This is Wat Pho and the Grand Palace of Thailand.
The day started a bit more local, a bit more calm and sedate. we're over on Silom Road...which sounds rural and serene but it is crowded big city street but is still a bit serene. At breakfast in the hotel lounge I had a window seat to the little street outside and it occurred to me that lots of folks were turning left outside (by the way, the turn signal is an unused portion of cars and motor cycles. The traffic "flows" and the is this whole "Zen" thing going out about "feeling the flow" of traffic. I suppose one could say it is just organized chaos, but people turn and blend into traffic with a surprising amount of give and take. The traffic in India is much the same way...no turn signals used, but the horn is used more than the brakes. Very few horns in Thailand. But I digress...)
Anyway, the next street over was a three block long market. You could buy pens and paper and plastic to store food in the fridge and lunch and veggies and boxers and shoes and about anything. This is not on the tourist map and the locals use it. Motor scooters and delivery men and school kids in their uniforms on their way to school. Mercedes drive by and Ford Pick-ups. A prosperous, local slice of life. I sit and drink my coffee.
But a couple of the two great destinations await us today, so does 97 degree heat and hordes of tourists. Most converge on the sites via their air conditioned tour buses which disgorge tour groups of similar nationalities. We had no tour and took the Metro Train to the Chao Praya River and boarded the death defying river taxi where I stood next to a sleeping Buddhist nun who somehow sensed when her river-stop was at hand. She awakened and calmly walked to the dock and departed. SHE had this whole Zen-thing down solid.
Wat Pho is the home of the famous Reclining Buddha which is so named because it is a Buddha which is reclining. Not sure how long the Parks and Rec people had to debate that designation but it was true. The grounds of the Wat are pretty spectacular but the Reclining Buddha is the Rock Star of this Wat and of the city.
Take off your shoes. Put them in a bag. Carry them like a backpack and enter the main hall. You get to walk a 360 around the Buddha and its interesting to note that the Buddha has toe prints. The toes are about the size of half an adult. I suppose it is frowned up to touch the toes of the Buddha but you can take photos and pose the Buddha behind you like you would with the Eiffel Tower behind you. To end the 360 of the Buddha you give them 20 Baht and they give you a whole bunch of smaller Baht and you put one into about 40 different bowls for good luck. We did so and our wish came true for outside we realized that our entry ticket entitled us to a cold bottled water which we could enjoy in the heat.
But the Grand Palace awaited us down the road. The tour buses loaded up and cranked up the A/C and drove over there. We walked with the backpackers and threaded our way through the sellers and hawkers. Buddhist Monks with eye monocles inspecting amulets...no idea what that was all about.
The Grand Palace is....Grand. I would call it the Over-The-Top Palace. It is spectacular. It was built in the late 1700's and the guide book says..."for various reasons the new king considered the former capital to be unsuitable and decided to establish a new capital on the other side of the river." Somewhere in that statement are some coded words which probably meant that the King wanted his own monument and so there was an outlay of enormous capital on the part of the Treasury. They spared no expense and got what they paid for. It was to be the King's residence; site of the administrative offices and some temples for the use of the King were located there also.
The star of this complex, Buddhist-wise is the renowned Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Remove shoes, kneel, enter with hundreds of others, take no photos, where appropriate clothing. It is all pretty moving and the vast majority of Buddhists and non-Buddhists show it the proper respect. I noted that many sat with feet towards the Buddha, which is forbidden. But Buddha had a quality which seemed to accept such things. The Emerald Buddha is enshrined on a golden traditional Thai-style throne made of gilded-carved wood, known as a Busabok. But the tourist info given to you readily admits that the Emerald Buddha is in fact carved from a block of green jade.
They do not even know exactly how and where it came from but was discovered in the early 1400's in another region of the country, covered with plaster. It was thought to be an ordinary Buddha image. But later, the abbot noticed that the plaster nose flacked off revealing the jade beneath. It was thought to be emerald but later, people-in-the-know informed them that they did not have an Emerald Buddha but a Jade Buddha. Too late. The word was out that it was Emerald and "Emerald" it would remain. And once again, the tourist brochure put it this way..." and thus the legend of the Emerald Buddha image began."
Details can get in the way. They did so often at the holy sites in Europe too. (or...the home of the Virgin Mary which is located on a mountain top in Turkey? Pesky details. Just take it for what it is is.) What is important is that this is a holy site, people revere it and respect must be shown. It is impressive. Worth the trip.
For all the grandeur of the Grand Palace, an equal show of humanity takes place daily outside the gates of the Palace where the buyers and sellers ply their trade. Tons of tourists and faithful and tons of sellers of every holy and touristy item to be had. But, we had had a wonderful day. The heat, the crowds and the presence of such national treasures had left us content but ready to face the streets for the long nearly-rush-hour trip back to our hotel.
We stopped at the first tuk-tuk driver in line. "Silom City Hotel," we said, and were told 400 baht. We countered with with 100. They laughed, we laughed. We walked away. Another tuk-tuk driver was watching this act which we were all playing. He motioned to us, we told him 100 baht. He countered with 200 baht. It was 97 degrees in front of the palace, the German Tour bus beside us had 100 German tourists who were sitting in their A/C bus and most were sipping cool drinks and watching our show. Suddenly 200 felt like a bargain. The driver said, "Let's go!"
And we did.
Peace, Bob
Whoa, THAT is a BIG Buddha!! I wonder who polishes it?
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