Wat's the difference?

Well, I am now feeling a bit better, having been trapped in my room for 2 days sweating, shivering, and ejecting fluids....

The lovely ladies in the hotel have looked after me this morning... I got live yoghurt on my fruit this morning, as it would be good for me after being ill, and free water yesterday when they saw the state of me.

So..... my temple tour. After such an auspicious start to the day with my lovely happy dream what better than a nice walk around the temples of Chiang Mai.

First stop, Chiang Man, the oldest temple in town. It had a delightfully wonky altar (whichI was unable to photograph due to the lack of light) and some peaceful dusty gold buddhas, (though the entrance was adorned with huge picture of the Queen of Thailand as it's her birthday on the 12th, which rather spoilt it's olde worlde charm).

Next on to another temple in which are housed a couple of famous Buddhas, the Marble Buddha, Phra Sila, which is about 2500 years old, and the Crystal Buddha, Phra Senagamen, which is about 1800 years old.

Lovely building, built in 1300 BC or thereabouts... couldn't find the aforementioned Buddhas, perhaps they weren't very big, however this didn't matter.

Inside the building was even more beautiful - fabulous bright and detailed murals, and giant gold leafed pillars and alter.

Then you turn a corner and are confronted with the rather amazing sacred "Elephant encircled stupa" which is built on the site of the former royal residences here... then the king built this huge stupa (or "cheda") which is said to enshrine a sacred (non-specific) hair relic of the Buddha.

My route then took me past the Anusawan Sam Kasat, bronze statues of three Lanna Kings.

I am

probably being a little disrespectful when I say that their poses are ever so slightly camp....I can just imagine the one on the right saying "well sweedie, the outfit's ok, but the colour clash is smply dreadful darling..... I just don't know how we're supposed to work under these conditions".

Often locals leave offerings for them, as you can see. The building behind is the Chiang Mai city Museum and the Arts & Cultural centre.

This is King Mangrai's shrine - he was the King who founded Chiang Mai, who was killed by lightening around 1311 right in the middle of the city. This shrine is actually the new one; the old one apparently wasn't suitably located for the public to pay homage to so a new one was built.

Next was a real treat, the Wat Phan

Tao.

So far, you've probably looked at all the many temples I've exhaustively photographed and, whilst stifling many a yawn, thought "Wat's the difference? ".... I myself have been thinking the same thing but this one really was.

This is a rather more plain temple, old and built of Teak approached through a lovely square terracotta archway and there was a lot of monk action going on inside, judging by the sea of orange swathed bodies, so it was really nice to find a proper 'working' temple.

On closer inspection, this was clearly "Monk School", as the temple was filled with lots of monk boys, (all aged about 12 or so) being talked at monotonously through a microphone by an old monk at the front.

There was also a lot of whispering and messing about and not paying attention as you can see... which was quite funny - just like normal school-boys. I don't know why I had expected different behaviour just because they were school boy monks!

Then on to Wat Chedi Luang.

WOW! This place had just been dazzlingy restored; just the entrance was pretty amazing, with it's big gold dragons, and bright white and gold paint, but inside was just amazing.

Not only was there not a speck of dust anywhere so everything shone and gleamed, and every tiny bit of paintwork was perfect, it was also just, to me, proportionately perfect.

Seated at the alter were, among the many Buddhas were also statues of from what I can glean from asking around (but I may be wrong as most monks aren't that chatty), deeply venerated old monks from many years ago.

Once I'd managed to tear myself away from this spectacular building I realised that it was simply at the foremost building of a square of stunning architecture which surrounded another huge stupa, this one made of brick rather than stone. This would be the chedi mentioned in the name of the temple then! Duh.

Though it has been partially destroyed by I am not sure what, but it almost looked like it had been bombed, and much of it's original splendour was gone, along with most of it's surrounding elephants, it was still a building you could stare at for ages. It was a shame one couldn't get inside to explore as it looked so fascinating, however probably horribly dangerous too.

