BANGKOK--We're Here!

A day or two of recovery and we were off to see the temples, mingle with the people, travel the Chao Phraya river by ferry and visit the markets.
Some of our most  memorable experiences so far have involved visiting temples (Wats).  Even if we wanted to, we would never be able to see all the ones just in  Bangkok alone.  The one pictured at the top and to the right and left is Wat Arun, "The Temple of Dawn".  We saw it at midday, not at its most beautiful which is reportedly at dawn or dusk, but was to our eyes unbelievable.  This Khmer-style stupa looked gray from a distance, however up close we saw the structure was covered with mosaics of cut glass, Chinese porcelain bowls and cut ceramic shards.  It was apparent, Hinduism inspired the mythology of this temple.  We both climbed the steep stairs you see on the right.  The panoramic view taken from the top shows the Bangkok skyline beyond the ribbon of the river.            This temple, being our first, initiated us into temple culture.  Above the knees and the shoulders need to be covered with some leeway for a the preponderance of today's minimalist fashions.  We also learned that  the area around the temple is a prime avenue for venders of everything - spiritual items, clothing, and always food plus the indomitable plastic trinkets.  

Wat Prayurawongsawat (we call the mausoleum temple) shown in the two pictures above was the most delightfully strange, the smallest and the least visited (not another visitor while were there) of the temples we've seen.  There were crypts with pictures in the walls, the trees, in small spirit houses and larger memorial altars.  In the center, was a shrine covered mound which represents the shape that King Rama III saw while he watched a candle burning one night.  Surprisingly the moat around the base of the mound was home for turtles of all sizes.         We were attracted to a little girl playing with the smaller turtles on a wall.  Rajiv took a broadly smiling picture of her and her mother.  We saw the latter sweeping the compound when we came into the area.  Another person there was sleepily sitting in a booth where papaya and sliced hot dogs were available to buy to feed the turtles.  A man was sleeping on a bench and a lady was sitting on the ground sleeping also.  Could you guess it was after lunch on this hot day?  Needless to say, this temple does not exhibit the culture we spoke of earlier.  

,

Yesterday was another temple day.  We looked forward to the ferry ride to the Grand Palace and Wat Prao Kaeo, Thailand's most revered and celebrated site.  Rajiv saw it as the pinnacle of art, architecture, religion and culture coming together.  There was so much to see we realized we could go back many times.  We only glimpsed fragments of the magnificent painting of the epic story of the Ramayana that covered the inside walls surrounding the complex.  The temple housing The Emerald Buddha was closed for the day we were told when getting our tickets so we were pleased to find it open when we reached that area.  The relatively small Buddha is actually made of green jade.  It sits on a high altar of gold in a room of gold.  Being there helps one to realize how gold it really is.  We would describe The Grand Palace and Temple as amazingly clean, white and sparkly with liberal splashes of red and gold in a Siamese way.  

Wat Po

Wat Po (joyful name) was the second temple yesterday.  It is the oldest and largest surviving temple in Thailand.  There were so many impressive aspects to this temple.  The most famous and rightfully so is the 46m reclining gold covered Buddha.  (A glimpse of his face is to the right.)  The huge bottoms of the feet are covered with symbols made of mother of pearl.  Outside there is a bodhi tree believed to have grown from a cutting from the tree under which Buddha was enlightened.  In surrounding pavilions there are some 394 larger than life size ancient bronze Buddha statues now in the process of being cleaned, gilted and the bases mosaiced anew.  "How can this be so old and look so new?" was our question.  The immensity of what must have taken place to restore these buildings to their original grandeur.