9 + 1 Temples Trip (Part 2)

Continue from the previous part....
After we left the pier, we were on a mission to find something to eat and fast!!  Off of Ta Chang, there were so so many food vendors and small restaurants.  It should be easy to get lunch, right? NO... There were just too many.  We just couldn't decide.  So, we ended up at the Royal Navy club สโมสรราชนาวี, basically because it had an air con (even with the unusual cool weather during that time, it was still hot during mid day).  The food was ok, not bad but not outstanding either.  At least, we could rest and it was clean.
After re-gained our strength, we resumed the second half of our journey.  We followed the wall of temple of the Emerald Buddha, and along the way, passed so many vendors selling used stuff and Buddha images. 

Our destination was not hard to find. Wat Pho วัดพระเชตุพนวิมลมังคลารามราชวรมหาวิหาร, วัดโพธิ์ was only an opposite of a street away.  This is the temple of King Rama I and it is also considered as the first university in Thailand because it houses a large selection of ancient text of various areas.  It was recognized by the UNESCO in the Memory of the World Programme.  Wat Pho also hold a record of having the most pagodas (approx 99 pagodas).
Actually, I took my foreign friends there several times.  It is such a huge place...could easily get lost in there.  The most popular site in Wat Pho is the Reclining Buddha.  The size of this Buddha statue never failed to awe me as well as it intricate workmanship.  It was kind of amusing to see people fighting (in a peaceful sense of course) their way to get into the right spot to take picture of the whole Buddha body.  I once did that but, now I just quickly walked away and let others enjoy the opportunity...well, I did have a quick snapshot.

Another thing that I enjoyed, was the fresco inside the temple.   It always made me feel so proud and wanna show it to others...the beauty, super details and dedication that needed for this kind of creation.  I'm honestly not an art person and I have to say that its quite difficult for me to describe it so, here is pictures I took.

Not much time to linger, we gotto head to next temple.  But first, we gotto get out of this temple.  It was like a holy maze.  It took us quite sometimes between admiring the art and looking for the EXIT sign.  Well, we did get out and wasted no time to wave and wave and wave for taxi.  They were so annoying!!  We are all Thai, why would they refuse to take us?  At last, we found a very kind taxi driver who, despite him constantly complaining about the traffic around our destination, took us in anyway.  He said that because our intention was to pray, he should not refuse us.  How nice!  Lucky us that, by the time we arrived, the traffic was much less congested.  It took us around 10 mins, maybe a little more. 

We arrived at the base of The Golden Mountain ภูเขาทอง.  Initially, when my friends told me that they wanted to pray at Wat Saket วัดสระเกศราชวรมหาวิหาร, I didn't connect it to The Golden Mountain.  I mean I knew that the Golden Mountain was a part of Wat Saket but, didn't think that we will be going UP.  Well, UP we did!!  It was good that the path wasn't difficult to walk and there were a few resting area along the way.  Still, I was sweating and panting by the time we got to the top.  On each resting area, there were bells for people to ring for good luck.  That was quite normal.  However, I found this sign at one of the resting area.  The top part was a pray, that was normal as well.  It was the writing in red that caught my eyes.  It basically said that "If you want to be beautiful, you must sweep the floor of the pagoda".  So we thought...hmm..next time we should come back with a broom... But wait a minute, how much sweeping do we need to do to become a model? hahahaha
A little history lesson about this temple... Wat Saket was built back in the Ayutthaya period (just the temple).  During the reign of King Rama III, it was restored and the King also commissioned the building of the Golden Mountain.  However, it wasn't completed during his reign.  King Rama IV then adjusted some of its design and ordered the Buddha relic to be placed up on the pagoda. The golden pagoda was completed during the time of King Rama V.
Apologize that I didn't take picture on the inside of pagoda.  So many people were praying at the relic that I didn't want to blocked the traffic and took pic.  I did took pictures of the view though.

The journey down was rather quick and we were heading to our next temple.  We already saw our next temple on the way to Wat Saket so, we basically retraced the route.  It's kind of hard to explain the direction so, here is a map with our last four temples.  Just want to show off a bit...from here on, we didn't take any transportation at all..just walked and walked.  We are so proud of ourselves.

I think it was around 3:30pm or 4pm when we reached Wat Suthat วัดสุทัศนเทพวราราม.  The walk was almost unbearable but, because of the short distance, it wasn't worth it to take taxi.   
This is the first temple in our trip that was originally built in the Chakri Dynasty.  The building was commissioned by King Rama I.  However, it was completed under the reign of King Rama III.  The ubosot was impressive.

The inside was even more spectacular with Beautiful fresco.  I was just sitting there, gaping at the sight all around me.  How could our ancestor create all this?  It was like they just printed the picture out (if they had the technology) and stuck it to the wall.  It was such a perfection and dedication.  Even the ceiling!!  How can I describe??  Well, see for yourself.