So I sat in the tranquility of the square for a while, looking at the beauty of the buildings and listening to the birds and the temple bells tinkling, and the obligatory hammer tapping from some kind of building work going on somewhere.

Realised I was dizzy just sitting down, and stopped for lunch (they offered a drinks menu which included "Dire Coke"

Then to the last temple on the list via this little one (Wat Cha Phra Kiat) which,if you look closely has lovely murals of ladies floating in clouds either side of the door, but you couldn't go in.

The last temple on the list is Ta Phra Singh. I had a great sit down chat with a friendly monk.

He'd been a monk for 18 years, obviously loved his job, and was happy to sit with me and discuss meditation, as much as the language barrier would allow.

Now, don't get me wrong, as previously mentioned I am not very good at meditation, however this doesn't mean I don't want to be. In fact I do think it would be extremely beneficial to be able to clear the mess from my mind and have clarity of thought.

He suggested visiting a temple outside the old city where they have regular "monk chat" so you can talk about all aspects of Buddhism with them, and even more interestingly they also do meditation retreats.

You have to turn up at the temple, wearing all white clothes and are taken by bus from the temple and spend 2 or 3 days getting up at 4am, spending it in silence when not chanting, and you meditate in set sessions all day. Sounds quite difficult, but I bet you'd be on your way to learning how to do it by then. Am wondering whether to throw myself in at the deep end and just do it. I'd need to buy myself some white trousers though. Perhaps I will also wait until I am completely healthy too.

Now, if you look closely at this pic of the inside of this temple with the big gold Buddha in the middle, you will see, to the right of him, on the other side of the pillar, an old monk sitting cross legged on a pedestal. I spent ages staring at him as he sat there, in deep meditation, unblinking. I felt it would be rude to take a photo of him in case it disturbed him.

Asked the chatty monk how long the old guy generally sits there for.....he said forever! It was a wax work! but the most real one i had ever seen! (much more real than Ho Chi Minh!!) Apparently he was a chief monk from centuries ago and most people think he is real, what with the saggy arm skin and blemishes. I think it's rather charming that all his bodily imperfections were also so lovingly recreated.

Wandered down to the night market later for dinner, met a nice chap called Billy and had a couple of beers with him and his friends he'd just met whilst trekking in the mountains around here, before I started to feel a bit ill and headed off back to my hotel.

I did see a lot of temples yesterday...

and some lovely monks, but i went out for dinner, ate something dodgy and have been being sick out of every orifice simultaneously for the last 12 hours.

Feel very weak and achy, it hurts to sit up, and can only just keep water down for a few minutes, so no blog til i feel better. Skankles no better either.

sweet dreams

Woke up this morning having, after weeks of weird/bad ones, had a wonderful dream that I had been staying at my old Halls of residence, (but in a big room and you had to come in via the hall which was also the loo) but anyway, after a strange part about the rest of my flat being removed as a practcal joke, and me nearly falling into oblivion, the flat was put back and it was even nicer. And it was suddenly in a huge park.

But the best bit was that then I saw all my friends, recent and old, and everyone looked like they did when we were 20.

Everyone was really happy and joyful, and pleased to see each other, and we all danced and ran around greeting each other. The sun was shining, there was ice cream, a brass band was playing and marching and there was a gleaming steam train that ran through the park where we were...oh! it was lovely!

And when i woke up I had emails and facebook messages from my family and from some of my closest friends. How utterly lovely, and what a brilliant beginning to the day.

Thanks everyone xx

oooh! I feel all spoilt!

My room is lovely! Huge, fan, telly, clean bathroom, bedside lamps so you don't have to turnthe light off at the door then stagger across the room..I feel so spoilt! I got in, fell in love wth it, and crashed out for 3 hours!!

Going out to explore the town now.

