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Bangkok Photo Gallery - 1. Bangkok

In July 2005, we traveled to Hong Kong, Tibet, Kathmandu, Bangkok and Singapore.

Bangkok 01 01 View From Airplane Bangkok, known to the Thais as

Bangkok 01 01 View From Airplane

Bangkok 01 02 Buddy Lodge Room We checked in to the Buddy Lodge on Bangkok’s busy backpackers' Khao San Road. The hotel was perfectly situated with its own restaurant and roof-top pool, and had a McDonald’s, travel agent, and a tattoo parlour onsite. Here is our very comfortable and affordable room.

Bangkok 01 02 Buddy Lodge Room

Bangkok 01 03 Buddy Lodge Swimming Pool Peter does his best levitation above the roof-top swimming pool at the Bangkok’s Buddy Lodge.

Bangkok 01 03 Buddy Lodge Swimming Pool

Bangkok 01 04 Buddy Lodge Playing Pool Bangkok’s Buddy Lodge has its own restaurant where we had our buffet breakfast. Afterward, Peter and I played pool.

Bangkok 01 04 Buddy Lodge Playing Pool

Bangkok 01 05 Khao San Road At Night We had delicious Thai food for dinner in the street-side restaurants on Bangkok’s busy backpackers' Khao San Road. Ahh, Starbucks.

Bangkok 01 05 Khao San Road At Night

Bangkok 02 01 Luang Pho To Buddha Statue We met a nice man on the way to the Grand Palace, who told us it was closed this morning. Although I had read of this scam, I was feeling great and compassionate and wanted to see how it played out. He mentioned that he could get us a private tuk-tuk tour to show us around some of the Bangkok sights for only a hundred Baht. We took him up on his offer. As long as you are willing to say no to the shopping portion of the tour, it’s great fun indeed. Our first stop was at Luang Pho To, a gigantic 32m x 11m statue of Buddha, built starting in 1867, and covered in 24k golden mosaics. The topknot of the Buddha image supposedly contains a relic of Lord Buddha brought from Sri Lanka.

Bangkok 02 01 Luang Pho To Buddha Statue

Bangkok 02 02 Wat Benchamabophit Marble Wat Long View Wat Benchamabophit, called the Marble Wat because of the white Carrara marble of which it's constructed, is an early-20C temple designed by Prince Narai, the half brother of Rama V. It's the most modern and one of the most beautiful of Bangkok's royal wats. Unlike the older complexes, there's no truly monumental wihaan or chedi dominating the grounds. Many smaller buildings reflect a melding of European materials and designs with traditional Thai religious architecture. Even the courtyards are paved with polished white marble.

Bangkok 02 02 Wat Benchamabophit Marble Wat Long View

Bangkok 02 03 Wat Benchamabophit Marble Wat Student Photo A monk led a tour of young students around the Wat Benchamabophit complex. They then posed for their group photo. Cute.

Bangkok 02 03 Wat Benchamabophit Marble Wat Student Photo

Bangkok 02 04 Wat Benchamabophit Marble Wat Posing at Entrance We decided to get into the same mood, with a team photo. We paused for a few minutes to enjoy the beautiful white marble of the Wat Benchamabophit, with a pair of white marble singhas (mythical lions) framing the stairs.

Bangkok 02 04 Wat Benchamabophit Marble Wat Posing at Entrance

Bangkok 02 05 Wat Benchamabophit Marble Wat Phra Buddha Shinaraja The Buddha image at Wat Benchamabophit is called Phra Buddha Shinaraja, and was copied from an original in 1920 from 2.5 tons of bronze and painted with black lacquer and gilded. Under the Buddha are the ashes of King Rama V.

Bangkok 02 05 Wat Benchamabophit Marble Wat Phra Buddha Shinaraja

Bangkok 02 06 Wat Benchamabophit Marble Wat Posing In The Window It was extremely hot inside the Wat, with a slight breeze coming in through the window.

Bangkok 02 06 Wat Benchamabophit Marble Wat Posing In The Window

Bangkok 02 07 Lucky Buddha The tuk-tuk driver has to make some extra money somehow. Our next stop was one of those. We visited the so-called Lucky Buddha, supposedly only open one day a year, and this was our lucky day. This is really just an average temple. The caretaker was very friendly and had supposedly had visited Canada a few times. If we were looking for some of the famous Thai jewelry, he recommended a certain shop. We went there, and yes, we bought something. We were quite satisfied. He then took us to a suit shop, but we simply said no, and we were off again to finish our tour at Wat Saket. We paid the tuk-tuk driver his 100 Baht and gave him a tip of another 100 Baht. The tour was a lot of fun.

Bangkok 02 07 Lucky Buddha

Bangkok 02 08 Wat Saket Golden Mount Chedi Wat Saket (The Golden Mount) is an artificial 100m hill, topped by a golden chedi. Rama V built the golden chedi to house a relic of Buddha, which sits atop the chedi. It was found at the ancient town of Kapilavastu in 1898, and presented to the King by the then British Raj government of India. The inscription was believed to be dated back to the pre-Asokan period.

Bangkok 02 08 Wat Saket Golden Mount Chedi

Bangkok 02 09 Wat Saket Golden Mount View Of Bangkok The city of Bangkok spreads out below Wat Saket, The Golden Mount.

Bangkok 02 09 Wat Saket Golden Mount View Of Bangkok

Bangkok 02 10 Wat Arun Temple of Dawn The 79m high Wat Arun is a Khmer-inspired tower, the centerpiece of the

Bangkok 02 10 Wat Arun Temple of Dawn

Bangkok 02 11 Bangkok View From Chao Phraya River Here is a view of Bangkok from the Chao Phraya River with the city skyscrapers dotting the river edge.

