We finally got to arrive in style, first class plane tickets!
(It was a booking fluke on
Expedia during a seat sale, I think???)
Bangkok, for all of its reputation of being a city to experience, we found it
a little tame. Perhaps it was because we did the whole city with a G Adventures
tour?? By day, the temples are shining in the sunlight, painted gold and
decorated with mosaic glass/mirrors to add even more shine and glimmer…. the
chimes ring in the wind, sweating tourists run from shady spot to shady spot..
and the air is heavy with musky incense.. or was it body odor?
The city was hot when we were there, one of those is 38 degrees day, but
feels like 48 degrees with the humidity (like wind chill) – we,
therefore, dripped our way through Bangkok along with the locals.
Bangkok too has the same problem as other Asian cities… when making way for
modernization and progress – they bulldoze everything without stopping
to ponder about the value of the older ways of living. The shrines and temples
are some of the few things left as they wouldn't have been considered available
for “re-development” but most other areas especially housing and along the
rivers are all new or in danger of becoming new very soon.
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| Looking towards the high rises of 'new' Bangkok |
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| A riverside home - laundry drying in the late afternoon sun |
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| A picture of similar houses over the river (taken from the river) |
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| Beautiful, shiny Thai temples.. the Thai flag is flying on the right.. |
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Here you can see the glass/mirrored mosaic tiles which cover much of the temples around Thailand
It makes for a bright (sometimes painful) viewing when the sun is bright! |
We saw the third largest reclining buddha while in town – although this one
is mere meters away from the largest and is the only one to still be covered by
a temple. It was really big – and unlike the wonderful building it was housed
in, this buddha remains fairly simply adorned with one exception being the
bottom of the feet which has been inset with mother-of-pearl designs.
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| Buddha's head, you can see the golden arm holding it up (left side) |
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| Toe print (mother of pearl inlay) |
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| This is the bottom of Buddha's feet.. (again M of P inlay) |
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| This shows the corridor behind the Buddha - you can see the level of detail and decoration which went into the building to help bring richness and warmth to an otherwise fairly simple room (by Thai temple standards) |
While were were at the buddha temple – Matt randomly disappeared and when he
reappeared he was all excited.. he'd found a temple cat and it was apparently it was
photogenic, AND he was so impressed because he got an “action shot” …… yeah, I know ….. If you're not an animal owner maybe skip the photo following this one since you kinda have to be seasoned to find this entertaining..
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| Kitty |
HERE IT COMES! (Matt's pride and joy of photography)
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Action Shot!
Ewwie... yet it makes me lonely for Sahari.. *sniff* little bugger pukes like twice a month on my carpet... |
Back to the temples:
There are also the lines of buddha images (male and female) all painted in gold..
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| Faces looking on... |
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| Depiction of a female figured buddha |
Other things we saw included a trip on the major river way through Bangkok
which we saw some houses on stilts and an INSANE amount of wild fish by a large
temple along the river. In the buddha religion, food is donated for both the
monks as well as the animals that live around the temple.. cats, dogs, birds,
and fish if the temple is close to a water source. Fishing is also prohibited
near the temple grounds – as a result, the fish hang out and eat freely… and
words gotten out!
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| Wild Catfish, right beside our boat... (near a temple on the river) |
There was also the flower and night markets that we roamed through..
The flowers are mostly purchased for holy days (based on the moon) and for special occasions - like births or marriages - and also for funerals.
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| A completed flower arrangement |
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| Bulk flowers for sale (sold by weight, 20 baht per pound (about 70 cents CAD) |
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| And there is lots of selection!! |
The night markets (again, because apparently nothing sells during the day - are pretty casual, but in Bangkok they are on the edge of a part of town that is also known for it's nightly offerings.. so it's a little more busy than others we'd been too..
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