Skank and *Skankles*

As mentioned before, after washing those dirty elephants in the equally dirty river, I came out in a horrible rash of loads of little blistery things all over my legs and feet, which necessitated spending loads of money to see a doctor, for him to tell me what I had originally told the chemist that I needed antihistamine and some hydro-cortisone cream.

Anyway now most of the blisters have burst, I am left with really scabby skanky looking legs and ankles, or skankles as they shall henceforth be known.

(Actually having just arrived in Chiang Mai after a 12 hour overnight train journey, on second class sleeper, there frankly isn't an inch of me that isn't a bit skanky!)

Freakishly I bumped into Josh yesterday having not seen him since our day of drinking and not expecting to see him again as he was going home. I just went onto the pub he took me to, to use their lovely clean toilets, (lying and telling the bar staff i was meeting a friend), when Josh walked in. He was getting a flight to England, leaving at the same time as i was to get my train to Chang mai. Perfect. So we had a few jugs of beer, which led to us both leaving a little late. Just about staggered to the train.

Now, Josh was staying in a right shit hole of a guest house, called "The Place" (tagline: "The place you feel at home") not far from Koah San. I saw it briefly, it was utterly revolting. All shared bathrooms - no loos seats, smelt terrible, no windows in the rooms, absolutely the worst possible place you could ever want to be here, other than prison. I said as much to Josh, and he said he was only paying 300b per night, and it had cable TV so he didn't care. I swear it was the kind of conditions only boys under 25 can bear to live in.

ANYWAY, Josh was using the very same toilet in this horrible hostel, that I had, in great necessity used when we'd met up before (I hovered) . However, this time, as Josh was sitting in ahem...contemplation, the floor groaned, and suddenly the toilet plummeted through the ceiling into the room below.

Josh grabbed the wall, just in time to stop himself also falling arse first onto the now screaming Japanese woman below onto whose bed the aforementioned toilet (and contents) had already dropped.

The hotel owner only gave Josh 100b off his nightly bill, and had done nothing to move or fix the loo, two days later. No idea what happened to the poor Japanese girl.

So there's where NOT to stay in Bangkok.

Whereas I had a lovely hotel, the "at Home" guest house (no telly, but scrupulously clean with lovely bathroom, shower, hot water, comfy clean beds all for 350b a night) and my room had a window with a sort of view (you could see more than the average 2m into someone else's house), and it ws right next door to my favourite cafe, Ethos, which has the free wifi.

Apologies, the reason for all this waffle is that I am sitting in a restaurant, also with free wifi, waiting for my room to become available, as i arrived at about 8.30 and the room's not ready til 10.

Just had cheese on toast.. first meal without noodles or rice in for ages, which was lovely (only with plastic slice cheese though, not nice cheddar or Gorgonzola or anything)

I do miss proper cheese. They don't really do cheese out here. Or Tea (not proper tea). And Wine....there's no decent wine and if there is it's way too expensive. There is Chang (elephant) beer, which i am getting quite a taste for, but a 6.4% you only need two cans and I'm away with the fairies. Tsk! Just not match-fit any more!

Oh! my room is ready!

hurrah!!

Bored of Bangkok

Very very humid yesterday. No sun just lots of wet heat.

Really wanted a lie-in after a punishing few days of heavy schedule coupled with PMT and aforementioned stiff thighs however I have yet to find a hotel anywhere that isn’t under some sort of renovation or construction work. Everything here is. Which of course means that some sort of banging drilling or loud shouting begins somewhere within or without the hotel around 7am. The sun comes up at about 6 so it’s really light around 7 too. So I always seem to be awake early.

Refused to pay the extortionate internet rates they charge at my guest house and sullenly unwilling to go and doing anything cultural or worthwhile, I went for a really healthy muesli breakfast and did more catching up on my blog on the free wifi at Ethos.

Then met Josh and had a beer. cheered up a bit (felt merry after a pint!) However neither of us were good company what with him not having slept for 2 nights and me seething with periodness. The heavens opened and it started lashing it down with a fury so we both decided to go back to our respective hotels to sleep again. Sleeping in the afternoon’s just so nice especially if it’s raining outside.

