thailand: the temples of bangkok and tom yum soup
the predominant religion in thailand is buddhism. also, it would be understating matters to say that there are many temples in thailand. in fact there are 40,717 documented temples in the country. i may have touched on this before, but if you are ever in thailand and wandering the streets the temples are a good place to find a place to sit, a bit of garden and a bathroom. and some insane architecture.
we will start off our tour of bangkoks temples with wat phra chetuphon vimolmangklararm rajwaramahaviharn. good thing you dont have to memorise the name, right? it is more commonly known as 'wat pho'.
wat pho is actually quite a huge complex with lots of different buildings and areas. there is even a primary school on the premises. it was built even before bangkok existed, and only after ayuttaya was sacked did the king move his capital here in 1782. he then built his palace next door to wat pho.
this temple houses the largest collection of buddhas in thailand. there are endless rows like this picture shows all over the place. altogether there are more than a thousand buddha images in the temple.
in 1832, king rama III started extensive renovations on the temple. interestingly, he also made it an educational center by decorating the walls with diagrams and inscriptions on various subjects.
this is one of four stupas grouped together. the first one was in green and housed the remnants of a buddha at ayutthaya which was burnt to remove the gold. it was built by rama I. then rama III built a white one for the remains of his father, and a yellow one for himself. and finally rama IV built one in blue.
interestingly, this temple is also a recognised university of pharmacy, medical practice, midwifery and....thai massage. who knew you could get a degree in massage?
the final bit we went to see was the 'reclining buddha.' this statue is massive: 15m high and 46m long. it seems too big too fit in the building in which it is housed. how did it even get in the door?
we ended the day with a quick trip across the river on the ferry to another famous temple,wat arun ratchawararam ratchawaramahawihan, thankfully also known as wat arun.
this is a fearsome looking statue guarding the entrance to wat arun. one of the smaller temples off to one side of wat arun is the first picture in this post.
as always when we have to leave a place our hearts are sad - we loved thailand with its super friendly and polite people. we made new friends among the thais, as well as seeing dear old friends again. we explored the endlessly entertaining streets (and canals) of bangkok. and the food!
the papaya salad, som tam, made from unripe papaya, shrimp, lime, fish sauce and chili so hot that tears would be flowing after the first few bites. it sounds strange but tastes divine. and the soups of thailand! my favorite was tom yum: sour, sweet and spice, flavours that you would ordinarily never put together in the same meal all come together like an orchestra coming to the climactic peak of the music score. and all for usually around 1$.
