Last Saturday I had a free day in Bangkok. I booked a half day tour that took in some of the main sights in the old city. The tour visited the Temple of the Golden Buddha, or Wat Traimit, and Wat Pho, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, then explored the grounds that once housed the royal Siamese court.
Located at the end of Chinatown's Yaowarat Road, near Hualampong Railway Station, Wat Traimit houses the world's largest massive gold seated Buddha measuring nearly five metres in height and weighing five and a half tons. In the past, artisans crafted the Buddhas in gold and disguised them from invading armies by a covering of stucco and plaster.
The Buddha at Wat Traimit was discovered by accident when it was accidentally dropped as it was being moved, revealing, under a casing of plaster, a beautiful solid gold Sukhothai style Buddha. Pieces of the plaster are still kept on display.
Our next stop was the former Royal Palace. Built in 1782 - and for 150 years the home of the Thai King, the Royal court and the administrative seat of government - the Grand Palace of Bangkok is a grand old dame indeed, that continues to have visitors in awe with its beautiful architecture and intricate detail, all of which is a proud salute to the creativity and craftsmanship of Thai people. Within its walls were also the Thai war ministry, state departments, and even the mint. Today, the complex remains the spiritual heart of the Thai Kingdom.
Within the palace complex are several impressive buildings including Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha), which contains the small, very famous and greatly revered Emerald Buddha that dates back to the 14th century. The robes on the Buddha are changed with the seasons by HM The King of Thailand, and forms an important ritual in the Buddhist calendar. Thai Kings stopped living in the palace around the turn of the twentieth century, but the palace complex is still used to mark all kinds of other ceremonial and auspicious happenings.
Our last stop was a temple known as Wat Pho - the temple of the reclining Buddha. It's one of the largest temple complexes in the city and famed for its giant reclining Buddha that measures 46 metres long and is covered in gold leaf. Wat Pho serves as home to the massive 46-meter long reclining Buddha image, the size of which must be experienced in person as it is simply breathtaking. The amazing feeling of taking in the sight of the enormous golden figure of the ‘enlightened one’ cannot be explained with words, and even more rarely captured in photos due to its massive size.
The temple grounds were beautiful and the tranquil setting almost manage to convince me that it was not a million degrees and humid as heck outside. :-)
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