Moving to an even cheaper guesthouse today and then hope to book ticket to Chang Mai. Hadn’t booked it because Becky may have been coming over to se me on the 15^th so I wasn’t sure if I’d have time to get there and back and Josh didn’t know if he had to go back the UK for an important wedding but i’m booking it whatever today. Bored of Bangkok, its too expensive and busy. I want to go somewhere quiet to chill for a bit now.

Then I shall find somewhere to skulk for the day as feeling grumpy and unfriendly. Perhaps I should make the effort to do something cultural and useful, perhaps just a canal trip or something, but the weather's a littl unpredictable today and I need to spend no money for a bit except on the very basics, and what I really feel like doing is watching telly and surfing the net and snarling at passers by.

Smelling of Elephant packs a funk..

Woken at 7 again this morning to go Elephant washing; we just had to take a swimsuit, camera and grim determination.

It was a bit rainy and chilly what with it only being about 25 degrees...(had to turn the aircon off last night, FAR too cold) and went off in the pick up to meet some very dirty elephants!

With mud splidging rather pleasantly between my toes, and dodging the floaty pooo as much as possible I mounted my elephant and got scrubbing.

Once you got the hang of it’s like a slow underwater bristley bucking bronco... but with more scrubbing. My elephant was particularly filthy and kept going right underwater, trumpeting and squirting lots of water around, and despite the water being very muddy and full of elephant poo we got them cleaner, and ourselves considerably dirtier.

(My legs are now covered in a wierd rash... don't know if this is from elephant bristliness, nibbles from water creatures, bedbugs from last night or something even more sinister. Will have to see if it goes away when I get back to Bangkok)

Back for very thorough showers (as much as one could in aforementioned conditions) but still not quite managing to get rid of the elephanty smell..perhaps it was just IN my nose..) before a tranquil bamboo raft session down the river.

It was ok, (we were "entertained" by one of the raft rowers throwing himself into the water and pretending to wrestle with an anaconda) but I was completely distracted by the bloke in front of me who had the biggest blackhead I have EVER seen right in front of my face!! I swear it was about 2-3mm across. I could barely tear my eyes away from it and therefore missed any possible interesting sites along the river.

Not sure if publishing this is a gross invasion of his privacy, but I just don't care - look at the size of it!! It was definitely not some kind of strange mole, believe me, I had enough time to examine and contemplate this... it was definitely a blackhead, possibly the biggest in the world, and the world should know. And then I thought, what if it isn't? What if there are blackheads in the world bigger than this? Should I send the photo to Guiness?

Anyway... sorry about that. Moving on....

The raft trip ended with them dropping us off on the wrong side of the river which and necessitated a walk across a very very scary looking wooden bridge with rusty suspnsion wires and frayed ropes.

Seriously not out of place in Indiana Jones; it had big gaps in some places, planks replaced with branches in others, haphazardly nailed together all the way along. Still, I kept telling myself it wasn’t that far to fall if it did give way... Here I am feeling rather pleased with myself having crossed it.

Next we went on an elephant trek through the jungle, but compared to washing them up close and personal this morning, pah! It was rubbish!!

Our little Mahoot was quite funny though, climbing all over the elephant like a monkey. The sun came out though, which was nice. And I got a nice chap from Brazil to come with me which was nice. It was hot, and the elephants were tired...

Loved this pic of this big old chap leaning on the wooden fence with his trunk lolling and eyes drooping whilst waiting his turn for a cooling shower and lunch.

After lunch and saying goodbye to all my new rafting friends and the blackhead and then it was a long minibus trip back to Bangkok, (most of which was getting back across Bangkok in rush hour, just like London!)

