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Published: June 19th 2012
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Last night - before meeting our group for the obligatory meet up with our tour leader (who is adorable and has the most amazing sense of humor) Noelle and I went on a search for a few temples. I have yet to really figure out if they are temples or monasteries. I think they are a combination of them - as most of the ones we've been to are more like complexes of many different buildings, some of which are for the upkeep, the cooking and eating of meals, and the housing of the monks. So far, it seems the temples housing the buddha images are in the center of the complex. They have all been labeled as "wat" - so I will continue to refer to them as such. So, Noelle felt her trip to Thailand wouldn't be begin correctly until she had seen a wat - so off we went. We went to the first one I had visited on my first day and we of course got caught in the rain - but it was so gentle and felt so refreshing that we continued on through most of it. After that one wat - we went on for
- well - it was more of a slog through the tourists as we attempted to get down Khao San road - just to get to the other side. On the other side - Wat Bowonniwetwhiharn Ratchaworawiharn (not kidding on the spelling) - another beautiful complex to explore. It was raining a bit, so the stone steps were shiny and this lent a quiet mystical feel to the wat and we almost had it to ourselves. When we worked our way around to the front of the temple proper we were amazed by the sight of the monks in worship and the beautiful buddha image. Thailand is about 95% buddhist. Another bright and early morning as our taxi for the train station left at 7:30. The train was right on time, and thankfully so were we. The ride out to Phitsanulok was a lengthy six hours, and I will only regal my closest friends with the tales of using the traditional toilet on a rocking train. None of that experience belongs in a public blog :-) After transferring to the "local limo" as our guide calls it - a songteaw (an open air truck with two benches along the sides
of the back of the truck with a roof) we arrived at Prasri Rat Tana Mahatha - another wat - this one housing "the most beautiful buddha image" - Pra Buddha Chin Na Raj. The history of the buddha image is lengthy and involves mystical beings appearing to help with the difficult bronze casting and a king who wanted to take the image back to Bangkok but relented to the pleas of the people. He took a copy of it instead, and this one remains one of the most revered in the country. There are traditions our guide told us about - one involving very heavy small(ish) metal elephants that can tell the future if you ask the question, and fortune sticks that are to be shaken out of a bamboo container. My "fortune" wasn't so great, so our guide told me to leave it behind.... which I easily did. We have arrived at our guest house - Hang Jeng, and we are getting to know each other and our special quirks. It's a very wonderful mix of people! Tomorrow is a bike ride out to the historical Sukhothai - translated means "dawn of happiness". Very excited.
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