Another thing that struck me was the silence.  There weren't as many people or tourists as some other temples but, there was a constant traffic of people came, prayed and left.  However, it was so peaceful, a few people were meditating.  I think this is really how a temple atmosphere should be.
I would love to sat there for a bit longer but, we had a mission to complete.  So, we left.  While we were waiting for green light to cross the street n front of the temple, I had a little moment to look at another landmark, the Giant Swing or Sao Chingcha เสาชิงช้า.  The purpose of Sao Chingcha was for a Brahman - Hindu ceremony to celebrate and welcome Phra Siva.  However, the swinging ceremony was discontinue during the time of King Rama VII.  Heard that it was stopped because people were getting hurt or even died falling of the swing.  All we have now is some old pictures of the ceremony. BTW, this is not the original swing, it was repaired and replace a few times.  The height of the current swing is 21.5 meters.  How did people swing on that thing anyway?
Once it was our turn to cross the street, we walked along Dinso road ถนนดินสอ, to side of City Hall.  But before, heading to the next temple, we decided to stop for an afternoon tea, local style.  

How could we not stop at Mon Nomsod มนต์นมสด, right?  Along the way, we were talking about what made Mon Nomsod so good and so irresistible.  After all, it was just toasted bread with simple toppings (butter, sugar, condensed milk, Thai custard, jam etc).  Anybody could make it, right?  We could even make it at home.  But, when we think of Mon Nomsod, it almost like a comfort food, something that need to be shared with friends.  The toast at Mon Nomsod does not taste as good if you just eat it on your own.  Another thing that we think associate with its great taste is the crowd...lots of people often mean good food, don't you think?  We had to squeezed ourselves between groups of people to have our seats.  We ordered probably the simplest combination, butter with condensed milk and sugar, accompanied by cold milk drinks.  It was yummy.  
After some rest, we gave up our seats and move on.  The way to our next temple was quite easy.  We just had to walk straight, passed Democracy Monument then, turned left on Phra Sumen road ถนนพระสุเมรุ.  Walked a bit further and we found Wat Bawonniwet วัดบวรนิเวศวิหาร.  But before we stepped into Wat Bawonniwet area, we found two beautiful buildings.  I presumed that these were the residents of the abbots.  I really like the architecture of buildings during the era.  It was so elegant.

Passed these two buildings, we found the side entrance to Wat Bawonniwet.  This temple was built during the reign of King Rama III.  Its architecture was the combination of Thai and Chinese style.  His Majesty King Rama VIII was ordained and resided at this temple.  So, it was an honored to actually be there.

Here was another place that kept me gaping.  Actually even before entering the ubosot...just look at the detailed decoration of the window.  The ubosot was so grand and richly decorated.  Like Wat Suthat, the inside atmosphere was very calm and peaceful.  I just felt happy that I decided to come on this trip.  

Well, we have done it, 9 temples!  We accomplished our goal...At first, we only hoped that we could get to half of the list.  So, where did we go next, home? No no no.  We still had one more to go.  There was another temple that my friend wanted to go and it was not too far.  So, there we went.
From Wat Bawonniwet, we only needed to walked a little further and a few more turns to get to Wat Chana SongKhram วัดชนะสงคราม (what a great name! The direct translation is 'Conquer a war').  Only the name could lift someones spirit and empower them...I think.

Wat Chana Songkhram was built during Ayutthaya period.  This wasn't its original name.  The temple was renamed during the time of King Rama I and you bet, it had to do with us winning wars against Myanmar.  
OK, we were totally and completely done with 10 temples.  

There was this banner at almost every temple we went.
Sorry I didn't take picture of English banner.

Even better, we found out that we almost completed the visit of 9 royal temples. We only missed one which was the Wat Phra Khao or Temple of the Emerald Buddha.  Well, we have done well.  
After satisfied and fulfilled spiritual needs, it was time to fulfilled our bodies' needs (or our stomachs to be exact).  And for this, we headed to Yaowarat (Chinatown), in search of something yummy.  To be honest, we weren't that hungry because we just had our afternoon tea like 2 hours ago but, we couldn't say that the mission was completed without a tasty dinner to wrap all up.  
We were looking for a taxi and damn! why did we have to have a run in with evil taxi?  The first taxi asked for 200 Baht!!  These taxi gave us a bad reputation and they should be arrested!  Just ruined our mood.  Eventually, we found a decent taxi to take us to Chinatown.
Our first stop was a small restaurant, just off Yaowarat street.  This restaurant offers fried mussels and oysters (ร้านหอยทอดนายหมง).  Because we weren't so sure if it was the right restaurant and our stomachs were really demanding food, we only ordered 1 plate of soft fried oysters.  I don't know if it was just my imagination but, I thought I could feel the owner (maybe he is he son) eyeing us with annoyance.  Couldn't blame him though.  Well, it was great, kind of greasy but, still great.  The oysters were cooked till tough and the aroma of egg was so good.