So, after surviving the dangers of tigers, elephants, bamboo rafting, water snakes, wild monkeys, nibbly fish, waterfalls and dangerous bridges, I had to stop on the way back to go to the loo in a very grotty garage and slipped over on the horrid wet floor, smacked my head on the wall, bruised my bottom, got a blood blister on my hand, and smelt of wee for the last hour of the trip.

My inner thighs are also incredibly stiff wth all the elephant gripping.

Filth, Falls and fury in Kanchanaburi

Well, the raft was a little disappointing, though my room was ok, no bathroom unless I shared with a girl who didn’t want to share with me either. If you got a bathroom, the actual room wasn’t as nice. The loos/ shared bathrooms were pretty grimy...

Lots of people were very cross as (they had paid a lot more than me through travel agencies and hotels. My trip had cost just under £100 for 2 nights 3 days.. But some had pad more for just one night) and were absolutely horrified by conditions. No hot water either obviously, and everything including the sheets was a bit..... gritty. Much arguing and shouting. Not from me, which was unusual...Luckily I was well prepared for roughing it with my sleep sack, and after much wheedling and then threatening (I hadn’t actually paid yet) I was promised I could have a room with a bathroom the next day.

Anyway I slept well and a trip to the loo in the middle of the night wasn’t filled with the fear and trepidation I had expected, despite having to navigate rickety stairs and an even more rickety bridge between rafts. I also had my torch. Very useful again!

An early start to the Erewan falls.

WOW. A 5k trek up steep muddy rooty rocky path took you to 7 different levels of falls.

Absolutely beautiful ... and there were monkeys in the trees around and snakes and all sorts! Never made it to the 7^th, as we didn’t have time and you had to go up a very unsafe looking bamboo ladder, but I did get to swim on the amazing pools , shower under waterfalls and SLIDE down one,.. Something I’ve always wanted to do ever since seeing Baloo doing it in the Jungle Book when I was very small.
It was amazing – no sound on this, but please take it that I am making the appropriate whooping noises here and rushing out t do it again!! There when lots of fish in the pools who nipped at your legs, at all your dried skin, which was a bit disconcerting at first, but otherwise quite useful too..... free pedicure!

Got very sweaty and muddy on the way up, so a dip was brilliant, but then after lunch we had to carry on to the “hellfire pass” memorial which seemed a little inappropriate to be so dirty.

Still, we looked around the exhibition all about how the POW’s had to create a cutting for the railway up to 25 metres deep at one point with pure manpower and basic tools. As mentioned before 12,000 allied POW’s died in the railways construction but also 90,000 local workers lured, and then drafted in with promises of well paid work, who were eventually treated worse than the prisoners... it was horrific stuff hearing about the suffering that went on, but also the amazing camaraderie, there was no such thing as every man for himself, everyone shared, everyone supported and helped the sick and injured.....

And then we walked the pass itself.

You can still see some of the original sleepers of the railway – it’s said a man died for every sleeper laid along the track.

This tree obviously grew after it was made ...it sounds odd perhaps, but this tree, growing straight and true from the bare rock right in the centre, the deepest point of the pass,

seems rather befitting of the memory of the men many of whom survived through the pure comradeship of their fellow workers; men who carried the sick and weak back to their base at night after working punishing 18 hour days on nothing but 2 small meals of rice and salted vegetables, whilst being beaten and threatened, starved and deprived of dignity, yet still maintaining it..

So many images of emaciated workers wearing nothing but loincloths as their clothes rotted away on them on the humidity...To hear the stories of survival were just as moving as those of deaths..How these men survived these conditions and achieved this is a testament to strength of spirit I am not sure I even possess. You can see the size of this tree and therefore how deep this pass is....

It was a long and difficult steep walk again back up which only went to drum in what these men had to do; I was exhausted. Am totally exhausted.

Still, up early to bath the elephants, bamboo rafting and elephant trekking tomorrow before a long trip back to Bangkok

Night night!

Kwai Not?

