Golden Buddha

---

Geo: 13.7308, 100.521

We got up, dressed and went down to breakfast and, for possibly the first time ever, we beat Nana and Pa down. Even if it was only by five minutes we were still happy.

We caught a tuk-tuk (a bit like a golf buggy) from outside our hotel to the Golden Buddha (Wat Traimit Wittayaram), as Pa was taking photos of us in the tuk-tuk another driver came and roped them into having a ride. Nana and Pa had decided to have a lazy day just walking around the block but it wasn't to be. As we got to the end of the road Nana and Pa's tuk-tuk overtook ours and ended up taking them to the Golden Buddha too.

As soon as we walked in the gate I realised that my dress didn't cover my shoulders, which is a sign of disrespect I believe. We decided to skip the exhibition and just buy tickets to the Golden Buddha which was 40B; because we had to take our shoes off Pa decided to sit it out. We bought our tickets and walked around trying to find the Golden Buddha, instead we came across the living quarters of a few monks and a small fish pond with a huge fish thing that had the face of a crocodile. After 15 minutes of walking around we found the Golden Buddha, you couldn't go anywhere near it and there were only 6 others. The roof was covered in chandeliers and the Buddha itself looked amazing. We took some photos and spent 10 minutes inside watching other people pray/worship/whatever they do. There was monk putting woollen bracelets on people that obviously had some significance. Nana, mum and I went and looked around the outside of another temple that housed the exhibition and was up two flights of stairs. We decided not to continue up the stairs as we didn't know if there was any point as we didn't want to see the exhibition. Nana went to collect Pa while Mum and I went to return the sarong I was given to cover my shoulders and get our deposit back and it was only then that we found out that the Buddha we saw wasn't the Golden Buddha. It was at the top of the stairs! We decided to leave it.

While we were here, we decided to use the toilet. For the first time in Thailand for us (including Nana), we had to remove our shoes and put on their thongs before we could enter the toilet - rather weird!!

Personally I felt that the Golden Buddha was too touristy as there were markets all over the place, even in the temples and some of the things they were selling were inappropriate for a temple but anyway.

We met our tuk-tuk driver just outside the gates but when we explained that we only wanted to go to the hotel not anywhere else he wasn't very impressed. Nana and Pa got in their tuk tuk but left before we had a chance to talk to them. They had insisted that the driver take them back to the hotel - which he did in bad grace (so Nana said). When we caught the tuk-tuk earlier from outside the hotel we showed him our map and pointed to where we wanted to go which we had circled earlier along with 4 other places, he wanted to take us to all of those. He then insisted that we go to the Thai Museum I think it was called for 15 minutes so he would get a gas voucher; we were tired and hot and really didn't want to go. He got very angry and violent and as mum said "he was holding us hostage". When he finally settled down and agreed to take us straight back to the hotel he increased his price from 20B to 100B we declined and he drove off in a huff. We then had to get another tuk-tuk which proved to be harder than we thought and then a man came over and started talking to mum explaining that the green and orange tuk-tuk's are government tuk-tuks therefore they are cheaper. We eventually found a tuk-tuk made our way back to the hotel and jumped into the swimming pool.

Dinner was at the revolving restaurant on the 26th/top floor of our hotel. It was great – with the changing view as the night came. We sat there for two revolutions and finished our dinner with a sundae each.

---

Photos

Wat Traimit - The Temple of the Golden Buddha
The Buddha at Wat Traimit was discovered by accident when it was accidentally dropped as it was being moved, revealing, under a casing of plaster, a beautiful solid gold Sukhothai style Buddha. Pieces of the plaster are still kept on display.

Largest solid gold Buddha - weighing over 5 tons
In Bangkok's Chinatown is Wat Traimit which is home to the world's largest solid gold Buddha - weighing in at over 5 tons.
This solid gold Buddha has a very interesting history.
It was cast sometime in the 13th century and at some point after that, it was encased in plaster so that invaders or thieves would not steal the valuable Buddha. It would appear that over the years, what lay beneath the plaster was all but forgotten.
When Bangkok was established as the new capital of Thailand, King Rama lll had this Buddha among other Buddhas moved to Bangkok from the Ayutthaya region. This plaster Buddha was housed in a temple along the Chao Praya River which eventually fell into disrepair and was abandoned in the 1930's. Then in the late 1950's, it was decided to have this plaster Buddha moved to a new home at Wat Traimit and it was at this time that, while lifting the Buddha, a moving cable snapped and the Buddha plummeted to the earth below cracking off a piece of plaster only to reveal the gold beneath the plaster.
In 2007, the king of Thailand had a new home built for the Golden Buddha which opened to the public in 2010 where the Buddha resides today.

Comments

[Dad]

sounds like you kids are having fun with the local politics re tuk tuks.hope your enjoying the heat and humidity about 10 degrees here take care and talk soon

[Lyn]

The pool on the 23rd floor, was warm, and small but enjoyable, with a good view of the city.