As Seen by TV

Well, what can I say…?  Amazing trip.

The food, the people, the culture… the beaches, the bars, the nightlife.  Thailand has it all.

For our final night in Bangkok (and in Thailand), we took a dinner cruise down the Chao Phrava Riber.  A great night to celebrate an amazing trip.

Afterwards we hit up the final night market to do some last minute shopping (at the notorious Patpong market which is nestled in between go-go bars).  It seems only fitting then that this was the last image taken on Thai soil:

Wat Phu Khao Thong.

This enormous chedi was built after King Naresuan’s victory over the Burmese.  The site only had this one large stupa, and only a small collection of very small temples, but for some reason was one of my favorite of the day.  It also reminded me, slightly, of the Mayan temples of the Mexican Yucatan.  Here too you can see the water levels from the recent flooding and can then only further imagine how much this structure has had to endure over the centuries…

More info on Ayutthaya.

Wat Thammikarat.

Couldn’t find too much information on this small site… so I guess I’ll just leave it at that!

Actually, I will just add that architectural aspects at this site relate to Khmer style, so archaeologist believe this temple to pre-date the founding of Ayutthaya, estimating construction to have occurred during in the 12th century.

More info on Ayutthaya.

Wat Maha That.

The “Temple of the Great Relics,” believed to be built during the 14th century forms the center of Ayutthaya, as well as the symbolic center of where the Buddha’s relics were enshrined.

The famous “Head of the Buddha” is located at this wat (Thai for ‘temple’), picture #8.  You might also recognize the scenery from a little film called “Kickboxer“, a 1989 Van Damme movie.  You can also see the centuries of flood damage that have taken their toll on the structures… actually quite amazing that after 700 years they are, for the most part, still standing.

More info on Wat Maha That.
More info on Ayutthaya.

Wat Yai Chai Mongkol (Wat Chao Phya-Thai).

Built by King U-Thong in 1357, it was first used by monks who returned from Ceylon after studying under Phra Vanarat Maha Thera. This group of monks was known as the Pa Kaeo Sect, and were engaged mainly in meditation.

Since this was the place where the patriarch lived, the monastery was named Wat Chao Phya-thai which means The Temple of the Supreme Patriarch.  Various royals and other dignataries sought advice here during the Ayutthaya period.

In 1592, during the reign of King Naresuan the Great, the Burmese led an army to try to subjugate Ayutthaya. King Naresuan resisted the invasion on elephant back, proving victorious he pushed back the Burmese leader to the district of Nong Sarai.  As history goes, King Naresuan’s army was not able to inflict greater damage on the Burmese because regiment reinforcements did not come in time.  The King vowed to execute the officers of those regiments at the conclusion of the war, but Patriarch Vanarat begged the King to pardon them and advised him to build chedis (also known as ‘chupas’ or ‘pagodas’) in memory of his great victory.  A large chedi was built for winning the war, and for the battle at Nong Sarai, which are the two large chedis you see in the photos.  Since then, this temple has been known as Wat Yai Chai Mongkol, named after the main chedi (Phra Chedi Chai Mongkol), meaning “Chedi of the Auspicious Victory“.
There, you learned something today.  

The grounds of this temple also houses a large reclining buddha, who was just getting tucked in…

More info on Wat Yai Chai Mongkol.
More info on Ayutthaya.

As mentioned in my previous post we visited Ayuttaya, the former capital of the Kingdom of Siam.  This city is literally littered with temples, one could spend days visiting them all.

We rented a tuk-tuk for the day (the blue one in the pics), and via a stack of postcards the driver carried along with him, we pointed to the ones we wanted to see… 5 in total.  We were lucky that it was a special day as all the entrance fees were waved and many of the Buddhas and shrines were beautifully dressed up for the occasion (I have split the 5 temples into 5 separate blog posts, this being the first).

Wat Phanan Choeng.

The only “living” wat we visited, by which I mean that it is still used daily by many Thais for worshiping.  It was a busy scene.  The highlight of this wat, was the 20m tall golden gilded Buddha…

More info on Wat Phanan Choeng.
More info on Ayutthaya.

The next day we made a trip out to Ayutthaya… the former capital of Siam, which was one of the wealthiest cities in the world during its prime centuries ago.  I took several hundred pictures that day, so will have to split them up, don’t know how just yet… but first, here are some pics showing the water levels from the flooding that had occurred in the months leading up to our trip.

Slightly hungover but very much content, we took a van from Pattaya to Bangkok… what a crazy [good] city.

We were staying with a friend out in Lam Luk Ka, and the first night (01/01/12) we went into the city’s chaotic center… visiting the enormous Chatuchak Weekend Market (largest market in Thailand; 5000+ stalls; 200,000 daily visitors; covers 35 acres).  Where we also ate dinner at some dodgy-looking street vendor-type restaurant (pictured with the tuk-tuk’s), which, naturally, was delicious.  We then hopped on to the brand new Bangkok metro, more precisely the  BTS Skytrain Sukhumvit Line from Mo Chit to Victory Monument (which is exactly where the van from Pattaya had dropped us off earlier in the day). 

Chatuchak market & Mo Chit station

Victory Monument

To be honest, I found Bangkok a little dirty… but being a true city kid, I could live there no problem.  I like real cities… gritty cities… cities that have a soul and a feeling that you can just sense.  BKK totally had this (Shanghai for example, doesn’t really have this).  However, with all the litter and muck around, I could not, and would not, like to see what it was like during the flooding (only weeks before our visit).  Let’s just say I’m happy they caught all the loose crocodiles.