Wat Pho and Loy Kratong - It's All Greek, er, Thai To Me!
So, today's post starts out on a sour note. Bleh. I seem to have somehow lost my camera case which had my 2gb memory card in it. I have no idea how it happened and I guess it could be worse - I could have lost the camera! I'm really bummed, but at least I'm safe and happy other than that.
Yesterday I got up early again and took the Sky Train to the Central Pier and picked up the River Ferry. Talk about interesting transportation. The city is so huge and the riverfront area is different than the rest of the city I've saw before that. Anyway, it was a short ride to the Wat Pho stop.
Wat Pho is
famous for the World's Largest Buddah. He's shown in a reclining position as that's how the Buddhist believe you enter heaven... laying down. So the temple and grounds were unbelievable, but you can't actually "see" the Buddah as a foreigner. Only Thais are allowed in. While I'm disappointed, I think it's also kind of nice that
they keep it special for only practicing Thai Buddhists.
Here's a shot from the river at one of the many temples... this one shows one of the smaller boats you can privately charter. Dad was mentioning these - they have a motor up over the boat and just a stick with a propeller that goes into the water... I dunno if you can see it very well, but I tried. It was so bumpy!
Later that night I joined my new friends for dinner and had them pose for you! We had a buffet dinner at a restaurant and then walked down the street to the riverfront for the Loy Kratong Festival. It's where the locals pay tribute to the water Gods and also make good wishes for themselves and others. They do this by buying or making Kratongs which are covered with banana leaves, orchids and other flowers, incense, and one candle... they light the incense and candle and set them afloat in the river and then have a grand fireworks celebration on the water! We bought some along the way and this is what they looked like.
With the dinner we got to ride on a private boat with just the group of friends. It was so much fun and I wish I could have taken a picture of it, but with the bumpiness, the points of light and everything being too far away for a flash it was impossible. Maybe there are pictures online - I posted one in the earliest posts, I believe.
Lastly, I wanted to make mention of how to post comments, because I so love reading them! Just click on the "0 comments" at the bottom of the post and it will prompt you to make a username and password... then you can post!
I'm headed to Koh Sumai today at 5pm. It's an island in Southern Thailand that's supposed to be amazing. To go with budget limitations I'm taking a bus, for, gulp, yes, 17 hours. I'll be there at 10:30am tomorrow. Oh, well. Money saved, I guess - as I have to go find a new memory card before I leave. I'm so bummed about that! :(
12:20pm, Internet Cafe, Bangkok
Yesterday I got up early again and took the Sky Train to the Central Pier and picked up the River Ferry. Talk about interesting transportation. The city is so huge and the riverfront area is different than the rest of the city I've saw before that. Anyway, it was a short ride to the Wat Pho stop.
Wat Pho is
famous for the World's Largest Buddah. He's shown in a reclining position as that's how the Buddhist believe you enter heaven... laying down. So the temple and grounds were unbelievable, but you can't actually "see" the Buddah as a foreigner. Only Thais are allowed in. While I'm disappointed, I think it's also kind of nice thatthey keep it special for only practicing Thai Buddhists.
Here's a shot from the river at one of the many temples... this one shows one of the smaller boats you can privately charter. Dad was mentioning these - they have a motor up over the boat and just a stick with a propeller that goes into the water... I dunno if you can see it very well, but I tried. It was so bumpy!
Later that night I joined my new friends for dinner and had them pose for you! We had a buffet dinner at a restaurant and then walked down the street to the riverfront for the Loy Kratong Festival. It's where the locals pay tribute to the water Gods and also make good wishes for themselves and others. They do this by buying or making Kratongs which are covered with banana leaves, orchids and other flowers, incense, and one candle... they light the incense and candle and set them afloat in the river and then have a grand fireworks celebration on the water! We bought some along the way and this is what they looked like.
With the dinner we got to ride on a private boat with just the group of friends. It was so much fun and I wish I could have taken a picture of it, but with the bumpiness, the points of light and everything being too far away for a flash it was impossible. Maybe there are pictures online - I posted one in the earliest posts, I believe.Lastly, I wanted to make mention of how to post comments, because I so love reading them! Just click on the "0 comments" at the bottom of the post and it will prompt you to make a username and password... then you can post!
I'm headed to Koh Sumai today at 5pm. It's an island in Southern Thailand that's supposed to be amazing. To go with budget limitations I'm taking a bus, for, gulp, yes, 17 hours. I'll be there at 10:30am tomorrow. Oh, well. Money saved, I guess - as I have to go find a new memory card before I leave. I'm so bummed about that! :(
12:20pm, Internet Cafe, Bangkok
posted by Janice at 12:05 AM
2 Comments:
Stephanie -
I KNEW you would find out about it and let everyone know! You're the smartest little cookie. I just stopped in for a quick e-mail read and I'll put up another post tomorrow when I have more time, but I'm in Koh Sumai tonight and it's so very hot! I'm already sunburned after a half a day...
Love, Janice
This is addictingly interesting. I'm really enjoying it! And can't wait to start planning my own trip...
If you don't mind me asking, how much money did you save to bring with you when you left and how long were you gone for?
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