The Reclining Buddha - Wat Pho - Bangkok - Thailand.

After leaving The Grand Palace - Bangkok behind we walked through a local market to see The Reclining Buddha that is in the same vicinity. A short ten minute stroll that took us longer as we browsed the stalls and I took photos.

                                                     We soon arrived at Wat Pho

The reclining Buddha is 15 m high and 43 m long with his right arm supporting the head of tight curls is supported on blue box pillows encrusted with glass mosaics. The 3 m high and 4.5 m long foot of the Buddha is inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The panels, around the Buddha display the auspicious symbols by which Buddha can be identified like flowers, dancers, white elephants, tigers and altar accessories. Over the statue is a seven tiered umbrella representing the authority of Thailand. There are 108 bronze bowls in the corridor indicating the 108 auspicious characters of Buddha, where people drop coins as it is believed to bring good fortune, as well as helping the monks maintain the temple.

It is worth taking time to look around the rest of the complex as although there is lots more to see. Unfortunately many tourists only take time to view the main attraction of the Reclining Buddha and therefore miss out on soaking up the rest of the atmosphere. 

I hope you have enjoyed your virtual visit today. I have included some further information and links in case you are planning your own trip, or just wish to learn a little more about Wat Pho and the Reclining Buddha.

Address: 2 Sanamchai Road, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok, 10200, Thailand

Phone:+66 2 226 0335




Hours:

 

Daily 8.00am - 5.00pm

The following website links may also be of interest.

Trip Advisor Reviews  Wat Pho - Wikipedia  Official Website for Wat Pho

All photos are my own taken in October 2011. 

  All rights reserved by LindyLouMac Photo Collection 

More photos from this trip may also be viewed individually in the collection entitled  

Asia Trip - October 2011 at  My Flickr account.

River Trip to The Grand Palace - Bangkok - Thailand

It was in January of this year that I last wrote a post Buddha Shops - Bangkok  about the trip David and I took to Thailand in 2011, but since then life went awry and of course I have not felt like posting about our travels together. I do know though from talking together during his convalescence in the Spring that he was very keen for me to get Travel Tales up to date as an on-line scrapbook of our adventures.  I now feel like doing this so here at last is the next instalment from Bangkok.

We were in Bangkok during October 2011 and were unfortunate enough to see and experience the flooding in the city at first hand. On the day we went to visit the Royal Palaces we took the Chao Phraya Express Boat which is used by commuters and tourists to avoid the inevitable traffic jams in the city. When we got off the ferry it was a shock to have to wade through the rising water and disturbing to see how the riverside dwellers were having to cope! So sad but in typical Thai fashion they all seemed to remain so cheerful.

What a stark contrast it was to walk across the road to the grounds of The Grand Palace which is an incredible complex of buildings.The palace has been the official residence of the Kings of Siam since 1782. I will let the photos tell the story of our visit. If you want to know about the history and details of the individual buildings I have included some links at the end of the post, also more of my photos can be viewed on My Flickr account.  As you can imagine I took far too many to share them all here. If you do get to visit this amazing place do remember that the dress code is very strict you must cover your arms and legs out of respect.

The architecture is stunningly beautiful and so intricate as hopefully you will see from these photos.

Leaving the palace behind we walked through a local market to see The Reclining Buddha that is in the same vicinity, but that visit can be the subject of my next post.

Address: Na Phra Lan Rd, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok, 10200, Thailand

Hours: Tuesday 8:30 am – 3:30 pm  -  See all

Phone: +66 2 623 5500

The following website links may also be of interest.

The Grand Palace   Trip Advisor Reviews - The Grand Palace

Temple of The Emerald Buddha   

All photos are my own taken in October 2011. 

  All rights reserved by LindyLouMac Photo Collection 

More photos from this trip may also be viewed individually in the collection entitled  

Asia Trip - October 2011 at  My Flickr account.

Buddha Shops - Bangkok - Thailand

Buddha Shops in Bangkok can be found on one of the oldest roads in the city, it used to be an elephant trail. Bamrung Muang Road or Buddha Street as it is commonly known was one of the first roads to be paved within the city at the beginning of the twentieth century. It is now the largest centre for the supply of Buddhas and other Buddhist religious requirements, such as robes and candles in the whole of Thailand. The Buddhas come in a large range of sizes as can be seen from the photos I took when we visited this area. The street was hive of activity as Buddhas are big business not just in the temples but in private homes also.

Getting there: There are no Skytrain stations in this district so you will need to take a tuk-tuk ot taxi to get there. I have included a description of the area and a map for guidance.


Bamrung Muang Road or Thanon Bamrung Muang is one of the main roads in Bangkok. It runs in a east west direction, beginning in the west at the intersection with Ratchini Road, across from Kalayana Maitri Road, and ends in the east, at the intersection of Krung Kasem Road, where it continues as Rama I Road. 

Here is a link to a map of the area on Google. Bamrung Muang Road


We visited some of the wonderful temples during our stay in Bangkok and I intend to share photos and information in future Travel Tales.  It may be awhile before I do though, please see my note in the side column.

Siam Paragon - Bangkok

                       

In my last post Siam Ocean World I stated that the aquarium was located within the Siam Paragon, which is a most amazing shopping centre, or shopping mall depending if you use the British term or the American one. Anyway I felt I could not write posts about our visit to Bangkok without at least once mentioning a shopping centre of which there are many, but the Siam Paragon happens to be the pride of Bangkok. One of the largest shopping centres in Asia with over 270 different shops, restaurants, cinema, aquarium, concert hall, bowling alley, karaoke centre, exhibition hall and the Thai Art Gallery, so with a lot more to offer than just shopping!

Although the centre is itself logical in layout and fairly easy to explore, it is very closely linked to the many other shopping centres that cover this area. I warn you Siam Paragon is just a part of a huge shopping area which you would never explore in just a day. Siam Paragon caters more for luxury items for well off Thai's and international visitors but it is definitely the place to buy something extra special!  However you can still find the more affordable brand names for the price concious customer and there is also within the complex,  Siam Paragon Department Store where my husband treated me to a charm for my Pandora bracelet. That was the extent of our luxury shopping but we did have a couple of meals in the Siam Paragon Food Hall. 

When we first arrived in Bangkok and had not yet found our way around it was we thought an easy option to have lunch there, covering at least half of the ground floor floor area it was vast!  First you purchase a card at a central desk that gives you credit for purchasing your food, a hygienic and sensible option as none of the food booths have to handle money. There was an incredible choice of the best of local and international cuisines available all in one place and it was delicious, no photos of what was just a snack lunch of noodles. On another occasion though we ate at Cafe du Tu in the restaurant area within the centre and I did remember to take some photos.

At the bottom of the page you will find the link to more shopping centre photos from Bangkok as I have just shared a small selection here.

Opened: December 9, 2005 Hours: Mon-Wed, Sun  10am–8pm Thu-Sat  10am–9pm Address: Rama I, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Location Map

Location:  The Siam Paragon Building is to be found in Siam Square

Bangkok 10330

Thailand.

Opening hours:09.00-21.00 (Last entry 20.00)

Transport: Buses 25, 501 and 508 or Train to Siam Station.

The following website links may also be of interest.  
 Siam Paragon - The Pride of Bangkok   Siam Paragon - Wikipedia  
 Bangkok.com   Google Reviews - Siam Paragon

All photos are my own taken in October 2011. 

  All rights reserved by LindyLouMac Photo Collection 

The full set of photos may also be viewed individually in my album entitled  

  Travel Tales - Shopping Centres in Bangkok  at  My Flickr account.