Wat Phra Kaew

Today is one of our last days in Bangkok, Thailand.  After a lesson of math, we left the hotel to eat breakfast and to see some amazing temples.  The bulk of the day was spent exploring a Thai temple complex, looking at the the town, and taking photos.

We explored Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace, a walled area with colorful temples and the residence of King Rama the first, built in 1782.  I found the temple architecture spectacular.  Scattered throughout the complex, we found twenty to thirty shining, colorful buildings.  The largest structure was somewhat narrow and very long with a colorful roof.  At every corner of the roof were spiky points curving up towards the sky.  Another remarkable building was a tall, golden, circular tower.  There was also a brownish gold monument that had several animals and other sacred figures carved into the upper sides.  All around the temples were human sized statues of Thai Buddhas.  Gold was used on almost every building we saw.  Painted on some of the lower walls of many buildings were murals telling unknown tales of ancient battles and daily life.  The Thai temples looked somewhat similar to Tibetan temples except these were much more opulent.   


















After looking at the temple, we explored some of the city on our way home.  Initially, we walked through a market where people were selling food.  After eating a quick snack of mango, we took a taxi boat down a canal that runs through Bangkok.  The boat was crowded, but it got us a little closer to our hotel.  Once ashore again, we still had a ways to walk.  We passed through Chinatown which I found rather similar to the rest of the city, with the exception of some Chinese lettering and a few lanterns.  From Chinatown, we took a taxi back to our hotel. 






TWO MORE DAYS UNTIL DEPARTURE FROM ASIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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