We were happy to be back in Bangkok. We had lots to see...lots of shopping to do and the like.
We were originally planning on being in Bangkok one night and then heading out to the island but stayed for two. We didn't do much in our one day but shop and get pampered (massages and facials!). We happened to run into Laura on the street (Laura is a ALT friend of mine in Niigata)...small world. We went out to dinner together that night. We realize now that we should have taken a picture because the chances of us running into each other in Bangkok were so small.
Laura directed us to this small street vendor for our first meal. I had rice with sweet and sour pork. It was pretty good. It cost me a total of 30 cents. Good deal if I do say so myself!
And here was the whole operation...don't look to hard because if you do you will just realize the unsanitary-ness of it all...
We went out to dinner with Laura at a curry place. We laughed at the Engrish in the menus....
After this is when we went to the island.
And now we are back.
On our first day back we stood with a map and many places we wanted to see. While walking the streets a man approached us and told us of this "last day" "great deal" to ride the tutus. (ok-I have NO idea how to spell that but I hope you know what I am referring to...those motorbikes with like the little carriage) Anyway. We thought we would let the wind take us where ever. It was a total of 30 cents each and we would see 3 major Buddhas. We knew it was a scam and that they would try to sell us something (they tried) but it was worth it!
(We learned that the reason it was so cheap is because the government was providing the drivers with free gas. This is because there are a certain number of days in which everyone visits all these different temples after New Years to pray. This was the last day of this deal).
We were able to go to three major temple sights and see 3 significant Buddhas.
The first one was the Giant Buddha. It was giant...
There were many parts...ready?
The people would buy the flowers, incense and candles.
The would light the candles in these lanterns.
And place them in here....
(and pray)
They would also put the flowers in front of Buddha.
You can see flowers in the background (top left corner)
They would also take one of these and put a coin in everyone of the metal bowls. There are 109 bowls. This is like a version of the rosary (and actually...where the rosary originated...thank you Buddhism!) There was a person who would go and collect the coins and refill the little trays.
Next to the Giant Buddha was this temple. I thought it was beautiful. Like all the temples we saw it was full of so much detail. The colors were bold and it just captured you...
Same temple...just the window
Next we went to the Lucky Buddha. We actually were very lucky with this one. When we walked out, a guard asked us how we knew we could come. After further explanation, he told us that this Buddha was only open to the public 2 days a year. Lucky Buddha brought us some luck!
This Buddha is in a resting pose (there are 9 poses [I think] all together).
and a close up...
Here is an example of the flowers people place in front of Buddha...
The third stop on our tour was to Wat Benchamaborphit. (I can't actually say this but that was it's name). It is the marble temple. This is a large, active temple that included a place where monks lived, learned and prayed. The grounds were HUGE and beautiful. The whole temple was made of marble. The detail was amazing, the colors were bright and bold. Just amazing...
Even the doors told a story...
Here is one of many arch way entrances. Just look at the detail!
(sorry, I really can't say it enough!)
There were status of holy men as we cross the bridge.
Don't know what this build is...place or residences, classrooms, something holy...don't know but I thought it looked amazing... (it was to the left after I crossed the bridge...)
(Bad picture I know) The monks were just finishing with their prayers and were walking around the grounds and (guessing) towards their living area.
Like I said, Buddha has many different poses.
There were many different Buddhas at this temple.
But of course my favorite is Buddha teaching...
Oh...and I should mention. At this point, we hadn't paid for our ride. We got kicked out of the temple as they were closing the gate and our driver had left us. We are guessing he thought we ditched him but it was a lovely 30 minute walk back to our hotel. We saw other sights along the way...so it was fun!
We were able to see this...the Democracy Monument. It was lovely at night!
I don't remember when we went shopping but this was in the mall..."God make you a man, we make you a gentleman!" Oh Engrish...
We were originally planning on being in Bangkok one night and then heading out to the island but stayed for two. We didn't do much in our one day but shop and get pampered (massages and facials!). We happened to run into Laura on the street (Laura is a ALT friend of mine in Niigata)...small world. We went out to dinner together that night. We realize now that we should have taken a picture because the chances of us running into each other in Bangkok were so small.
Laura directed us to this small street vendor for our first meal. I had rice with sweet and sour pork. It was pretty good. It cost me a total of 30 cents. Good deal if I do say so myself!
And here was the whole operation...don't look to hard because if you do you will just realize the unsanitary-ness of it all...
We went out to dinner with Laura at a curry place. We laughed at the Engrish in the menus....
After this is when we went to the island.And now we are back.
On our first day back we stood with a map and many places we wanted to see. While walking the streets a man approached us and told us of this "last day" "great deal" to ride the tutus. (ok-I have NO idea how to spell that but I hope you know what I am referring to...those motorbikes with like the little carriage) Anyway. We thought we would let the wind take us where ever. It was a total of 30 cents each and we would see 3 major Buddhas. We knew it was a scam and that they would try to sell us something (they tried) but it was worth it!
(We learned that the reason it was so cheap is because the government was providing the drivers with free gas. This is because there are a certain number of days in which everyone visits all these different temples after New Years to pray. This was the last day of this deal).
We were able to go to three major temple sights and see 3 significant Buddhas.
The first one was the Giant Buddha. It was giant...
There were many parts...ready?
The people would buy the flowers, incense and candles.
The would light the candles in these lanterns.
And place them in here....
(and pray)They would also put the flowers in front of Buddha.
You can see flowers in the background (top left corner)
They would also take one of these and put a coin in everyone of the metal bowls. There are 109 bowls. This is like a version of the rosary (and actually...where the rosary originated...thank you Buddhism!) There was a person who would go and collect the coins and refill the little trays.
Next to the Giant Buddha was this temple. I thought it was beautiful. Like all the temples we saw it was full of so much detail. The colors were bold and it just captured you...
Same temple...just the window
Next we went to the Lucky Buddha. We actually were very lucky with this one. When we walked out, a guard asked us how we knew we could come. After further explanation, he told us that this Buddha was only open to the public 2 days a year. Lucky Buddha brought us some luck!
This Buddha is in a resting pose (there are 9 poses [I think] all together).
and a close up...
Here is an example of the flowers people place in front of Buddha...
The third stop on our tour was to Wat Benchamaborphit. (I can't actually say this but that was it's name). It is the marble temple. This is a large, active temple that included a place where monks lived, learned and prayed. The grounds were HUGE and beautiful. The whole temple was made of marble. The detail was amazing, the colors were bright and bold. Just amazing...
Even the doors told a story...
Here is one of many arch way entrances. Just look at the detail!
(sorry, I really can't say it enough!)
There were status of holy men as we cross the bridge.
Don't know what this build is...place or residences, classrooms, something holy...don't know but I thought it looked amazing... (it was to the left after I crossed the bridge...)
(Bad picture I know) The monks were just finishing with their prayers and were walking around the grounds and (guessing) towards their living area.
Like I said, Buddha has many different poses.
There were many different Buddhas at this temple.
But of course my favorite is Buddha teaching...
Oh...and I should mention. At this point, we hadn't paid for our ride. We got kicked out of the temple as they were closing the gate and our driver had left us. We are guessing he thought we ditched him but it was a lovely 30 minute walk back to our hotel. We saw other sights along the way...so it was fun!
We were able to see this...the Democracy Monument. It was lovely at night!
I don't remember when we went shopping but this was in the mall..."God make you a man, we make you a gentleman!" Oh Engrish...
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