Temple day

Today was a very long, very successful day! I took what may be my favorite picture so far, and I have to share it with you immediately.


I was at Wat Arun, which was my favorite temple of the day, eating an ice cream cone (Strawberry Coronetto, of course) when he ran up to me and, in Thai, asked if he could have it. I'm assuming that's what he asked, at least, because he tried to take it. I told him no, this one is mine. With the full intent of immediately going to get him an ice cream cone. Before I did that, I asked him if I could take his picture. And this is what he did. Probably the cutest/most amazing thing of the day. He got his own ice cream cone. And then he came over and 'cheers'ed' me with it. I tried to figure out who was on his shirt and the only thing I could think of was a Thai version of Edward and Bella. Who knows.

So I visited three temples today. Wat Phra Kaeo, inside the Grand Palace, which housed the Emerald Buddha. He's not actually made of emerald, he's made of jade. This is at Wat Phra Kaeo:


And so is this:


And this, just to prove I'm alive and still retain my tan:


It was a nice temple, the Grand Palace was cool, but I probably won't go again. It was soooo crowded. Its the #1 tourist attraction in Bangkok, so I get it.

Next was Wat Arun. By far my favorite place of the day. It was incredible. The entire outside of the temple is covered in broken porcelain. In the 1800's, when it was built, Chinese ships used broken porcelain as ballast. The king who built Wat Arun wanted to recycle it, so he used it as decoration. That's it to the right:


And a close up of the pottery:


You could actually climb the stairs to about midway up the tower. The stairs are very narrow and steep, said to represent the difficulty of achieving nirvana. In the states, I'm pretty sure it would have been deemed illegal as a tourist attraction because of the danger it posed. I was actually kinda freaked out. The stairs are seriously as close to vertical as they can get.


And Wat Arun at night. I'm having a hard time getting night/evening pictures to come out like I would like. The colors aren't as lifelike as I want. Suggestions?


The last temple of the day was Wat Pho. This temple felt like a ruin as I was walking around. It's actually undergoing renovation right now, as are a lot of buildings in Bangkok. High tourist season just ended, so I guess it's a good time for it. Wat Pho is known for its Reclining Buddha, the longest in the world. He's 150 feet long. And I know it's probably sacrilegious, but they let us take pictures:


And, as a true sign of Thai pride, this sign was posted:


Because Thai pickpockets must not exist.

After my temple tour I went to dinner at the Londoner, which is a British brew pub. The food, French Onion soup and bangers and mash, was delicious, as were the two beers they brew in house. Lots of expats, which was cool.

I probably took a million pictures today, but here's one of my other favorites:


Tomorrow, the plan is to visit the flower market in Chinatown, make my way to Little India (maybe buy a sari?) and then to the Jim Thompson house. Look it up - he got rich off the Thai silk trade and his house is the largest teak house in Thailand. After that I'm going to the Siriraj Medical Museum. When I read the description, "This anomalous collection of skulls, pickled body parts and murder weapons is intended to educate rather than shock. Not for the squeamish, it's most famous exhibit is the preserved corpse of Si Quey, a serial killer," I knew I couldn't leave Bangkok without seeing it.

Last day in Bangkok before I head to the beaches. Very excited for that!

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Location:Old City, Bangkok