Ok, so, Sunday night, got a call at about 9pm got a call from this place I’d emailed about a trip earlier that day, that I’d been recommended by a girl called Jemma that I met in Cambodia. It was called Kitti rafts and basically they pick you up from Bangkok, and you visit the bridge over the river Kwai, the death railway and hellfire pass, which is cool to have seen a place of such historic significance.

But you also visit the Tiger temple, Erewan national park which has spectacular waterfalls, and have the opportunity to swim with and bath elephants as well as traverse the river on bamboo rafts, before you get bussed back to Bangkok. Slightly outside my budget but well worth a few days of really cutting back afterwards for.

Didn’t expect to be able to do the trip the next day but he called at 9pm and told me he’d pick me up at 6.30 the next morning! Hurrah!

SO after a 3 hour bus ride we arrived at the allied forces cemetery which is a beautifully kept memorial in for all the allied POW’s that died building the Thailand to Burma railway for the Japanese during the Second World War.

Only 6942 people of the 12,000 or so allied POW’s were buried there, or marked however it’s a beautifully kept and tended memorial to all that died at the hands of the Japanese, largely

from malaria, starvation exhaustion and torture. Known as the JEATH memorial, which is an acronym of Japan, England, America, Thailand and Holland, which constitutes the countries involved in that conflict at that time. It was very moving especially seeing the stones of men ages under 25.

We also visited the war museum, but it wasn't that great - not an awful lot to see there..... and this chap rather stole the show.

Then a few minutes walk away from was the bridge. It was a wooden bridge back then, and we visited the original site - it is now a metal one across which a train still runs. We all had to get off the bridge as a man with a red flag held up the train before it could pass.

We later got this same 1940's train that still runs along art of the track that was built, the Death railway as its known. It was needed by the japans to supply their troops as they invaded Thailand, for which they used the slave labour of POW’s against the Geneva Convention.

Here I am, on the bridge. – Stunning scenery and amazing views from the antiquated train carriages as we travelled 5 stops along it.

After a Thai family style lunch we then went to the Tiger temple.

This is where tigers rescued as cubs from poachers were raised by monks. Unable to release them into the wild the population grew as more tigers arrived and they reproduced. They are exercised daily and fed well and are not afraid of humans or at risk from poachers. After they have been well fed they loll around in the sun in the heat of the afternoon digesting whilst we can go up and meet them and touch them and have our photos taken. The money raised goes to expanding the park so that each tiger has enough space to roam and exercise. It does seem a bit weird as they are chained for the meeting the public part of the day ... but you don’t mess with tigers and they really don’t seem to mind.. and they also seem to be respected and well cared for, all have luscious coats and are good tempered (undrugged we are assured.... but if they aren't I'll eat my hat, no animal is THAT mellow)

We were told not to wear anything dangly like bags or hats as these look like tiger toys so they are clearly kept entertained as well. You are never allowed to touch their heads or rub their bellies however tempting it may be like when this guy just rolled over for me.

As it was the last part of the day and the tigers get walked back to where they hang out at night, I got to walk with
 one for a bit too!

The often spray to mark their territory and the poor chap next to me Josh got completely covered... really felt for him as he was just about to get a bus back to Bangkok. They assure him it was lucky (not for the person sitting next to him on the bus though! Sorry for laughing so much Josh!
Then on to see some little waterfalls before we finally got to go for dinner and then on to the rafts where we are staying for a shower and bed.
Here's the view from the raft along the kwai from our raft.　
　

How to do Rice

Rice... Having friends who have done some work in the paddy fields it made me want to find out more and tell you about it.....seriously, you’ll never take it for granted again.

“Eat” in Thailand, is “Kin Khâo” which literally means “to consume rice”; Vietnam is soon to become the worlds biggest producer of rice; it seems so much of both Vietnam and Cambodia is covered by endless, eye-achingly bright green paddy fields. It’s easy to take them for granted, until you are aware of the back breaking work that goes into producing the staple crop of the east.

There are two rice seasons a year; a shorter one which produced the sticky rice, and a longer one, for the longer grain rice.

