them, as well as glass. This made them really sparkle and seem almost other-worldly.
The Grand Palace was also impressive. It was absolutely massive. Also, somewhat odd, the Grand Palace had hints of European architecture even though Thailand was never colonized. It seems to be such a waste to not have anyone living there but the buildings here are still functional and are used infrequently. The lawns were also well manicured. The trees made me laugh because they made me think of Nintendo.
The next stop on the tour was Wat Pho. Here we went in search for the Reclining Buddha (so named for his position, representing death). Luckily, the Reclining Buddha is about 46 m (NOTE: Not 46 cm like the Emerald Buddha) so it was relatively easy to find.
This temple we were (clearly) allowed to take pictures in. You may notice that I am not in any pictures with Buddha behind me. This is because the act of posing with Buddha is considered extremely disrespectful.
As you may have guessed, this statue has a miraculous effect of making you feel extremely insignificant. Along the backside of the Buddha there are many pots that you can pay to put money into. This is done to promote concentration as you are supposed to count the number of pots there are as you put one coin in each. We did not do this but I can see how it would be effective.
There were many other Buddhas in the buildings surrounding the Reclining Buddha who are in different positions and/or are from other places and time periods. Each Buddha's position represents a different message and/or part of the Buddha's history. I found out today that you are supposed to own the Buddha of the day of the week you were born. I was born on a Sunday so that is what I'll be looking for.
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| enlightened buddha |
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| Peace Buddha |
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| Meditating Buddha |
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| Wat Arun |
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| Model of Angkor Wat at Wat Prah Kaew |
Following Wat Pho, we walked down to the ferry boats and took one for 3 baht (pennies) across the river to Wat Arun. This temple was very different in appearance to the other two, which were predominantly in the Thai style. Instead, Wat Arun is done in the same fashion as Angkor Wat (to be visited at a later date).
We weren't able to go inside this temple but we could climb it and did with some hesitance. The stairs were so big and steep that I was a little scared going up wearing flats that had absolutely no grip, and terrified going down to the point where I was clinging to the railing (thank god it was there) with both hands.
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| These weren't even as steep as the next set (behind me as I took this) |
Lunch was much needed after these three temples, even if we did have mango after leaving Wat Pho, so we hopped in the van and headed for a sit-down, air-conditioned restaurant. We ended up going a little further than necessary so that we would go to the Gem Gallery (certified by TAT - so it was credible) after eating. As it was, the food at the restaurant was fantastic and it felt so good to sit down for a while after being on our feet for a number of hours.
As for the Gem Gallery, it was great because we got free pop when we walked in! Lol. The tour of the place started with a video that introduced us to the gem culture in Thailand - did you know they're best known for their rubies and sapphires? We then walked through an area where a number of smiths were making the settings for the gems and actually setting them. We were then funneled into the showcase room where we had our own Thai staff following us to whip out anything we looked at for too long in the case so that we could examine it more closely or try it on. The gold was a little pricey - especially since we had not planned on going to anything like this when we left the house this morning - but I did get a blue topaz pendant to put on a chain - set in silver. It's really understated but that's the way I like it. I didn't even know that there was such a thing as blue topaz!
Our final stop on the tour was Wat Samek and the Golden Mount. By the time we got there it was just after 5 and it closes at 5:30pm so we skipped the actual Wat and booked it up the stairs of the man-made hill atop which sits the Golden Mount building. Here we got a great view of Bangkok and on the roof there was a large Gold stuppa (hence the name I guess) and a Buddhist Monk's chant was being piped through the speakers. It was a very calming place to be, even though there were a number of people around. A great way to end the tour.
Sunday was a little more chill. Sam, Lynne and I jumped on a bus, then the Skytrain to go to the MASSIVE weekend market in Bangkok known as Chatuchak. As we approached the stop to get off at in order to go to the market we saw a vast sea of small shops, covered in varying conditions of corrugated metal roofing. Words cannot describe how vast this market was. To give you some appreciation, we walked through it for 2.5 hours and barely scratched the surface. Pretty crazy if you ask me. We made a lot of great purchases for minimal cost and had Pad Thai for lunch at a place that actually was able to make Pad Thai for Lynne without her having an allergic reaction - very exciting!
On the way back we stopped at the Mall Bangkae to pick up a couple of things, including Dairy Queen blizzards. Then we got back on the bus and came home. Overall it was an early night with not a whole lot done.
Like I said, I'm not sure if it was the week or the weekend that took a lot out of me but I'm still tired. I'll probably read for a bit before crashing tonight so that's all I've got for now. Luv. Amanda
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