Bangkok 02 11 Bangkok View From Chao Phraya River

Bangkok 03 01 Wat Po Temple of the Reclining Buddha Also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, Wat Po was built by Rama I in the 16C and is the oldest and largest Buddhist temple in Bangkok. The enormous Reclining Buddha is 46m long and 15m high, with each foot 3m high and 5m long. The statue is brick, covered with layers of plaster, and gold leaf. The most striking part of the statue is its soles, which are decorated with 108 auspicious patterns inlaid with mother-of-pearl.

Bangkok 03 01 Wat Po Temple of the Reclining Buddha

Bangkok 03 02 Wat Po Temple of the Reclining Buddha Head The Reclining Buddha represents Sakyamuni Buddha (the historical Buddha) at his death. It is said that the Buddha knew death was approaching, and asked his disciples to prepare a couch for him in a grove. He lay there, reclining on his right side, facing west, with his head supported by his hand, as he passed into nirvana. The image of the reclining Buddha is not supposed to evoke sadness, but rather encouragement that all beings have the potential to become enlightened and attain release from the sufferings which characterize the cycle of rebirth. The reclining Buddha's serene, composed, and restful demeanor (he is actually slightly smiling) is a reminder of the serenity that comes with enlightenment.

Bangkok 03 02 Wat Po Temple of the Reclining Buddha Head

Bangkok 03 03 Wat Po Temple of the Reclining Buddha Peter Pete and I doubled back and bought 108 small 1-satang coins and dropped them in the 108 bronze bowls. This corresponds to the 108 auspicious characteristics of the Buddha -- for good fortune and to help the monks keep up the wat.

Bangkok 03 03 Wat Po Temple of the Reclining Buddha Peter

Bangkok 03 04 Wat Po Chedi Next to the Reclining Buddha wiharn is an enclosure holding the four largest of the temple's 95 chedis, each 42m high. All of the chedi at Wat Po are square, rather than the round bell shape generally preferred at the time. They are decorated with ceramic tiles and three dimensional ceramic pieces which form intricate floral patterns. The centre of the three chedi in a line is the oldest, having been built by Rama I to hold the Phra Si Sanphet Buddha image bought from Ayuthaya. Later, Rama III built the chedi north of this to hold the ashes of Rama II, and the one to the south to hold his own remains. The fourth chedi was built by Rama IV for unknown purposes.

Bangkok 03 04 Wat Po Chedi

Bangkok 03 05 Wat Traimit Golden Buddha Dating from the 13th century in Ayutthaya, Wat Traimit contains the largest solid gold Buddha in the world, weighing in at 4800kg and measuring 4.8m by 3.8m. To camouflage it from Burmese invaders, it was given a thick plaster coating and was consequently

Bangkok 03 05 Wat Traimit Golden Buddha

Bangkok 04 01 Wat Phra Kaeo Golden Phra Siratana Chedi, the Mondop, and the Royal Pantheon The Grand Palace was established in 1782, when King Rama I moved the capital from Thonburi to Bangkok. It is surrounded by four walls, 1900m in length. The Wat Phra Kaeo, or Temple Of The Emerald Buddha, was built inside The Grand Palace walls in 1785 by Rama I as a royal chapel. There are three monuments just as you enter Wat Phra Kaeo, a reliquary in the shape of a golden chedi, the Mondop, modeled on Ankor Wat a repository for Buddhist sacred scriptures inscribe on palm, and the Royal Pantheon in which statues of past kings of the Chakri dynasty are enshrined.

Bangkok 04 01 Wat Phra Kaeo Golden Phra Siratana Chedi, the Mondop, and the Royal Pantheon

Bangkok 04 02 Wat Phra Kaeo Golden Phra Siratana Chedi Just after entering the Wat Phra Kaeo we saw the golden Phra Siratana Chedi, a 19th-century Sri Lankan-style stupa supposedly housing ashes of the Buddha.

Bangkok 04 02 Wat Phra Kaeo Golden Phra Siratana Chedi

Bangkok 04 03 Wat Phra Kaeo Golden Phra Siratana Chedi Demon Here is the detail of one of the demons supporting the golden chedi at Bangkok’s Wat Phra Kaeo.

Bangkok 04 03 Wat Phra Kaeo Golden Phra Siratana Chedi Demon

Bangkok 04 04 Wat Phra Kaeo Temple of the Emerald Buddha Outside Wat Phra Kaeo contains the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the royal chapel and probably the shrine most revered by the Thai people.

Bangkok 04 04 Wat Phra Kaeo Temple of the Emerald Buddha Outside

Bangkok 04 05 Wat Phra Kaeo Temple of the Emerald Buddha Peter With Garudas Peter poses with two garudas outside the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

Bangkok 04 05 Wat Phra Kaeo Temple of the Emerald Buddha Peter With Garudas

Bangkok 04 06 Wat Phra Kaeo Temple of the Emerald Photo of Emerald Buddha The Emerald Buddha is a rather small 0.6m (2 ft.), dark statue, carved from a block of green jade. It is enshrined on a golden traditional Thai-style throne made of gilded-carved wood. It was first discovered in 1434, and was covered with plaster. The abbot who found it noticed the nose had flaked off, and then discovered the jade underneath.

Bangkok 04 06 Wat Phra Kaeo Temple of the Emerald Photo of Emerald Buddha


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