I arrived in Bangkok late late Sunday night, although officially it was super early Monday morning. As there were several people arriving at the same time, there was a car sent to pick us up, rather than taking taxis. What a surprise to get a "tricked out" van. It was a new looking van, with the craziest leather insets in all colors- it looked totally 70's, although I was assured by my colleagues from the "trendy footwear category" that this was so NOW in Thailand...what was I thinking?
I had the day off Monday, so another colleague and I did a bit of touring. While waiting for the water taxi we took a short walk around the hotel, I just loved this little path/dock...
Our first plan was to go to the Grand Palace. We took a water taxi then took the public Ferry. As we approached the Palace, a man who appeared to work for the Palace told us it was closed but would open at 1 or 2, and suggested a couple of other temples to go see in the meantime. He called a Tuktuk for us and we took our first tuktuk ride...VERY exciting!
The tuktuks were everywhere- we loved the open air and cool breeze-very fun experience! Unfotunately it turned out our tuktuk driver "took us for a ride" and besides the first very cool temple he took us to, he then took us to a few shopping places we did NOT want to go to, so we lost our excitement and enthusiasm for our tuktuk driver in a very short time. Finally after the third shopping place we ditched the tuktuk driver and went on our own to another temple.
Everywhere you could see monks walking around in beautiful orange robes
The first temple that we went to was called Wat Thai. The guy who sent us there told us it was the home of the "lucky Buddha" and how lucky we were it was open today! It is only open one day per month and today was the lucky day!
There were two main buildings- the first building had several smaller Buddhas.
When we first walked in, I saw this monk praying on platform at the back of the room. I instantly thought "what a great photo!" But quickly turned so as not to stare becuase clearly, the man was praying and not to be disturbed. I asked permission to photograph the Buddhas and did that. After a little bit, Dina came over to me and said "did you see that man over there?" and I said Yes- why? She said, He's wax! I didn't believe her, and was quite nervous to walk over and actually 'check him out'. We did and after watching for a few minutes we determined that NO, he was not actually breathing, and was most likely wax. The two monks who were in the temple didn't make a noise, but I'm sure they had plenty of jokes later! The good news though, is that since he was in fact WAX, and not a real man...I was able to get the photo after all!
There were several smaller Buddhas around the two big buddhas in the first building
We saw several Buddhas throughout the day who had "pieces" of gold stuck on them. I think it must be an offering to paste some gold onto the buddha. Later at the Grand Palace there were more Buddhas which were completely covered in these small gold squares, seemingly several layers thick.
This lady is not what I normally think of when I see Temple Guards, but there were several just like this, so they were sort of "miniature kindly Temple Guards". Probably not, but I like that idea anyway...
This one we walked by on the way to the main part of the temple- it was actually outside the walls of the temple and it was just a Buddha in a very small park- the park was maybe the size of a small hotel room or just smaller, and round. This tree grew out of the middle and the Buddha sat right under the tree. It was just at the intersection of a few small streets, and very out in the open. Sort of like seeing a Torah or a Bible or a cross on a street corner with the idea of "easy access for everyone who wants it"- I was thinking of it like "Religion on the street." This seems relatively common in Asia- it seems like I see small altars with Buddhas or other religious figures outside of peoples homes or just out on street corners as a very regular part of life. It seems they are even more prevelent in Thailand than in China or Vietnam. Actually our Tuktuk driver told us there are around 472 Temples in Bangkok alone, and over 300,000 in all of Thailand. I did notice that not only do you see many many more Temples, but within Temples the image of Buddhas (or Buddhisatvas?) are much more frequent than I am accustomed to seeing in Buddhist temples in China.
Inside the walls to the main part of the temple they had a few elephant statues I really loved...
Many more photos to come, but I woke up at 4 am this morning, and need to get some sleep now. Will try to post another round of photos tomorrow and more stories!
I had the day off Monday, so another colleague and I did a bit of touring. While waiting for the water taxi we took a short walk around the hotel, I just loved this little path/dock...
Our first plan was to go to the Grand Palace. We took a water taxi then took the public Ferry. As we approached the Palace, a man who appeared to work for the Palace told us it was closed but would open at 1 or 2, and suggested a couple of other temples to go see in the meantime. He called a Tuktuk for us and we took our first tuktuk ride...VERY exciting!
The tuktuks were everywhere- we loved the open air and cool breeze-very fun experience! Unfotunately it turned out our tuktuk driver "took us for a ride" and besides the first very cool temple he took us to, he then took us to a few shopping places we did NOT want to go to, so we lost our excitement and enthusiasm for our tuktuk driver in a very short time. Finally after the third shopping place we ditched the tuktuk driver and went on our own to another temple.
Everywhere you could see monks walking around in beautiful orange robes
The first temple that we went to was called Wat Thai. The guy who sent us there told us it was the home of the "lucky Buddha" and how lucky we were it was open today! It is only open one day per month and today was the lucky day!
There were two main buildings- the first building had several smaller Buddhas.
When we first walked in, I saw this monk praying on platform at the back of the room. I instantly thought "what a great photo!" But quickly turned so as not to stare becuase clearly, the man was praying and not to be disturbed. I asked permission to photograph the Buddhas and did that. After a little bit, Dina came over to me and said "did you see that man over there?" and I said Yes- why? She said, He's wax! I didn't believe her, and was quite nervous to walk over and actually 'check him out'. We did and after watching for a few minutes we determined that NO, he was not actually breathing, and was most likely wax. The two monks who were in the temple didn't make a noise, but I'm sure they had plenty of jokes later! The good news though, is that since he was in fact WAX, and not a real man...I was able to get the photo after all!
There were several smaller Buddhas around the two big buddhas in the first building
We saw several Buddhas throughout the day who had "pieces" of gold stuck on them. I think it must be an offering to paste some gold onto the buddha. Later at the Grand Palace there were more Buddhas which were completely covered in these small gold squares, seemingly several layers thick.
This lady is not what I normally think of when I see Temple Guards, but there were several just like this, so they were sort of "miniature kindly Temple Guards". Probably not, but I like that idea anyway...
This one we walked by on the way to the main part of the temple- it was actually outside the walls of the temple and it was just a Buddha in a very small park- the park was maybe the size of a small hotel room or just smaller, and round. This tree grew out of the middle and the Buddha sat right under the tree. It was just at the intersection of a few small streets, and very out in the open. Sort of like seeing a Torah or a Bible or a cross on a street corner with the idea of "easy access for everyone who wants it"- I was thinking of it like "Religion on the street." This seems relatively common in Asia- it seems like I see small altars with Buddhas or other religious figures outside of peoples homes or just out on street corners as a very regular part of life. It seems they are even more prevelent in Thailand than in China or Vietnam. Actually our Tuktuk driver told us there are around 472 Temples in Bangkok alone, and over 300,000 in all of Thailand. I did notice that not only do you see many many more Temples, but within Temples the image of Buddhas (or Buddhisatvas?) are much more frequent than I am accustomed to seeing in Buddhist temples in China.
Inside the walls to the main part of the temple they had a few elephant statues I really loved...
2 comments:
Oh, I love traveling with you, Kelli. Keep it coming, pretty please. It's fascinating to see all the offerings surrounding the Buddha under the tree. Be well, friend.
Lovely travelogue - thanksferdat!
Post a Comment