Betty's Travel Blog

Friday, May 7, 2010

ayutthaiya, bangkok

the ruins at wat chaiwatthanaram

remaining decorations

the steps leading up to the top

one of the buddhas in the corners of the walls

the ceilings at the wall corners

along the walls

remaining decorations

a broader view

the ruins of the ancient palace

view of the ancient palace

the giant golden buddha at wat phra si samphet

wat maha that

remaining decoration

part of the ruins

view of wat ratchaburana from wat maha that

a mostly intact buddha statue

the sandstone head of a buddha statue that has been overtaken by a bodhi tree, leaving only the head visible

the ruins

lulu and leah in front of the ruins

a golden buddha statue at wat yai chaya mongkol

the large stupa and the white buddhas behind it in the garden

the rows of buddhas around the walls

the large stupa

one of the smaller buildings housing a drum and bell

a reclining buddha covered in a gold cloth

there's a kneeling person for some perspective

an elephant at the theater where we saw the great show

me with a small stone elephant at the theater

at the ferry landing, people were throwing stale bread into he river for the fish. they were swarming in huge schools to fight over the food.

lulu and mary with the celebrants for the anniversary of the king's coronation

the marble temple, wat benchamabopitr

some of the ceilings at the marble temple

one of the many buddhas

the rows of buddhas lining the walls around the marble temple

the marble temple

a golden buddha statue at wat arun

wat arun

a view from the top of the stupa at wat arun

a shot of the side of the stupa

one of the smaller towers

one of the smaller outlying buldings at wat arun

the crowd at the palace, with the king's limo behind everone just left of center

wat arun, from the river
<----i climbed to this level, and were those stairs steep. we're talking 40 degree angle or steeper.

i can't remember what building this is, but you can see it from the river

a chinese temple on the river in bangkok

a tall pagoda

a pretty building

a view of the city from the river

me, mary, lulu, and leah at dinner in bangkok

in our continuing adventures in thailand, lulu and i had dinner our first night in bangkok with her cambodian friend aki. we had a few drinks and then went back to the hostel. lulu's friend mary finally showed up late that night. the next morning, my doxycycline was making me feel awful, so lulu and mary went off on a fabulous adventure to the royal palace and the reclining buddha while i stayed and took a nap. we got a new room mate that day, a girl named leah. the four of us all went to dinner that night, and met up with aki and his tour group for some drinks.
the next day, the four of us took a ferry up toward the royal palace. lulu and mary took a boat across the river to wat arun, while leah and i tried to go to the royal palace to see the emerald buddha. however, it was the anniversary of the king's coronation day, so the palace was closed. but, we had arrived just in time to see the king arrive. there was only a small crowd, but their excitement was amazing. you could tell that they were so happy to see him. i managed to get a fairly bad photo of his limo over the crowd, but at least i got to see him. afterwards, leah and i met lulu and mary over at wat arun, we walked around then took the little boat back over the river and had lunch near the palace. after lunch, we went to the museum, but it was also closed. so we took a taxi over to wat benchamabopitr, the marble temple. the whole thing is built of large blocks of marble, and it's gorgeous.
after that, we walked over to the nearest ferry terminal, which took us past great crowds of people getting ready for the coronation day festivities. unknowingly, lulu and mary had worn pink shirts that day, which is what everyone else was wearing to celebrate, so they got lots of attention as we walked around. people were smiling at them and the soldiers and police kept trying to tell them how nice it was that they were celebrating with everyone. it was great.
after we got back, we cleaned up and then caught a show a theater. it was a huge production showing the history of siam. it was amazing and had dancing, beautiful costumes, real elephants, and amazing sets.
the next day, we got up early to take a train to ayutthaya, the ancient capital. we found a guest house, and then took a three hour tour but tuktuk around to the ancient palace, wat yai chaya mongkol, wat maha that, and wat chaiwatthanaram. the ruins were all amazing.
we walked around the market, then had dinner before leah left to go back to bangkok. then the three of us went back to our room and took showers and looked over our pictures before going to bed.
today, i'm at the guest house while lulu and mary are on a bike ride. i:m too wobbly to begin with, and in this traffic, i'm afraid of being run over. they'll be back later, and we'll go have lunch and go see some more stuff before we take the overnight bus to chiang mai tonight at 8 pm.

as a side note, though there are protests going on in bangkok, they were in isolated areas, and easy to avoid. there is a huge police presence in the city, and at no point (even when we unknowingly ended up near a protest rally) did i ever feel unsafe. everything was very nice, and i can't wait to get back at the end of our trip.

Monday, May 3, 2010

bangkok, thailand

when last you left our adventures, we had just arrived in luala lumpur. but i hadn't told you about out last day in singapore.
we visited the national museum, which cost us S$10, and they had lockers where we could keep our bags at no charge. the history museum inside had listening guids, and was a phenomenal experience. it took us about 2 hours to get through the whole thing. the rest of the museum was set into small sections, fashion, entertainment, food, and photography.
next was the peranakan museum, to learn about the peranakan, which are (i think,) malay mixed with various other peoples who had come to singapore in the distant past. they had a wonderful exhibit on the ramayana.
we saw st. andrew's cathedral, and then went to the train station. while we were waiting for the train to malaysia, a very nice, older, slightly weird man started talking to me, letting me know that we should all take care of the planet by picking up after ourselves and others, and that allah watches over me, even though i don't pray to him.
after arriving in kuala lumpur, we got checked into our guest house which was great, and we did laundry as soon as possible. now, when i say laundry, i do not mean we put it in a washing machine and dryer. i mean we took it into the bathroom and hand washed it in the shower after we cleaned up ourselves, wrung it out, and then hung it up to dry on the three lines we made to go across what little room we had available to string it up. thankfully, my husband pakced me a good length of 550 cord, so we could have 3 lines, instead of two. (thank you honey, the cord did come in handy.) we had almost no spare room, so we had beds on one side, and clothes right up next to them. it looked like a chinese laundry. it kinda rocked.
we spent most of that day doing nothing. but later in the evening, we went to the petronas towers that the city is famous for. most of the next day was spent gettingback to the main train station on fantastically delayed trains.　 we finally got to the station, and waited for several hours for our own train. we finally boarded, and went on our way to hat yai, thailand. customs was easy and we had several more hours in hat yai before the train up to bangkok. both the trains were overnight trains, and at least we had sleeper cars.
when we finally got to bangkok, we found our hostel, and took the necessarily long shower. we have laundry facilites here (something lulu and i are very excited about), and there's a rooftop garden and a covered porch. the view is wonderful. and now, my dear friends, i'm off to dinner. i'll write more later.