Bangkok Buddhist Temples

 Yesterday I spent the whole day looking at Bangkok’s Buddhist Temples. We focused on 4 places, 

The Marble Temple

The Temple of the Emerald Buddha 

The Grand Palace

Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn)

And recently included, the golden Buddha 

We started with the Grand Palace.  

My tour guide, nicknamed Tiger, first took us to the Royal Palace. Only a portion of the grounds are available for tourists to view. Tiger explained that the green being is a demon that is portrayed to protect the building and inhabitants. Sometimes the demons are to protect. 

As you can see, the palace grounds are very elaborate. There is a strong Chinese influence here. 

There are broken pieces of china shaped into flowers and decorations all over the walls of the buildings.

There are also Chinese paintings of flowers and nature painted on tiles all over the palace grounds. 

The stupas that you will see hold the remains of past kings and relatives of the king. 

These are mystical creatures. Part human and part animal. 

The grounds were incredible too.

Thailand has incredible water lilies! I love them! Some are so large that the wind catches them and they blow in a breeze.

Some outdoor corridors have painted murals depicting daily life in the courts or battle scenes 

Many walls are covered with mosaic tiles

Many of the rooflines have these “birds” along the edges

And many bonsai plants and trees

I added an update to this post. Yesterday a friend and I went to visit the Golden Buddha. I guess it is solid gold and worth a fortune. It is very beautiful. I will just add these photos of this temple for you to enjoy.

This is not a photo but rather an artists’ rendition of this temple complex

As you can see, the golden Buddha temple is magnificent! Enjoy the experience!

Central World Mall - Japanese Food

 First of all, let me say that this mall is incredible! There are 7 stories and 495 stores. It is the Ninth largest mall in the world. Their Moto is  “let’s be friends”. 

They are gearing up for Christmas now so there are gigantic inflatables in the air and outside in front. 

There soon will be a Christmas village with live music out in front.

Today I got a wonderful Thai massage at Montra and I’m having lunch at one of the many fine restaurants here. Today I am having 

Japanese. Tungkatsu 

And here it comes!

. . . delivered by a robot! 

A Native Thai Home

 We were very honored to be able to see inside a typical Thai country home. 

This is inside of the living room of a typical Thai (not modern) house. The whole family lives here. Sometimes 3 generations. 

This is their kitchen 

This is the hot plate where they cook their food

This is a baby bath tub

This is a special spiritual corner of their living room where they honor Buddha 

 

And this is the section of the house where they honor family

They grow and process coconut sugar on this plantation.

This is cooking a vat of coconut sugar. It is delicious! I like it better than brown sugar. 

They grind the coconut shells to make bark chips for gardening 

 

The Marketplace Train

 I saw this advertised and I was sure I wanted to go here. This is an active marketplace that has a train run through it 2 times a day. 

The train whistle blows and the train S-L-O-W-L-Y moves through the marketplace.

We will see if the video will load. But in the meantime, here are some of the foods they sell at this marketplace. 

Lemongrass and ginger root

Fish

Water snakes (eel?)

Pig feet and other meats

Vegetables 

Flowers. I think mostly to honor the Buddha.

Various fruits. The orange colored fruit is actually a pomegranate. And the brown balls are lychee fruit. 

Watermelon, limes and passion fruit?  There are so many new, and delicious fruits here in Thailand that I want to learn about and taste. There will be another whole blog on Thai fruits