Bangkok Day Two:  Jewelry Traps, Wat Phra Kaew and Wat Po

Jewelry Traps

In 1965 my mom bought a beautiful silver belt. Every link of the belt had a different, traditional Thai image.  I thought she bought it at her favorite shop – Johnny’s Gems.  I wanted to pick up a couple for my daughters, so I headed for Johnny’s.  The folks at the hotel had never heard of it.  I’d looked at their website on the internet while in Chiang Mai, so I knew it was still there.  Unfortunately, I hadn't made a note of their address and I've already mentioned the hotel's internet issues.  Not a real problem though, I stepped out to the street and the first tuk tuk driver I spoke with knew where it was.  Off we went. Check out the video, notice the criss-cross of other tuk tuk’s, people walking across the street and motorcycles weaving past us. If you’re not sure what a tuk tuk, they are basically an open air, three wheel taxi. There are several in the video.

Sometimes the joy is in the journey. The jewelry shop was not Johnny’s.  Change to another tuk tuk. The driver swore he knew it – same story. (Truth is I did buy something at the second store!)  Took a walk and ran into a helpful business man who flagged down another tuk tuk and explained what I wanted.  Same thing again!  The basic problem is that the really large stores/factories work a deal with the tuk tuk and taxi drivers.  "Bring us a customer and we’ll give you a coupon for gas."  So the drivers aren’t really motivated to take dumb tourists anywhere else.

After my third try, I was exasperated.  It wasn't meant to be and I'd spent the whole morning on it.  I told the tuk tuk driver to head to Wat Phra Kaew.

Wat Phra Kaew and Grand Palace

Pink Elephants Outside Wat Phra Kaew and Grand Palace

As you approach the Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace you pass a statue of pink elephants – the first sign you are entering a different zone.  Wat Phra Kaew and Grand Palace are the most revered sites of Buddhism in Thailand.  Wat Phra Kaew is also known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.  The temple and the Grand Palace are closely tied to the King who is responsible for (among many other things) changing the clothes on the Emerald Buddha every season.  The Emerald Buddha is actually jade but emerald in color.  Each outfit costs over a million dollars because of the gold and jewels.  Sorry, no photos allowed inside.  While inside I got to sit with a senior monk who was blessing visitors.

The statues of the Monkey Guardians on either side of each entrance is one of the most striking features of the temple.  The guardians are huge, ugly, and fierce looking.

Monkey Guardians

Monkey Guardian

Monkey Guardians Supporting Golden Cheddi

One golden cheddi is supported by a series of smaller guardians at the lower level. 

The gold is extreme in this temple as you can see in this view of the cheddi. 

Guardian Closeup

Guardian Detail

There is beautiful detail on these ‘support’ guardians.  Of course, I couldn’t resist helping after all, they’ve been holding this up for about a thousand years. Hopefully, I’m not as ugly. 

A Little Help From A Friend

The inside walls of Wat Phra Kaew are covered with a mural depicting the stories and myths of early Buddhism and Thailand.  The video below shows their incredible beauty and some of the violent and intense images in the mural.  The stories are written in Thai on posts along the walls.  Part of the video has a tour guide singing the stories.

The mural also attracts art classes from nearby universities.  Here a class works on some projects.

Temple Angel

Temple Cat Watching Me!

Most temples have dogs running about, but this one had cats and no dogs. As I walked about, I noticed this temple cat keeping an eye on me. Perhaps she was worried about my hanging out with this temple angel.

Temple Angel Painting

I tried to find the view of the temple in my family picture from 1965 and didn’t quite find it.  The best I found was with the main temple hall in the background.

Standing In Front of Temple Hall

As I was leaving to head over to Wat Po I was treated to a great view of the Grand Palace and some lovely water lilies.

View of Grand Palace

Water Lily

Water Lily

Wat Po

A short walk from the Grand Palace and I was at Wat Po famous for the relief carvings depicting much of the same story as Wat Phra Kaew’s murals.  

Temple and Reflection

Reflection of Roof

Almost as soon as I entered the Wat, a man who appeared to be a custodian pointed out a reflection of the temple roof.

Temple Custodian

On my way around the temple, I came across a tall statue of Confucius who appeared to be guarding the temple’s laundry. An interesting perspective.

Confucius Guards the Wash

Below are images of one of the reliefs Wat Po is famous for and a temple rubbing taken from another one.

Relief Carving Used for Rubbings

Temple Rubbing

The temple is also home to many, many Buddha statues lining alcoves around the square.  The lines of statues were quite striking.

Sitting Buddhas

Standing Buddha

Detail of Standing Buddha

Lineup of Standing Buddhas

As I left, I was treated to another temple sunset.

Wat Po Temple Sunset

I tried to negotiate a taxi back to the hotel, but it seemed a bit steep.  I figured I could get a cheaper rate if I walked out of the tourist zone near the temples.  Traffic was picking up and I never did find a taxi.  What I did find was the Royal Theater.  This may have been the theater where I saw a “A Hard Day’s Night”.  Seeing the theater, I especially liked the supersized photo of the young King and Queen.