First the paddy field is flooded from a nearby water source, channels dug by hand, and sometimes pumped by rudimentary human powered machines. When this is done, the rice seed is scattered. Once the rice plants have begun to poke their sharp spikes above the water level, these plants are uprooted, and replanted in rows, at a correct distance apart to allow the right amount of root growth for the optimum crop yield. This sounds so simple , but it is long hours of back breaking work, done by hand by workers bent double in the fields.

The plants are rough and sharp and hard on the hands; the water full of leeches, huge water spiders, snakes and other unpleasant creepy crawlies. The water is also sometimes uncomfortably hot, having been heated all day in the sun, so provides no refreshment or respite from the heat of the sun.

The rice is then cut, also by hand, and the seed separated from the stalks. The stalks are kept in numerous haystacks you can see by the side of the road, out outside all rural stilt houses, as its’ essential in the rainy season to feed animals when much of the grazing land is flooded.

To separate the seed from the husks they are rubbed with basic machinery, often man-powered, and then tossed in baskets by hand to keep the seeds and fling the husks away.

That’s for the basic rice, however it’s often then cracked by hand in giant mortar and pestles before being stone ground to produce the rice flour used for noodles and spring rolls the glutinous puddings that are popular here

Here's our little tourguide powering the machine used to pump water into the fields to flood them:

Now I also understand why it’s so jolly fattening, as you need all that energy to produce it in the first place!

Lazy Sunday

Well, the street food didn't kill me.. in fact it's been the best i've eaten so far. Lovely spicy shrimp noodle soup, barbecued honeyed chicken on wooden sticks. Had some more for breakfast today.

Discovered a lovely little cafe, Ethos, which sells wonderful vegan food and has free wifi, so I bussed it over here today to sit, catch up on the blog, and enjoy the relaxed atmos.

Still waiting to hear back about my Kanchanaburi trip which i want to do, so can't book my golden triangle trip til i know when i can get back from there.. but it's nice to have some time to relax again. I have been finding it hard not to DO something all the time... Perhaps i'll go for a massage.

More Grand Palace!

As I walked through even more temples, past ever more intricately decorated buildings I realised there must be a never ending task of keeping all these buildings and paintings beautiful and in the manner to which the King and all of us have become accustomed to or awestruck by.

This chap was painstakingly restoring themurals along just one of the painted galleries, the murals, each telling a symbolic story, or just simply as pilllar and entranceway decoration.

They are so beautifully done and so detailed.

Every hair on this monkey below was painted in!

Finally found a picture of the Emerald Buddha on the net for you. He has 3 different oufits you see, one for the hot season, one for the rainy season, and one for the cold season. He's wearing his rainy season outfit at the moment ... a gold sou' wester, kaghoul and wellies. Ok that's not true at all. But I quite liked the mental image. It's actually the middle one here. Cold is the blankety one on the right and the hot season one is on the left. These are changed in a great ceremony by the king himself every year. The grand palace itself (that lot was just the temples and wats around the palace), was a slightly more conservative affair, but very beautiful nevertheless.

Perfectly kept within inspiringly manicured gardens it was an absolute joy to look at.

Walked back through a market and tasted some of the amazing street food on offers there, the smells were just too tempting to resist.. And so far I am not dead!

We’ll have to see though....

I have to say, even though the locals describe SE Asia as "same same but different" which i totally "get" now, I wouldn’t have touched anything off the streets in either Cambodia or Vietnam.. Especially Vietnam. Mainly because it looked horribly unsanitary and also because if you don’t like phσ, there’s nowhere to go! However the conditions in Thailand are so much cleaner... Bangkok is a modern city. I'd trust their street food over a kebab van in High Wycombe any day of the week.

The Grand Palace

Went to the Grand Palace today. Took the bus which is, I believe, the loudest form of transport on the planet.

First I walked around an interesting exhibition of medals and coins and royal ornaments, which mainly consisted of ceremonial swords headdresses, and betel nut sets.

