Bangkok - Discovering the Temples

Hello again!

I am going to continue writing about Thailand and the places I have been too.

In the first part " The jouney begins" was more about how to get to Thailand, or at least how I did it and some other informations, useful for you if you plan to go there too.

As I left on talking about my first day in Thailand, saying that it was  quite relaxing, I have visited the place Asiatique ( which by the was I wrote an article about ) the shopping mall in the open air and then just had a lovely time here.

The second day, me and my friends we went to visit the Temples in Bangkok. These are really famous and on the "top 10 you have to do in Bangkok". In Thailand they have temples all around the country, but many temples are in Bangkok, around 400. But not all of them are the same, and many tourists just go at the ones which are more important. The top 10 temples are :

1.  Wat Phra Kaew or 'The Temple of the Emerald Buddha'
2. Wat Pho
3. Wat Arun
4. Wat Saket
5. Wat Traimit
6. Loha Prasat
7. Wat Mahatat
8. Wat Suthat
9. Wat Benjamabhopit
10. Wat Prayoon

One second day after we had a lovely evening, we woke up had a delicous breakfast at our hotel. We had so many things to eat, from fruits, to cereals, to proper food and a lot of food, deserts and basically more than you could even eat. I love this kind of breakfast, I'm really curious to see what they offer and I like to try everything if it looks new to me.

After we had breakfast we were ready to go and explore the temples, they called them Wat. As you can see from the top 10 above. All of them are quite close to each other kind of, some of them are close to the river, so you can just take a boat, as we did and go there, then take the boat again along the river and go for the next one. Some of them are more in the city so you need to go deeper and find it. Easily you will find them if you have a map( which they will give it to you, when you buy the ticket for the boat). All you need to do now is just keep your enthusiasm and good for it.

I'm so sure that I have visited these temples, but from the photos I took, not sure which one goes with which, hahaha, I really don't remember all the names again, so I can't tell you which photo is from here. I know for sure some of the temples. We went to see these 10, and maybe more, in 2 days. The second day we were day and the other one was our forth day maybe. 

If you want I can offer a bit of information in general about each temple and also some more specific, what I like about it. More I can just copy from google, in you are interested in  history and to see all the differences between these.

An interesting thing was that their king Bhumibol Adulyadej just died recently when we've been there, in October last year in 2016. He was 88 years old, and every temple was full of people. Some there were not open for tourists because of the offerings and the ceremonies for the king. The city looked for me black and white. Because everybody was wearing only black and white, to respect their beloved king. I thought It was a nice gesture to do, people really loved their king so they manifest that also in the way they dressed. Also on th streets they selled t-shirts with the qouts of the king or his face or other things related to the king, mostly black things. They also gave for free some small bows with a pin that people pin it on their clothes also to wear it everyday as a token of respect in memory of their king. So many kind and impresive gestures, I have never seen that in a country, the way they mourn and loved their king. It was great.

Anyway, so because of his death, some of the temples were closed, I remeber being in some of those that I wrote above.

I'll start with the first one that I have been to, Wat Arun.

Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan or Wat Arun ( "Temple of Dawn") is a Buddhist temple (wat) in Bangkok Yai district of Bangkok, Thailand, on the Thonburi west bank of the Chao Phraya River. The temple derives its name from the Hindugod Aruna, often personified as the radiations of the rising sun.

Wat Arun, the most iconic temple of Bangkok is located on Thonburi side of Bangkok, almost opposite to the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. This was my first temple that I have visited and I really like it. The architecture was so amazing, all the details, everything was beautifuly made. An interesting thing was that at the entrance of the temple there were a man and a woman with some costumes, so you could dress youself as the statues that are behind. For 150 baht( that's around 5 euros) me and my sister we rent this constumes and had some amazing pictures here, behind this. If you want to have really cool and authentic photos from this temple you can dress in this contumes and look amazing:)) haha, it was an interesting experience really. I loved it, even though the "cap" that you can see most of the statues are using it, it's really heavy:)) Anyway, I liked this opportunity. 

Here is the spot where you can take pictures with the costume( I didn't post mine, but yeah, I kinda looked like one of those "guardians").

The entrance for the temple was 50 baht and you need to dress decent, without shorts or mini dresses. If you are wearing these type of clothes, as I did, because it was so hot outside, then you can rent or buy saragons ( it's like a skirt to wrap around your waist, so you can look decent). I didn't know this thing, and I was wearing shorts, so in each temple I had to wear a saragon. It was a funny experience for me, I felt more that I'm getting into the culture, learn more about the temples and I could enter to see how a buddist temple is looking like. There are many places in Wat Arun, you can see many buildings and temple and monuments. It was really interesting. 

They also have inside coffee shops and you can have a drink and refresh yourself, because it's very hot outside. 

The next temple we visited was the Wat Pho temple. A bit of information about it :

Wat Pho, named after a monastery in India where Buddha is believed to have lived, is one of the oldest and largest Buddhist temples in Bangkok. Wat Pho is also known as 'The Temple of the Reclining Buddha' thanks to the 15 meter high, 43 meter long Buddha image it shelters, covered with gold leaf and baring four meter long feet encrusted with exquisite mother-of-pearl (or nacre) decorations. When I enter this temple, again I had to wear a saragon and also I hade to remove my shoes, and put them in a bag, or just leave them outside.

