Bangkok Day Tour

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We spent 3 days and 2 nights in Bangkok, and to be fair we got a LOT done. But on the tiger temple tour there was one thing troubling us. On arriving the day before, we had originally been planning to go and see the Grand Palace, but due to a mix of major jet lag, nervousness about being in a new city so culturally removed from our understanding, and the knowledge our tiger tour started 4am the next morning, we ended up sleeping, and not going to the palace.

The palace is one of the must see things in Bangkok, and we were already aware we would miss things like the floating market and flower market etc, so really wanted to see this one major thing. Our tiger temple tour guide Lily suggest we get back in touch with tong and arrange a public transportation tour for the next day (the day of our flight out).

We arranged the tour that evening. It costs 1000 baht (£20) and is extremely good value for money. For 5 hours, your tour guide will take you where you want to go without getting lost and can help you out when speaking to people at the local markets etc too. You pay for the public transportation costs of yourself and your guide. In addition, you obviously pay your entry fees to any attractions, but as a licensed tour guide, your guide doesn't get charged entry, so you only need to cover his or her transport (which is very cheap - less than the 1000 baht cost for the tour).

We met Jerry in the lobby of our hotel at 7am. An early start, but not as early as the 4.30 meeting for the tiger temple! One bit of advice here for anyone considering visiting buddhist temples - take slip on shoes as you need to remove your shoes to enter a temple.

We told Jerry we hadn't seen any of the main tourist sites, and he suggested we go to see the various temples and the Grand Palace. Our first stop was the temple of the golden buddha, and like so many places in Thailand, the story behind it was amazing.

There are hundreds of local buddhist temples in Bangkok, and Phra Phuttha Maha Suwan Patimakon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Buddha_(statue) is just one of them. It was not particularly special, and was certainly not rich. Their decorated plaster buddha sat under a tin roof for many years. In the 50s the temple scraped together enough money to erect a new building on the grounds and the head monk ordered the plaster statue to be moved there.

During the process of moving the statue, the crane or ropes broke and the statue was damaged. An inspection of the damage revealed a shining material beneath the surface. It turned out that hidden under the plaster was a 3m tall, 5.5 ton pure 18 carat gold buddha undiscovered for more than 200 years. The estimted value of the gold alone is $250m USD. The discovery of the buddha coincided with the celebrations for the 2500th years since buddha's passing, and many felt the discovery was miraculous. As a result a large and grand building was planned, and opened in 2010, the new building now houses the buddha.

Our next stop was the Grand Palace http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Palace The palace is a complex of buildings which were (and indeed are) used by the royal family and state guests. It is an important place for Thais as it is the ceremonial seat of power and religion on Thailand. In particular it is the home of the Emerald Buddha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_the_Emerald_Buddha the most sacred buddha in Thailand. Despite it's name, the emerald buddha isn't actually emerald. Originally thought to be emerald, it was discovered to actually be made from a single block of green jade.

The emerald buddha has different gold outfits, one for each season, and the king of Thailand is responsible for changing his outfit. It is an important place of worship, and as a result, photos may not be taken in case it causes people to either linger longer than necessary, or disturb those meditating. While this is a shame, I was pleasently surprised in general how much we could take pictures within temples etc. The thai are very welcoming of tourists and seem to encourage you to enter their places of worship (so long as you take off your shoes).

The temple of the emerald buddha is just one part of the complex though. The complex also hosts other state buildings, including the court which is guarded by guys in uniform a little like the guard at Buckingham Palace. You can go and see the thrones etc. as well which is cool, but again, no pictures inside there.

It was really interesting to see some of the restoration work happening on the roofs, and seeing the craftsmen doing their stuff. I did note the distinct lack of health and safety though. The guys on the roof get up there by monkey shimmying up a rope, then just wander about on the roof without harnesses.

The Grand Palace is also home to the longest painted mural in the world, and a 1:20 model of the Angkor Wat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat. I am just glossing over these things as this post is getting long enough, but it is a truly beautiful place.

Our final stop was the temple of the reclining buddha (Wat Pho) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_the_Reclining_Buddha which, as you may expect has a huge reclining buddha. It is no longer the longest reclining buddha in Thailand, as there is now another 4m longer, but it is thought to be the most beautifual as it is covered in gold leaf, with the buddha's feet decorated with inlaind mother of pearl. The temple is famous for other reasons too though - it is the birthplace of Thai massage, and houses various relics related to the teaching of massage such as sculptures and murals.

It also hosts a collection of buddhas all in the same pose. What is interesting about these is that you can see newly restored ones next to old ones, next to ones where the restoration work is in progress. Basically they remove the inlaid jewels and glass, melt the gold leaf off and apply a new coat of resin to the buddha. They then reapply the gold leaf and painstakingly replace the jewels etc.

Finally Tahnee managed to find her own attraction at the temple in the form of a stray kitten. I think it was the highlight of her day!

All in all a highly enjoyable day, and a big thanks to Jerry for making it so enjoyable. He was full of knowledge and funny.

PS. Photos are in wrong order, and I think duplicated. Apologies but the wifi here is really slow, and its a pain to order everything right.

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