After visiting The Grand Palace, I walked back to the Tha Chang pier to take another boat (1st pic below) directly across the Chao Phraya River to Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn). Temples are called ‘Wat’ in Thailand. It’s directly across (2nd pic below) the river from The Grand Palace.
It has been the Royal Temple dedicated to the 2nd reign of the Chakkri Dynasty and admission was 50 baht (~ $1.50). It is Thailand’s most elegant pagoda and a landmark in Thailand; in fact, its image is engraved on all 10 baht coins. It’s Thailand’s most picturesque temple. It is a Buddhist temple named after Aruna, the Indian God of Dawn.
Its main feature is the central tower (around 250’ high) which is encrusted with thousands of pieces of multi-colored Chinese porcelain along with demons & animals. The temple dates back to the early 1800s.
There is a balcony high on the tower which you can walk all the way around and let me tell you the steps are very narrow and steep to get up there. It took me (and other people) a bit of courage to walk up and scarier to go down (hopefully this is conveyed in the pics below). In the last pic below, you can see the Grand Palace across the river which I had just come from and you can also see in the lower right corner of the pic another boat coming from across the river like the one I took.
After walking around the grounds a little bit, I took another express boat back up the river to another pier to go to a museum in the Dusit district of Bangkok...
oh my my my. could not do these stairs or the height. the guy leaning against the facade almost drove me nuts!!love the crushed porcelain and the figures and the approach from the water does not convey the beauty of this temple. holy cow it is beautiful. never knew what the word wat meant. i knew of angor wat which i mentioned earlier in a reply. i tell you with those characters in stone guarding the building- a thief would be nuts to try to chip off or rob something. just unreal. i know attempting these stairs i would get dizzy or claustrophobic and pitch forward into the hereafter. wait till duke sees the height..............
ReplyDeletevery, very steep but worth it. nice views though...
DeleteROGEE AGAIN. WOW. TIME THAT MY BODY WOULD PITCH FORWARD TO THE HEREAFTER. I CAN BARELY LOOK AT ALL THESE PHOTOS. I THINK THAT AN MRI IS BAD FOR CLAUSTROPHOBIA........FORGET IT..........HOWEVER SUCH BEAUTY. WONDER HOW MANY PEOPLE DIED. REMINDS ME OF MT. WASHINGTON AND HOW MANY PEOPLE THEY TOLD US FELL TO THEIR DEATHS.
ReplyDeleteWow! Lots of stairs and walking. You should be in good shape! It is so beautiful!
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