Then, we moved on to the center of Yaowarat.  At first, I kind of wanted to try new place but, couldn't decide and ended up at one of my favorite, Kuay Jub Uan ก๋วยจั๊บ อ้วนโภชนา.  There are quite a few kuay jub places on Yaowarat street but, this one located right in front of an old movie theatre so, it's quite easy to spot.  I'm not sure if I should call it a restaurant or a street vendor.  Yes, they basically cooked noodle on the pedestrian and most tables were on the street but, it was big.  Bigger than some restaurants around that area.  I really like the soup.  It was kind of light and tasty.  Warning: people who are sensitive to spiciness should be caution.  Sometimes, I wandered if they accidentally drop a whole bottle of pepper into the soup an found that it tasted good???  Cuz, it sure felt like sipping pepper soup.  In a way, it's kind of refreshing.  Another unique thing is the fried dough ปาท่องโก๋, just didn't think that it would match with kuay jub but, it so did....so good.
We took a taxi back to where we started, our office and there our journey ended...for now.

9 + 1 Temples Trip (Part 1)

This trip first started when my friends wanted to go to nine temples to pray which is a custom for Thai people to do for blessing and to rid themselves of bad luck.  Some people who know me might wondered why I decided to tag along on this day trip even though I am not Buddhist.  Well, I just wanted to spend a day hanging out with friends, seeing new sights and exploring the city together.  I like the architecture and design of historical places and think that, though I'm not going there to pray, as long as I respect the place and people there, it is alright to wander around.  So, with all this, I transform myself into a tourist in my own city (most people didn't think I'm Thai anyway).  My friend got a rough plan on where she wanted to go and how we were going to get there...(there is no way we could take the car and went around 9 temples in a day because 1) we would surely be lost 2) of the traffic)

Our journey started at our office (our usual place) on Silom road.  From there, we took taxi to our first destination; Wat Yannawa วัดยานนาวา which is located on Charoenkrung road, within a walking distance from BTS Taksin bridge station.  It took us less than 10 mins to get there (because it was a weekend morning).  Originally, this temple was built in Ayutthaya period and was named Wat Kork Kwai วัดคอกควาย.  Actually, I passed this temple so many times and saw its rooftop from the outside but, I have never know how it is inside.

Truly a tourists, when we got off the taxi, we didn't even know where is the main ubosot. It took us a bit of time to realize that we had to walk further in.  

This ubosot was rebuilt in His Majesty the King Rama I period.  The ubosot is quite small compared to the area of the place (at least, that's what I felt).  With its white building and wooden golden roof, it has an elegant feel to it.  (was a bit annoyed with the two apt building at the back though)

The interior of ubosot was simply decorated unlike other royal temple.  

The door to the ubosot really caught our eyes with very detailed golden image.

Once my friends finished their pray, we came out to pay respect to King Rama III.  During the period of King Rama III, His Majesty had commissioned the building of a stupa but in a form of a bark for the new generation to see.Right opposite the statue, there was a small booth where we were to get incense.  Once again, we were at lost...how many incense sticks do we need anyway??  Would that be 3 because we were paying respect to King Rama III?  Well, the answer came when a staff appeared (he looks to be a grandpa age).  He said each of us need 9 sticks.  I still don't understand the significant of the number of incense sticks, why 3, 7, 9...?

First temple down and we were making a good time.  We left Wat Yannawa and walked to Chao Phraya express boat pier which is right under Taksin bridge, barely a 5 mins walk away.  There, we waited for a boat to take us to our second stop; Wat Ratchasingkhorn วัดราชสิงขร.  
To get there, we needed to take express boat and get off at stop S3 on Orange flag boat (http://www.chaophrayaexpressboat.com/en/home/).  The problem was that we were not sure which float we were supposed to wait on.  Once we thought our boat was coming, so we started walking toward water edge but the staff (or at least we thought she was) stopped us in our track and told us to wait for another boat in English!  Ok, some of us might have a mainland China look but, we did answer in Thai.  Still, she talked to us in English.  That was just weired.  Well, not long after that, our boat came and so we got on board.  My first experience with Chao Phraya Express...wuhuuu!!!  The fee for this boat ride was 14 Baht and we paid it on board (just like in bus).  It wasn't bad and it sure got us to our destination without traffic jam.  
There were so many boats at our stop.  When we disembarked from our ride, we had to walked through at least 3 boats.  The worst scenario kept going through my mind...what if I fell between the boats!!  Paranoid, I know.  Anyway, I tried to walk normally and pretended that I had not problem what so ever. 