Royal Theater

King and Queen in Their Youth

Bangkok Day One - City of Contrasts

Bangkok Day One - City of Contrasts

Following three weeks of teaching English to novice monks I decided to make a trip to Paske, Laos.  The trip began with flying to Bangkok on Air Asia and changing to Lao Airlines.  This gave me the perfect opportunity to stay in Bangkok for a couple of days and revisit the city where I graduated from high school forty-six years ago. Bangkok remains a city of contrasts. 

First Outing

I stayed at the Prince Palace Hotel in the heart of the city.  After checking in (the reception area is on the 11^th floor!), I went for a walk to see what was in the area.  I stuck my head out the window while waiting for the elevator and immediately saw the target for my walk – the Temple of the Golden Mount. 

Temple of the Golden Mount

Water Taxis

This temple is the closest thing Bangkok has to a hill – at least 150 feet high.  I had fond memories of… I’m getting ahead of myself.  The view directly below the elevator hall window was a large klong (canal) with water taxis running up and down.

The Prince is a luxury hotel surrounded by markets and crowded housing. Outside I headed past clothing and other markets and over the first bridge in the water taxi picture.  This took me to a street through the area in the pictured here.

Crowded Housing Near Hotel

My path led me into a sort of industrial zone similar to the ones I remembered from long ago. Here a machine shop was using tools and technologies from the 1940’s or 50’s to make…  I don’t know what the man was making, but he was very industrious.

Bangkok Mechanical Shop Equipment From 1940's and 50's

Wood This and Wood That

A couple of blocks later I was in what might be called the wood products block. There was shop after shop making everything from decorative pieces to add to your home, to huge carved doors, and outdoor benches.  All made of teak hard wood of course.

Wood Shop

Wood Decorative Pieces

My walk reintroduced me to the legendary Bangkok traffic – negotiating some intersections was ‘exciting’. It was dusk as I headed toward the Golden Mount and rush hour had started.

The Golden Mount

            The Golden Mount is actually Wat Srakese Rajavaramahavihara founded in the 17^th century. Golden Mount is a much simpler and descriptive name. The temple has a long staircase that circles the mount and a very large golden cheddi at the top.  The walk up provides great views of the city and nearby temples.

Roof With Bougainvillea

Temple Compound

Temple Roof From Golden Mount

  Along the way there are also Buddhas in carved niches and large temple bells.

Buddha Niche Golden Mount

Reclining Buddha Along the Walk Way

City Skyline Beyond the Golden Mount Temples

In 1965 there were almost no buildings in Bangkok taller than five or six stories high. As you can see from the skyline in the photo above, Bangkok has changed.  The tall buildings of Bangkok stand in stark contrast to its ancient temples.

I met four girl scouts on the way up. They were happy to pose for me, ring the bells and one of the gongs.

Girl Scouts Climbing Golden Mount

  Bell and Gong Ringing Girl Scout

At the top, I found a serious looking monk observing the cheddi. By happenstance his picture had some words on the part of the building to his left. Curious.

The sun was at my back as I rounded the south side of the cheddi. I was having trouble framing my next picture because there was a bright light in my face. Eventually I noticed people were frantically waving for me to move out of their way. I had walked into the filming of a favorite Thai soap opera. I stepped aside and got some shots of the filming and the sunset as well.

The top level Thai soap opera stars – Phetlada known as Aoh and Nutthawot commonly called Poh were at work.  Aoh was all the more famous because she lost her whole house in the Bangkok floods.

Poh and Aoh Filming

Looking to the Heavens

Filming Thai Soap Opera

Filming around a religious site can be tricky.  There is a statue of Settinavagot next to the cheddi. Settinavagot is an eight faced Buddha that sees in every direction.

Settinavagot

Camera Man at Settinavagot Buddha

Every time this camera man stepped by the statue, he turned, bowed his head, brought his hands together and “weied” to show his respect.  Of course he did this quickly because the light was fading.

Golden Mount Cheddi Sunset

Golden Mount Cheddi Sunset

The setting sun gave me some special photos as I headed down.









It was quite dark as I headed down from the Golden Mount and found some more beautiful vistas of the city as I walked the stairway rounding the mount.

Golden Mount Temples by Night

Grand Palace and Wat Po by Night

Once I was down, I wound my way through unfamiliar streets back to the hotel.  I was thankful the hotel was tall and had its name on top in large red neon letters.  Kind of a guiding star.  As I walked I stopped and picked up a few bites to eat – some grilled sausage from one street vendor and then, for dessert, a bag of pineapple chunks cut from fresh pineapple as I watched.

Basket of Pineapples

The pineapple lady was engrossed in the latest soap opera as she prepared my bag which was complete with hot pepper laced sugar to spice things up!

Pineapple Lady Watching the Latest Soap Opera