Wat Pho Temple home of reclining Buddha

After breakfast of Muesli, yoghurt and fruit with Emma, Cory and Elaine moved to their new hotel, and we headed off to tour Bangkok. It was really quite interesting how we kept getting stopped on the street with people giving us friendly advice. The most interesting thing was they kept telling us everything was closed because it was a Buddhist holiday. We wanted to go to the Wat Pho Temple and see the reclining Buddha. Even though we were told it was closed we walked off in that direction, and guess what, it was open. We later discovered that we had entered from the back gate. We kept running into people with guides, and thought a guide would be an excellent idea. We made our way to the front gate and found James. James is a very friendly, personable and knowledgeable guide. Within the first few minutes we realized it was going to be worth the money. James was able to tell us all about the history of the temple. There are hundreds of temples in Thailand.

James taught us so many things about Buddhism and the different statues and poses of the Buddhas. It was all so enlightening.

Years ago, there was a Thai Massage school at the temple, and we saw the diagrams that had been drawn years ago. A clever business oriented relative of a monk decided there was big business in Thai Massage, so the school is no longer housed in the Temple but outside of it. In 10 days one can take a course and become certified in Thai massage.

All the buildings have wooden tiles, and last year the decision was made to change the colour scheme as a special tribute to the King’s 80th birthday. It was still a work in progress and we could see piles of new tiles waiting to be installed. What was quite nice to hear, is that they reused the tiles on other temples that could not afford new ones.

We also saw the area where memorial services are held. It depends on how much money a family has as to how long the deceased person is kept lying in state prior to cremation. Every night the monks hold a ceremony and prayer session. The king’s wife and sister were honoured for close to a year.

All the pillars or stuphas (we say pagodas) around the temple are actually used as tombs to house the cremated remains. There are 4 large pillars and they are in honour of the last 4 kings. There are a total of 95 pillars at Wat Pho and the hold cremation urns for the families who “own” the pillars. The 4 large pillars hold the remains of the last 4 kings and their families.

At the end you can purchase for 20 Baht a small container of coins and deposit them in dishes. It is a donation to the temple, and Cory and Elaine had seen this done on the Amazing race. Having only been in Thailand for less than 48 hours, Elaine was not yet too familiar with the money, and thought the blue bill she pulled from Cory’s wallet was a 20 baht note. It wasn’t. So when we mentioned this to James he explained how we would experience good karma because of the goodness of our hearts at our kind donation. Cory was only slightly disappointed. He wished he had had an opportunity to check out this bill before Elaine had donated it. I am sure they will have another one of these bills in their hands before leaving Thailand.

After leaving the reclining Buddha temple, James told them about a fortune-teller and astrologer that he knew was quite good. It seemed to fit into everything that they had learned that day. Elaine decided to go for it.

She gave the man her birthday. From this and looking at her palms he proceeded to explain his findings. For the most part he was spot on. Apparently Elaine is a good communicator and is an excellent speaker. She loves to travel, and October and November of this year would be the best time to start her second part time job. Life when she was 40 was quite a bit of a challenge, lately however life was stress free and her health is perfect, and she should live to a ripe old age. Cory is a lucky man because he has a wife who loves him so much, even if he sometimes has to deal with her quick temper. Her brain is always thinking and she needs to spend more time in action instead of thinking and planning. And somehow from some line on her palm she should own two houses. Now think what you will on this part – Elaine is a good mum and even though she sometimes wonders, her children love her very much. Hmmmm. It was shortly after this that he asked Emma, if Cory and Elaine were her parents. Keep in mind they mentioned she was 30. This means that when Cory and Elaine met in high school, he in his graduation year and Elaine just starting high school, they started their family. Now Cory realizes his hair is getting quite thin and Elaine is getting more grey hairs, but do they really look old enough for a 30-year-old child. Plus he wasn’t the first one to ask the question that day.

Cory was going to have his read as well, but due to Elaine’s generous donation to the temple, they didn’t quite have enough money on them.

While we were in the room, it started raining outside. We knew that we were going to be in Thailand during the rainy season, but with no indication when we headed out in the morning none of us were prepared. Oh well, it was only going to be a short run to cover, and off everybody headed. Instantly everybody was wet, and those already undercover were provided with great entertainment watching these three crazy Caucasians running in the rain. The umbrella sellers were having a great day.

We decided to get a Tuk Tuk back to our hotel. Cory went out and negotiated a price. We jumped in and sat down on the wet seats, so our wet look was pretty much complete. Cory and Elaine were on the outside and Emma was in the middle. Cory and Elaine each stuck an umbrella out the side of the tuk tuk. It is said that laughter is good medicine, so the three should be healthy for quite a while, because there was much laughter on the ride back in the direction of the hotel. The Tuk Tuk driver was not really a happy camper and dropped us off a short walk from our hotel. Watching these three I was glad that I was tucked safely away because truth be told I didn’t really want to be seen with them. First off they were laughing as they were walking through the ankle deep water, and then started singing - singing in the rain. Oh well at least it was warm.

We went up to our room, lent Emma some clothes to change into, Cory and Elaine changed, and then off to dinner. By the time dinner was over, the rain had stopped, and the streets still showed they had been wet, but there was no more water on the roads.

Cory and Elaine walked Emma back to her hotel, and on the way passed a Thai festival. They stopped to watch for a little while, not understanding a single word. But the message was communicated through facial expression, vocal tone, and actions. It was something to see the colourful Thai costumes.

Plans were made to meet up tomorrow morning, for more sightseeing. Cory and Elaine walked back to their hotel, and I got caught up on my entries. Unfortunately there is no wireless here, so not sure when I will get the chance to post them. I know I am behind on my photos too. I hope to get everything caught up very soon. Must go to bed now. Good night.

Sep 25, 2009

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