Day two of my trip to Thailand got off to a very early start. I had to wake up at 5:30 am to be downstairs for breakfast in our hotel at 6:00 am. Our tour bus was supposed to pick us up at 6:45 am, but when we were at breakfast the front desk received a phone call from the tour guide. Apparently, traffic around the city was really bad, and they would be really late. Like, a couple hours late. Due to the political riots by the Red Shirts, people had to drive around the city center rather than through it, and as a result traffic was impossible.
We went back to the room, and I went straight to bed to take a nap. We went downstairs to meet them at 8:30 am, where we met our female tour guide and our male driver, who drove a large white van. I was surprised to find out that we would be the only ones on the tour that day, and again I got to see how hard the tourism industry was being impacted by the riots.
We drove through the city a bit (and even got to see the Thai Chinatown), before we got to the Temple of the Golden Buddha. The temple is quite small compared to the others in Bangkok, but we had to climb some stairs to get to the top. Dad has a bad knee which made it a bit of a struggle to climb up and down, but it was okay.
The Golden Buddha was discovered only in the 1930s, and at that time it was covered in plaster. It wasn’t until the 1950s when they discovered that underneath the plaster it was made of pure gold, making it the world’s largest golden statue. The temple that houses the statue is of typical Thai architecture, the pagoda/stupa style with the spire on top.
The next stop was the Grand Palace, a must-see tourist spot in Bangkok. While the royal family does not live at the Grand Palace, there are accommodations on the grounds for important visiting diplomats and foreign leaders. For the most part, the Grand Palace is a collection of stupas and pagodas and temples, including the temple of the Emerald Buddha.
Each time I entered a temple in Bangkok, I had to take off my shoes. Although I’ve been to other Buddhist temples in Asia, this was the first time I was required to take off my shoes. However, in other temples I was not allowed to take pictures, where in Bangkok each temple had a different procedure. In the Temple of the Golden Buddha I was allowed to take pictures, whereas I could not take a picture of the Emerald Buddha (except I was sneaky and did it from the outside). Some temples I could take a picture of the Buddha, but not with me in it. Another place, which I’ll talk about in my next Thailand blog entry, required me to kneel next to the Buddha. Thank God we had a tour guide at each temple that knew the specific rules for each statue, because I don’t know how to keep all the rules straight!
The Emerald Buddha is famous not for its size, since it’s rather tiny, actually. It’s also not known for being made from jade, since there is a more famous Jade Buddha out there. Actually, this Buddha is special because it changes golden outfits for each of Bangkok’s three seasons: Summer, Rainy, and Winter. There is a ceremony involved where the Thai king changes its outfit to match the appropriate season in Bangkok. We went when he had his summer outfit on.
I know this sounds a little disrespectful, but I think it’s really cute that he changes outfits! Like a little Buddha doll, they dress him up and change his outfits, so like Barbie, he’s prepared for any situation and occasion!
Our next stop was Wat Pho, which is a very large complex full of Buddha statues. However, Wat Pho is famous for its Reclining Buddha statue, which is huge! He’s 150 feet long and 50 feet tall! He has gold plating on his entire body and mother of pearl lining on his feet and eyes.
After the temples, we went to a jewelry store to see how jewelry is made. Thailand is known for its rubies and sapphires, and we got to see how they cut down the stones and make into jewelry. Dad let me pick one out as an early birthday present, and I got to go home with a beautiful new ruby ring!
When we left the jewelry place, they asked if we wanted to see more temples. By that time it was after 1:00, and since I hadn’t eaten since 6:00 that morning, I was feeling a little queasy. We asked for them to just take us back to our hotel, where we would grab lunch. Unfortunately, the trip home took over an hour because of traffic.
It was a great experience to see all the beautiful temples of Bangkok and all the famous statues I’ve learned about in my Tourism Destinations class at IFT. However, when I got back to Macau and began going through my pictures and writing this blog, I had a lot of difficulty figuring out which temple was which, since they all have the same style of architecture, and there were so many Buddha statues that I can’t tell them apart on my own. I had to do a lot of research before labeling the captions in my picture album on Facebook and writing out this blog entry!
That night we were supposed to go to another show, but unfortunately we found out at the last minute it was cancelled. Because the hotel where the show was at is within the street barricades where the riots are at, there was no way to get to the hotel. Instead, we just went out for dinner along Bar Street and observed the Bangkok nightlife.
After returning to the hotel, we had an envelope slipped under our door telling us that our tour for the next morning would be a few hours late picking us up. I was elated that I got to sleep in a little and not have to wake up at 5:30 am again the next morning. That night I went to sleep exhausted, despite the fact that our night was relatively uneventful.
Coming up next, “Thailand: Day Three!”
Love,
Kati
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