Wat Ratchasingkhorn วัดราชสิงขร was built in Ayutthaya period.  This temple was not very grand and there was nothing much to see.  We mistakenly walked into a cremation area because the cremation parlor was quite richly decorated.  We scrambled out of the area as soon as we realized.  To find the main ubosot, we had to walked a little further.  At a glance, the area looked more like a school area but then, we spotted the ubosot.  It was dwarfed by other buildings.  The outside was decorated very plainly.  I didn't go inside this ubosot..don't know why.







Then, we retraced our steps back to the pier and take Chao Phraya Express (Orange flag) to the next destination but, we couldn't get there in one go.  So, we got off at Ta Tien (ท่าเตียน) and luckily were able to transfer to a ferry boat right away.  The crossing cost us 3 Baht each (how cheap!).  The boat took us to The Temple of Dawn, Wat Arun วัดอรุณราชวรารามราชวรมหาวิหาร.  I just love this temple.  It is such an icon, a landmark.  When I looked out from the ferry and see the view, the river, the temple's silhouette against the sky...it was just awesome.  For me it is only second to Temple of the Emerald Buddha,Wat Phra Khao. 

Wat Arun was originally built in Ayutthaya period and it was named Wat Ma Kork วัดมะกอก.  Then, under the reign of King Taksin, it was changed to Wat Jang วัดแจ้ง.  It was named Wat Arun by King Rama I who ordered it to be restored.  The landmark stupas were commissioned to build by King Rama II but, was completed during the resign of King Rama III.
The first thing to notice when we disembarked, was number of people...a lot!  Walking passed its parking area confirmed that we had made the right decision to not taking the car...it was like a madness.  Again, I didn't enter the ubosot (not because I was afraid of lighting strike).  I just love looking at the stupa.  It was covered with colorful Chinese porcelains.  It just made us wondered, how they came up with this design. 
After walking around the stupas and admiring the art, we were looking for ways to head to another two temples which are very closed by.  Then, we heard the announcement that there is a boat service that could take us to the other two temples with only 30 Baht.  Actually, nobody could miss this announcement because it repeated itself over and over again, almost to the point where delight turned to annoyance. 

The boat first took us to Wat Kalayanamitre วัดกัลยาณมิตรวรมหาวิหาร. I must admit that I was a little disappointed when we were walking into the temple.  From the picture, this temple looks clean and elegant.  The reality was that there are so man street vendors selling food (both for human and fish).  There were so many beggars (some look so normal and some were handicap) lining up on both side of walkway as if we were on red carpet.   Even worse was what they said and the way they were begging us to give them some change...It just made people feel that if they did not spare any changes to beggars, they would become a sinner.  I know that I might sound harsh and they might not have other choices but, I really don't think this is the way to do it.  They were playing with people guilt.

Wat Kalayanamitre's past was different because it was built by a high ranking government official who donated his land for this purpose.  After completed, he presented to King Rama III who gave the name Kalayanamitre. 
Entering the temple area, we were faced with a wall of smoke from incense.  This temple demonstrates how Thai and Chinese culture merge together so well...Chinese Gods in front of the entrance of the main ubosot. 

My highlight when visiting this temple was actually the other ubosot which located on the left side of main ubosot (if facing the ubosot).  Though, it was not big but, I found the art, the decoration to be very interesting.  The first thing that caught my eyes was the black rim windows...I have never seen it before.  I like it though.

The fresco inside the ubosot was amazing.  It depicted the image of Ratanakosin island in very detail.  It was too bad that there hasn't been any effort (at least I didn't see any) to preserve the fresco.

Then, we hopped on a boat using our combo ticket to get to Wat Rakung  วัดระฆังโฆสิตารามวรมหาวิหาร.  There we found just as many people and even more pigeon and fish...could really feel that this place is a sanctuary.  

As its name, ระฆัง or bells, that was the sound we heard once stepped into the temple area.  There are bells on the roof of the ubosot, bells bit and small decorate the area and a tent full of bells next to the ubosot where people can ring them for good luck.

Wat Rakung also was built in the Ayutthaya era.  During the reign of King Rama I, while under repair, the workers found an old bell which was later moved to the temple of the Emerald Buddha.  In its place, King Rama I commissioned the making of 5 bells to replace the one that was found hence, the name Wat Rakung.

By that time, it was past noon already!! We were starving..actually we were hungry since Wat Arun but, we pushed on with determination.  Sounds good, right?  The truth was we didn't know the area around the temple and therefore, had no idea where to eat.  
Even with increasing hunger, one of our friend, with her kind hearted, wanted to feed the fish.  OMG, the number of fish that surfaced to receive food was kind of reminded me of horror movie.

Anyway, with sense of accomplishment (5 temples within half day!!!...thought that we would only complete 5 in one day), we took another ferry (another 3 Baht) and cross to Ta Chang pier.  This pier took us right next to the temple of the Emerald Buddha where we........got something to eat.

[To be continue...]