Monday, July 21, 2008
Temples, Temples and MORE Temples!
Today's the day when we go and have a little trip around Bangkok. Our chosen half day trip covers 3 different temples. Needless to say they are all Buddhists (if anyone was wondering).
We planned to wake up earlier this morning because we had to gather at the lobby by 0730hrs. We figured that we'd have a nice full breakfast and then we'd be set for the whole morning.
I felt like I had not slept for very long my friend's phone started going off. I was like is it time already... where has the time gone?. My friend didn't switch off the phone alarm so I figured it was definitely the morning alarm. So I turned around and told my friend "hey time to wake up"
My friend said something to the effect of "that's not the alarm" or something but I was really dozy so I probably didn't get it right. Turns out that it was someone from her workplace calling her at about 0300hrs >.> I didn't realise that at the time, but after a little while when my friend seemed to go back to sleep, I checked my phone and realised it was only 0300 ish. Time to go back to sleep!!
Soon enough the alarm really went off again. We woke up.. washed up and stuff and I was quite worried that we were going to be late for breakfast....... till we realised that we actually woke up at 0530 hrs BKK time. -.-;
The reason for this is simple, the previous day, my friend's phone was on Singapore time. So we had to do manual compensation. She changed it over in the evening and we still compensated for the 'difference'... Well, good thing was we certainly had lots of time now!
So we had a leisurely breakfast and even had time to go back up to the room for toilet breaks. A bit too leisurely I guess, we actually had the phone ring just as we were leaving the room. Surely it was the tour desk people calling us up. We got on the bus and it brought us to the local Chinatown where we met up with people from other locations going on the same tour as we were.
While waiting, I picked up a copy of Bandkok Informer for July. It gives a listing of tours from the agency we joined for the day tour and some useful information I didn't know about. For example, I never knew that the Thais didn't like women to wear shorts in public or show too much flesh. I thought it'd just be in temples. When I mentioned this to my friend, my friend was almost incredulous too, since in her words "alot of people dress that way".
So I was curious and I started to look out for locals wearing shorts and skimpy clothing. My final conclusion. The only people who do it (during the period I was there, since maybe the timing ahs something to do with it) are farang people or people who do it for a living. You learn stuff everyday!
To start the day off, we went to one of the common temples in Chinatown, Wat Trimit. They have temples for the common people and temples for the rich. The statue of the Buddha in this temple is made of gold. The story is that when they shifted the capital of Siam to Bangkok, they also had the stuff in the old capital shifted. At that time, this statue of the Buddha was covered in plaster and no one knew that it was actually made of gold. Some years ago (I forgot how many.... maybe 50?) the plaster cracked and fell off and people finally realised that the Buddha statue in this humble common temple is made of gold.. The statue of the Buddha was really gleaming gold, you could see your face in it!
On the way to the next temple, we passed by the flower market at Pak Klong Talad. Didn't get off the bus and anyway street stalls apparently aren't allowed on Mondays. The next temple, Wat Po, that we went to had a huge reclining Buddha in it, being 150 feet long and 40 feet high. It was really huge. This statue is made of brick, concrete and finished with gold. This temple was huge, they had lots and lots of Buddha statues sponsored by the people so that when they pass away they can have their ashes interred under the statue of the Buddha. Wat Po also has a lot of Stupas. A Stupa is a religious monument resembling a tapered tower that is used to inter the ashes of the deceased.
After Wat Po, we went on to the Marble Temple. This temple was built by King Chulalongkorn (omg my history lessons!!) and is supposed to be a fine example of modern Thai art. One of the statues of the Buddha here is made of bronze. There is also a nice longish looking drum that is used to summon the monks on the premises. It's at least 5 meters long.
So, after the morning's temple tour we were brought to a Gem Factory where they sold all manner of Jewelry that you might take a fancy to. They have some really cheap stuff as well so it's no harm taking a look, you just might find something you like that is cheap! I bought a cubic zirconium sterling silver ring for my mum at about SGD20. Looks good and my mum doesn't care to have real diamonds :D .
From the gem factory, we went on to the Royal Grand Palace on our own by getting a ride to the place from the factory. The main attraction to the Royal Grand Palace is the Emerald Buddha, unfortunately since they were performing Buddhist rituals that day, we were not able to see it. The Palace was, as one might have expected, grand. Huge buildings with what looked like gold gilded roof, one just wonders how much precious materials had gone into building the palace.
From the Grand Palace, we wanted to go to Chinatown and decided to take a taxi. This is where we met our first and only cheat in Bangkok. My friend asked him how much it would cost to get to our destination and he took it as a chance to negotiate a fare and grossly overcharged us. When we finally got to the destination, we had a minor squabble with him where he insisted that my friend asked him how much. I told him that was merely for estimation and not for fare negotiation. In the end, we paid him less than he asked for initially but definitely a fair bit more than what we would have paid by meter.
At Chinatown, we ended up buying pork products. Those crispy pork snacks. Yummy. We then hopped over to a nearby restaurant to have shark's fin and bird's nest. I didn't like the shark's fin tough. I think I don't like teochew style shark's fin. It's the second time I've had it and I don't fancy it.
The bird's nest however, was nice. After the meal, the people from the shop were kind enough to hail us a taxi and make sure that the taxi turned on the meter for us.
Today was really tiring.... time for a good rest! My friend wanted to have the omelettes that we had on the first day at the hotel but she crashed out very early.
