Bountiful Bangkok

The day began with a 7:30 pickup.  My hotel is the farthest from town, so I was picked up first, followed by two more stops, for a total of nine people, including me for our guided tour of the city.

The traffic was insane!  Lots of cars, very few traffic lights, and the ones we went through were so long.  It took about an hour and a half to get where we were going this morning, and about twenty minutes to get back to the hotel early afternoon when the traffic was much lighter.

Street market

Tuk Tuk - A rigged up motorcycle, used to ferry people.
There were lots of these in Cairo, too.

Another picture of street market.
They were present around every corner.

The Thai government is patterned after the British.  They have a king and queen, but they are figureheads only.  Like England, there is a Parliament that governs the land.  The king has been on the throne since 1946.  He is 85 years old and in poor health.  Below is a picture of his wife.

Pictures of the Queen lined the streets in celebration of her birthday August 12th.
Mother's Day is also recognized on this day.

Side note - Again, like the British, the steering wheel is on the right side of the cars.

Our first stop - a Buddhist Temple, Wat Pho.  My vocabulary isn't adequate to describe just how magnificent this place was.  Likewise, the pictures don't do it justice either, but I took a lot.

One of the many structures in the temple complex.

They contain statues.

Another extraordinary structure at the temple complex.

Whimsical statues at entryways

Ornate Entry Way

Windows and doors framed in gold and diamonds

Me in front of the Reclining Buddha

Reclining Buddha - 160 feet long
The head is way down on the left,
with the toes on the right.

Bottom of the feet of the Reclining Buddha

Mother-of-Pearl on bottom of Buddha's feet.
They are divided into 108 sections, each one depicting
a way that Buddha can be identified.

These are 108 bowls for collecting coins.
People drop coins because it is believed to bring luck
and it helps support the monks who maintain the Temple.

A monk tending to the shrubs at the Temple.
About 200 monks live here.

Ornate statues that look like very fancy pyramids.

Closeup of the above picture.

A waterfall in the middle of the complex.

Colorful fish at the bottom of the waterfall.

"Penis Rock" - My name for it.
Women who desire to get pregnant rub it for good luck.

Our next stop - Wat Traimit Temple, home of the Golden Buddha, the largest Buddha in the world.

Magnificent statue of Buddha at the Wat Traimit Temple.
You are required to take off your shoes before entering the temples,
and you have to kneel down or sit down to take pictures.
I sat with the bottom of my feet facing the statue.  That was a no-no.

Three-story Wat Traimit Temple

Closeup of Wat Traimit Temple - 2nd Level

This solid gold Buddha
is 9.8 ft tall and weights 5.4 tons.
It is the largest Buddha in the world.

And in the mist of all of this opulence, are the slums.

Slums very near business district

These slums reminded me a lot of Shanty Town in Cape Town, South Africa.

Bangkok, like many cities, is a city of contrasts.  The temples and monuments are extraordinary, and clearly, much effort is made to keep them that way.  On the other hand, there are many parts of the city in dire need of attention - the rough roadways, the old buildings, and the antiquated, and highly congested highway system.  It appears the infrastructure has been neglected for some time.  But as long as you stay near the temples, you see a very modern, better kept cityscape.  I saw a lot of the city because my hotel was located way out and we had to drive through a lot of it to reach the inner city where the temples were located.

The people are warm and kind.  Everyone is greeted by the locals clasping their hands like they're praying, followed by a bow.  When you tip or buy something, you are thanked with this gesture.  It is very warm and respectful, for lack of a better term.

Tomorrow is a very early pick up, so goodnight for now.