Temples and Crowds
Trip Start
Oct 24, 2009
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42
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Trip End
Mar 08, 2010
Bangkok, Thailand
Saturday, December 5, 2009
This morning we thought we’d go visit Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace. Wat Phra Kaew is also known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and its compound also includes the Grand Palace which is the former residence of the Thai monarch. However as we headed for the temple we hit quite a big problem. Vast crowds of people were lining the streets, there were lots of police and some streets were blocked off. In places there were so many people we could hardly walk. As we knew it was the Kings birthday we initially thought cool, there’s going to be some big parade but as we got close to the temple we realised that no-one was being let in. We asked a police man what the deal was and he said it was closed until 3pm or would be open tomorrow. This was a bummer as it was still only 10:30am. A quick check of the Lonely Planet informed us that there were a couple of other temples nearby we could visit and so we headed off down the road.
The closest was Wat Pho which houses a giant Reclining Buddha, the largest in Thailand. At 46 metres long, 15m high and covered in gold leaf it is huge and impressive. The soles of its feet are inlaid with mother-of-pearl and are quite beautiful. There were hundreds of Thai people visiting the Temple and as we walked out we noticed them buying cups of small coins and then walking along the length of the temple dropping them into metal jars. We figured it must be some kind of offering or prayer – it sounded like constant chimes echoing through the temple.
We then wandered around some of the rest of the complex. There’s a total of 8 hectares here so we didn’t do the whole lot but marvelled at some of the other shrines and Buddha’s. There is also the national headquarters for teaching traditional Thai medicine including Thai massage. Helen’s back is still a bit dodgy from Egypt and so she needs to check in for a massage but we’ll save that for later.
We then took a short walk to the river nearby and jumped on a little ferry to take us across to the other side of the river. Another quick walk got us to Wat Arun. Built in the early 19th century, its most impressive feature is the 82 metre high Khmer style tower. There is also an interesting set of stairs that allow you to climb up it. The steps are short but very steep so it almost feels like you’re climbing close to vertical and given how high it is the climb is pretty hairy. There’s a great view from the top of the whole of Bangkok but coming down we had to be very careful not to trip. The tower is all covered in floral mosaics which are made from broken Chinese porcelain - apparently it was commonly used by Chinese ships when they came here as ballast.
From here we jumped back on the ferry to take us back across the river and then we caught one of the main river ferries to take us back to Banglamphu, the district where our hotel is. We stopped for lunch at a place making Thai rotis which was quite interesting to watch - a young girl somehow flicked the dough out with her hand several times which fanned it out and flattened it, she would then twirl it around itself forming a spiral ball. The food was really yummy – roti served with a Thai curry of your choice and it only cost us a couple of pounds between us.
Feeling a bit tired and jetlagged we wandered back to the hotel for a bit of a rest.
With our batteries recharged we decided to walk over to Chinatown for dinner. It probably would have been better to catch a Tuk Tuk as it was a fairly long walk and we struggled to find the right streets, but catching a Tuk Tuk would have been difficult anyway as once again there were thousands of people out to watch a street parade and to see people performing on stages that had been setup. Lots of streets were shut off. We eventually found the right area and stopped at a little street restaurant which was recommended in the Lonely Planet. When we say street restaurant, it was literally a guy with a food cart and plastic stools on the footpath with tables. The restaurant was called Jek Pui and they served great Chinese-style Thai curries which were dirt cheap. Yum!
We then wandered around the area marvelling at all the weird and wonderful food being prepared and we stopped at one and ordered some delicious pork gyoza from a street stall. Having eaten enough, we then decided to head over to the night market to see if we could find some decent rip-off clothes – we already need some lighter clothes to deal with the heat here. We got on our first Tuk Tuk for this as the market was quite a distance away. That was an interesting experience as they race along with seemingly little care for other vehicles around them – it was good fun although they’re obviously not built for westerners as we had to lean down to see out as the roof is quite low.
At the market we were hoping to find lots of branded rip-off items and although there were some, we were quite disappointed at what was on offer - a lot of it seemed to be the same as what we’d seen in other places and there was nothing that really interested us. The market was also surrounded by girlie bars which sold very expensive beer so there was nothing much else to interest us!
We decided to head back to Khao San road for a few drinks and then called it a night.