0 Adorations
Today's the day when we go and have a little trip around Bangkok. Our chosen half day trip covers 3 different temples. Needless to say they are all Buddhists (if anyone was wondering).
We planned to wake up earlier this morning because we had to gather at the lobby by 0730hrs. We figured that we'd have a nice full breakfast and then we'd be set for the whole morning.
I felt like I had not slept for very long my friend's phone started going off. I was like is it time already... where has the time gone?. My friend didn't switch off the phone alarm so I figured it was definitely the morning alarm. So I turned around and told my friend "hey time to wake up"
My friend said something to the effect of "that's not the alarm" or something but I was really dozy so I probably didn't get it right. Turns out that it was someone from her workplace calling her at about 0300hrs >.> I didn't realise that at the time, but after a little while when my friend seemed to go back to sleep, I checked my phone and realised it was only 0300 ish. Time to go back to sleep!!
Soon enough the alarm really went off again. We woke up.. washed up and stuff and I was quite worried that we were going to be late for breakfast....... till we realised that we actually woke up at 0530 hrs BKK time. -.-;
The reason for this is simple, the previous day, my friend's phone was on Singapore time. So we had to do manual compensation. She changed it over in the evening and we still compensated for the 'difference'... Well, good thing was we certainly had lots of time now!
So we had a leisurely breakfast and even had time to go back up to the room for toilet breaks. A bit too leisurely I guess, we actually had the phone ring just as we were leaving the room. Surely it was the tour desk people calling us up. We got on the bus and it brought us to the local Chinatown where we met up with people from other locations going on the same tour as we were.
While waiting, I picked up a copy of Bandkok Informer for July. It gives a listing of tours from the agency we joined for the day tour and some useful information I didn't know about. For example, I never knew that the Thais didn't like women to wear shorts in public or show too much flesh. I thought it'd just be in temples. When I mentioned this to my friend, my friend was almost incredulous too, since in her words "alot of people dress that way".
So I was curious and I started to look out for locals wearing shorts and skimpy clothing. My final conclusion. The only people who do it (during the period I was there, since maybe the timing ahs something to do with it) are farang people or people who do it for a living. You learn stuff everyday!
To start the day off, we went to one of the common temples in Chinatown, Wat Trimit. They have temples for the common people and temples for the rich. The statue of the Buddha in this temple is made of gold. The story is that when they shifted the capital of Siam to Bangkok, they also had the stuff in the old capital shifted. At that time, this statue of the Buddha was covered in plaster and no one knew that it was actually made of gold. Some years ago (I forgot how many.... maybe 50?) the plaster cracked and fell off and people finally realised that the Buddha statue in this humble common temple is made of gold.. The statue of the Buddha was really gleaming gold, you could see your face in it!
On the way to the next temple, we passed by the flower market at Pak Klong Talad. Didn't get off the bus and anyway street stalls apparently aren't allowed on Mondays. The next temple, Wat Po, that we went to had a huge reclining Buddha in it, being 150 feet long and 40 feet high. It was really huge. This statue is made of brick, concrete and finished with gold. This temple was huge, they had lots and lots of Buddha statues sponsored by the people so that when they pass away they can have their ashes interred under the statue of the Buddha. Wat Po also has a lot of Stupas. A Stupa is a religious monument resembling a tapered tower that is used to inter the ashes of the deceased.
After Wat Po, we went on to the Marble Temple. This temple was built by King Chulalongkorn (omg my history lessons!!) and is supposed to be a fine example of modern Thai art. One of the statues of the Buddha here is made of bronze. There is also a nice longish looking drum that is used to summon the monks on the premises. It's at least 5 meters long.
So, after the morning's temple tour we were brought to a Gem Factory where they sold all manner of Jewelry that you might take a fancy to. They have some really cheap stuff as well so it's no harm taking a look, you just might find something you like that is cheap! I bought a cubic zirconium sterling silver ring for my mum at about SGD20. Looks good and my mum doesn't care to have real diamonds :D .
From the gem factory, we went on to the Royal Grand Palace on our own by getting a ride to the place from the factory. The main attraction to the Royal Grand Palace is the Emerald Buddha, unfortunately since they were performing Buddhist rituals that day, we were not able to see it. The Palace was, as one might have expected, grand. Huge buildings with what looked like gold gilded roof, one just wonders how much precious materials had gone into building the palace.
From the Grand Palace, we wanted to go to Chinatown and decided to take a taxi. This is where we met our first and only cheat in Bangkok. My friend asked him how much it would cost to get to our destination and he took it as a chance to negotiate a fare and grossly overcharged us. When we finally got to the destination, we had a minor squabble with him where he insisted that my friend asked him how much. I told him that was merely for estimation and not for fare negotiation. In the end, we paid him less than he asked for initially but definitely a fair bit more than what we would have paid by meter.
At Chinatown, we ended up buying pork products. Those crispy pork snacks. Yummy. We then hopped over to a nearby restaurant to have shark's fin and bird's nest. I didn't like the shark's fin tough. I think I don't like teochew style shark's fin. It's the second time I've had it and I don't fancy it.
The bird's nest however, was nice. After the meal, the people from the shop were kind enough to hail us a taxi and make sure that the taxi turned on the meter for us.
Today was really tiring.... time for a good rest! My friend wanted to have the omelettes that we had on the first day at the hotel but she crashed out very early.
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