Temples and Buddhas Galore

Post date: 17-Dec-2009 12:00:40

Since Colin was feeling rather watted out (a wat is a temple), I decided to go on a solo morning tour morning to see 3 more Bangkok temples (since I can never get in enough temples and churches in any give country). Our first stop was Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) across from the Tha Tien pier on the opposite side of the Chao Phraya river. This temple was built by the 2nd king. The flowers that cover the temple are made from ceramic that was brought over from China. There are numerous Chinese statues on the grounds too because they were brought over with the ceramic to weigh down the boat. Many intricate flowers line the walls of the temple.

On the back of my ticket for this temple, it said that one of the rules for visiting the temple was:

"Don't dangle any doll." I have no idea what this means. I am guessing since you can walk up large steep stairs to the top of the temple (which I bravely did despite my fear of heights) it might be referring to dangling items over the railing.

The second temple we visited was Wat Pho which is the oldest temple in Bangkok. This temple was built by the 1st king. The huge attraction at this temple is the Big Reclining Buddha. This tops it for the biggest reclining buddha I have seen. He is 49 ft high and 151 ft long. There are also108 auspicious charcateristics of buddha on his feet in mother of pearl. Within these temple grounds is the first massage school in Thailand. I could not image massaging the buddha's gigantic feet.

The third temple we visited Wat Benjamabophit (marble

temple) was built of white marble from Italy. The name of the temple means the 5th King because this temple was built by the 5th king. When you enter the temple to see the buddha, be sure to observe the buddha wall paper too. There is also a buddha museum here too where you can view many buddhas in various attitudes (positions). Some of the buddhas have really long ears and long ears = a long life.