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
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| 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.
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| Monkey Guardians |
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| Monkey Guardian |
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| 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.
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| Guardian Closeup |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Temple Angel |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| View of Grand Palace |
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| Water Lily |
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| 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.
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| Temple and Reflection |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Relief Carving Used for Rubbings |
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| Temple Rubbing |
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| Lineup of Standing Buddhas |
As I left, I was treated to another temple sunset.
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| 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.
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| Royal Theater |
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| King and Queen in Their Youth |
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