We started with a friendly local stopping to give us directions while we had the map out and he negotiated a supercheap tuktuk driver for the entire afternoon.....
Here are images from the first temple we visited--I have to say I can't remember the names of all these places now and I feel bad, but this first place also had a very nice local chat us up for awhile and give us advice on where to visit and welcome us to Thailand.
***********************This second place had a bunch of different buildings with beautiful edges and rooftops. It's hard to capture in photos--each one is absolutely amazing, glittering, intricate, detailed. I have even more photos than I posted here, but they get a bit monotonous.
A particularly intricate gold-leaf detailed doorway framed in mirrored mosaic.
There was a nice little river and bridges here:
An interesting large set of drums--I got the napping local in the photo for scale. I wish I could have heard them being played!
And a cool series of lion statues guarding the entrance:
This particular place included some interpretive signs, and they were all brought to you by......Pepsi. Not really what I expected for a Buddhist temple, but these locations cannot be cheap to renovate and maintain in the tropical climate and dirty air of Bangkok! They all look brand-new.
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The third temple people kept referring to as the "Big" or "tall" buddha--40 meters (~125 feet) tall is pretty tall!
Here is a closer image of his toes--you can buy pieces of gold leaf and stick them on as offerings. Also the ubiquitous lotus flower offerings, among other items....
This temple also included a large crematorium with lots of vials of people's ashes, but I felt a bit odd taking photos of them.And the gateway entrance to the tall/big buddha:
*************************The fourth temple was my favorite--the famous "reclining" buddha resides here. It is so HUGE and serene--you can really feel the calming energy radiating from it.
Here's an image of his head:
And one with us in it for scale:
And here are his feet: toeprints are inlaid with mother of pearl
He's so big and the room is somewhat confined, so you can't really fit him all into one frame. This next image is a closeup of the bottom of his feet--an incredible amount of detail, all inlaid with mother of pearl in wood/stone. They're like 6-7 feet tall!
Additionally at the reclining buddha temple, there are 250 other status of Buddhas in various poses--here's just a few with our tour guide:
And another shot of the 250 various buddha statues:
There are also a LONG series of offering bowls and a set of coins for you to put into each one. As you put one coin into each, you're supposed to pray for your future. This image was when I was about halfway through the bowl of coins.This was the day I got the disappointing news that I won't be returning to the US for work next year, so I prayed for a prosperous future.....
Among the many buildings and rooms, this one contained images on the walls for thai massage directions (acupressure points, etc.) I got a Thai massage the day after this and it was absolutely amazing. Very unlike the table-and-oil massages I've received in the past (swedish style?), these little Thai women were walking on me, pounding me, poking various acupressure points, bending myself around them and other various difficult-to-describe maneuvers.
Here's a particularly nice fountain and interesting statues outside:
And my favorite Buddha of the day: the Naga (snakes) Buddha. This was also in the same temple as the reclining Buddha, just a separate building. The Naga, or seven snakes, protect and are the vehicle for the various incarnations of Vishnu, of which Buddha is the 9th form.
And finally, me with our tuk tuk driver at the end of the day. The friendly local who started our day negotiated a ridiculously cheap rate for us tourists that I never would have been able to bargain for. 40 Baht, or $1.30 and this guy drove us to four temples and waited for us at each one. He also took us to a fabric store and a jewelry market because he gets gas coupons in exchange for bringing tourists (a very common racket they run in Bangkok) but I wanted to buy fabric anyway and I LOVE silver jewelry, so it worked out well. We gave him 55 Baht at the end for being patient and showing us around (still less than $2.)
Even though the weather was unbearably hot and humid, visiting the Buddhist temples instilled a feeling of calm and peace over me that I really enjoyed.
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