These guys were SERIOUSLY into their betel nuts I can tell you. Ornamental knives for cutting them, ornamental bowls for holding them, spittoons for spitting them after you’ve chewed them, all with specific designs according to the rank of the owner. Water pitchers also designate rank... gold kettles for hot water were cylindrical for the King and the royal family, and spherical for high ranking officials. They all dated from around the 1800’s.

There was lots of enamelling on all these pieces... but I really must say, (and I’d have to qualify this as i really am a bit of an expert on this subject) their enamelling was rubbish!! The Russians were doing far better quality stuff 400 years earlier.

There were some interesting jewellery pieces such as 5 amulet chains (each amulet inscribed with holy words inside) worn by kings for victory in battle. Also the “ring of 9 gems” regarded as an object of honour since the Ayutthaya period containing fine gold, diamond, ruby, emerald, topaz, garnet, black sapphire, “grey gem”, zircon and cat’s eye crysoberyl. This was worn inserted in the waist cloth to signify rank or on the right index finger when attending royal ceremonies.

Oh, and Buddhists have rosaries too, made of 108 beads. I didn't know that.

Learnt about the royal tonsure ceremony, the coming of age ceremony of Royal children (last performed in 1928.... the child’s head was shaved around the topknot, then, dressed in their royal garments and decorated with jewels they were taken to the place of ceremony where their top knot was divided into 3 and bound with silver, gold and copper threads, respectively.

One lock was cut off by the ceremonial chairperson, one by a respected family elder, and the third by the father, then the rest of the child’s head was shaved, followed by a bathing ceremony in which they were blessed by the rest of the family, and then they were carried 3 times round mount Kailash on a Palanquin. All of this happened in the morning, then they had to do some sort of candle ceremony in the afternoon. The whole caboodle was finally over then next morning when the aforementioned locks of hair were floated away in the river.

I still think I prefer the British version where Wills and Harry just got to go out on the piss.....

Anyway, as you stifle a yawn, that's all just piffle when you actually get within the walls of the grand palace.

There was more gold and shiny stuff in front of me than I have ever seen before....little bells tinkled away around the tops of the temples... it’s as if you’ve suddenly been minaturised and transported to the dressing table of the Sultana of Brunei’s as you wander amongst so many bejewelled perfume bottles, pepper pots, and amazing intricate ornaments and jewels glistening in the sun, in the end they all just meld together so that you can only stand in awe... trying to photograph them to show their true brilliance is virtually impossible.

I literally had to sit down; it really was so truly unbelievable. I think I can now understand how stained glass windows used to mesmerise church gatherings when they were first invented, as this much gold is truly mesmeric!

The temple of the emerald Buddha was predictably full of gold and very beautiful also. Vaulted ceilings mosaiced in red and gold, interspersed with gold rosettes, gave way to intricately painted muralled walls depicting scenes of meditation, of battles, and of the palace itself. Different coloured marbled inlays cover the floor, which is itself covered in shoeless kneeling worshipers and suitably dumbstruck tourists as the intoxicating smell of jasmine and incense permeates the air all around.

The statue itself is sitting on an enormous pedestal, surrounded itself, by more gold Buddha statues, lamps and incense burners, and bowls for offerings.

Actually the Emerald buddha is made of jade, but when the monk who first found it when it was covered in plaster, saw a bit chipped off the nose, thought the green underneath was emerald so it became known as that.

I have to admit it was extremely pleasant and calming to sit for a while in contemplation of the surroundings and almost unbelievable constructions I had just seen.

Everywhere holds an opportunity to buy offerings for the Buddha; you can even buy gold leaf to attach to these ones!

Loved this guys mildly camp pose...

The entire area is constantly kept at its best by continual renovation work, so three is always just that little bit of scaffolding that gets in the way of a great photo.

Anyway... ths was just the temple area! There was loads more to come before you even got to the palace itself.