Here I could see the big statue of Buddha, and it was so long and big and interesting, I tried to capture the whole thing in just one photo, but it was very difficult so, I took captures in different sizes of Buddah. It was really interesting this one. Then in this place it was something, I don't know how to call it, but people had like a bowl with small coins, and there were severals statues of Buddah with small bowls also. and people put a coin in each bowl. Not sure about the meaning but, it was interesting. Then we went outside, and there were other things to see in Wat Pho, like this beautiful temples, so colourful and I loved the detailes. Really amazing, I wonder how long it took to make them, and how? really cool. Also in here there were some shops where you could buy food, water, souvernirs or organic products. There were this ladies selling coconut oil in different bottles, 100 ml, 300 ml or more. And other products for hair, face, body. Me and my sister we bought some bottles as souvenirs and the prices were really good, comparing to other places. It was i think also a local shop so we like to encourange buying from locals. Even now I still have them, the coconut oil and the the face wash made out of tamarind. Really good products. The prices for 100 ml of coconut oil were 2 euros I think. Really cheap and they were packed with a spray thing. Anyway, good deal.

We went to another one and then all the day like this, because there were so many and we wanted to see some, the top 10 at least, because they have an important role in the culture and history of Thailand.

Then we went to the other ones also, some by boat, some by foot and more we went by Tuk-tuk. What's a tuk-tuk? It's like a small "motorcycle-car" or at least that it is in my vision. The mans are driving it, and it's quite small, but it fits 4-5 people, but you are really tight. anyway I loved it so much, it's like a taxi but much cheaper. One that day we used it a lot, we found 2 tuk-tuk drivers and they made us an offer to take us around all this temples that we had left on our list and more, to take us to some shops and in where else we wanted. The price was just 100 bath, when I heard that I was, really? why so cheap, for 2 euors, to take you, and wait you when you visit and do your things. They said it's like a special day, because they received some free fuel or something like this, but just 2 euros the whole thing. They were so nice, they took us ro the rest of the temples also they were "our guide" they explained us a bit what's about in each place. They droped us in each place, we went visited and then we went to the next one and than the next one. A interesting one was a temple with the biggest Buddah standing. I'm sorry that I don't know to give you more informations, but you can google it and find more, there is no point to copy and paste here.

(this is the bigges standing Buddah statue)

But one thing I can tell you for sure, you will be impressed by these temples, in a way or another. They have so many things to catch your attention, really, it's a pretty interesting and new. Thailand is like breath taking, if you never been in a country like Thailand before, like me, then this experience will be unforgettable for sure. You will want to go back soon, and visit more and more. 

I'll post some photos that I took in the temples and from outside, I was impressed and took lots and lots of photos and then posted them on my instagram page and facebook. I wish that I could have wrote this article about Thailand after my trip, so my mind would have been "fresh" but even now I can remeber lots of things, maybe not the details.

Anyway, they are beautiful to see, inside and outside, it will worth your time. They might look similar to you, but they are different, each one has it's one story and history and it's nice to go and find out more about, or just checked it off your list. 

I didn't spent a lot of time in each temple, I saw most of the important things, admire them and then leave. But some of them were more interesting so I stayed more and looked for other things I could see and discover.

One wat (temple) I remember that had some many statues of Buddah everywhere, not sure but more than 100. Here is just one photo, from one angle...but trust me, there were sooo many statues.

What I was curious about is "what does it mean the signs they are doing it the hands?". I've done some research and each sign, mean something. It means : peace, or teaching or other meanings. Really interesting, you can also google about this and you will be amazed. There are so many things you can learn about a culture and Thai culture is full of opportunities. In every corner of the street and place, you can find something new. See a new food, a new person, a new behaviour, a recepie, language.

Really, this culture never stop amazing me in different areas, good ways and also bad ways. But in the end my experiece with the temples was a good experice, I realize a lot of things about people, culture, religion, education and the impact of those on thai people and it's quite interesting. 

I could not understand the fact, that on one side of the road is a big temple, looking so rich and beautiful and on the other side of the street there are poor houses and it's such a big contrast. I can't understand why? why so many temples and also so many poor people? It's a paradox for me, gold and dust close to each other, but in the same time...so far.

This trip in Thailand made me see the world with  a different eyes and perspective in so many areas of my life and to be able to think now with a new mind, kind of.

When you see a world so different than yours, you have so many questions and you are thinking about a lot of things. How can it be like this? Why things are happening for some people like this and not like that? Why we can have freedom in many ways and others don't? What's normal? And so many other questions... I have wonder a lot and meditate about things that I have seen and I my heart was broken for some reasons. I wish people can live knowing there are other ways in this life, that you can life a different way that you do and there is so much more out there waiting for you.

But I guess not all the people are so lucky or blessed to live their life fully, having a proper place to stay, food to eat everyday, freedom to choose how their life should be like, education and basicaly to be in control of your life without others to tell you how to live.

Thailand is a beautiful country but also if you see these things it makes you think differently about it.

More information about Thailand, places to go, things to do, food to eat, check the other articles!