After an accidental late start….. Jet lag, we went exploring. We are staying in China Town at a lovely hotel, I swear in the UK our room would be at least £150 upwards a night, but we are only paying £30 a night which is incredible.
The exchange rate a currently quite poor however and currently we are getting 40baht for £1. When Mark visited last time it was 100 baht to £1, which means while it is still cheap for certain things (I paid £2.50 ish, 100baht for a hat today), other things are not as cheap as they used to be.
Firstly we visited Wat Pho also knows as the temple of the reclining Buddha. It is one of the highest grade temples in Thailand, it is not know when it was originally built however it is thought that it was extended in the 1600’s by the Thai King at the time.
The grounds were beautiful with several small mini waterfall gardens with coy carp. The grounds were quiet when we arrived and gradually got busier. They have been restoring the temples and the Buddha.
The Reclining Buddha is approximately 46-48m long and 15m tall, needless to say it is very impressive! It represent when the Buddha was entering Nirvana. The soles of the Buddha’s feet have many many detailed mother of pearl panels with symbols which are linked to the Buddha.
Along one side of the temple behind the Buddha are 108 ornate bowls where those coming to visit May drop coins which is meant to bring good luck.
After visiting the Reclining Buddha we walked on down to the Grand Palace which is the residence of the Thai royal family. It was built in 1782, and it homes the throne room and the renowned emerald Buddha. Unfortunately we could only see this from a distance as the room was closed as there was a ceremony about to take place where they change his costume to the rainy season costume. There are three different costumes in total, summer, rainy season and winter.
The grounds of the grand palace are just that…. Grand. Well they are spectacular, beautiful and exquisite. The porcelain mosaics glisten in the sun everywhere you look you see an even more beautiful view.
As it was about 35 degrees Celsius and about 85% humidity, we decided to go back to the hotel to escape the mid afternoon sun. The streets surrounding the palace were lined with lots of little restaurants promising the best pad thai in Bangkok or in one window it just said clean food, a nod to the street vendors with raw chicken and seafood sitting out in the baking heat!!
Later afternoon we headed towards the national stadium to visit Jim Thompson’s house museum. Jim Thompson was an American born architect who moved to Thailand after falling in love with the country after the end of WWII. He move one of the original Thai houses to its current location in Bangkok and spent was known for his work in the Thai silk industry. Sadly Jim went missing in the 70’s when he went out for a walk by himself while on holiday in Malaysia with friends. To this day no one knows what happened to Jim.
His house is a traditional Thai house with living on the first floor in case of flooding. However he did alter some of the traditional aspects by adding some western features such as a ground floor entrance hall. He also inverted the wood panelling so the details faced in rather than out, he did this so his guests could appreciate the craftsmanship.
We then went for a little walk around some of the streets and got caught in a downpour on the way back to our hotel!!!
Thanks for sharing these photos. Looks wonderful. Glad to see you’re both still smiling. Dad envious of the rain.
Lots of love. X