Trip to the temple complex

Today is the first day where i got a chance to explore Bangkok..Having had to work all week long without any chance of doing anything else left me wondering if this is the kind of travel that i really wanted to do!!!

Harvey was pretty enthusiastic about showing me around the temple complex in bangkok although he had already been there once during his earlier trips..Our plan was to reach the nearest place from our hotel where we could catch a boat ride to the Temple complex area..We hoped to spend our day exploring the no.1 tourist spot in the city and then return back..As per plan, we took a taxi to the Sheraton hotel area which is where we could get into a boat. The river Chao phreya runs through the city and there are boats used by locals to get from one part of the city to another. Boats are one of the options available and they surprisingly cheap..We came to know that a boat trip from the hotel area to temple complex would cost us 10 baht (about 0.25$)..There are a couple of types of boats that you could take; the regular ones or the express boats; We took the express boat to the Wat Pho temple complex.
The boats are typically packed with tourists and the locals and the ride itslef is amazing..There are beautiful buddhist temples lined up on both sides of the river and they get better and better as the boat approaches the Wat Pho area..The boat stops a couple of blocks from the temple complex. We decided to walk that little distance inspite of a lot of taxi drivers offering us a drive to the place..On our way we encountered a guy who was trying to con us into thinking that today is a holiday at the temple complex and he has some other good "suggestions" to spend our time. Since we had already heard of these scams (and I happen to be from a country where these scams are not too uncommon either), we just walked not even bothering to stop and listen to him.





I have to say that I was simply spell bound by the first sight of the Wat Pho temple. It is covered with a beautiful gold coloured lining which was glittering in the sun. The beauty of the whole complex is mind-boggling and left me wondering which direction to look at. Every turn you take, you would find something that catches your attention. There were scores of tourists happily clicking their cameras away at every sight. Most of the structures on the complex had nicely decorated spires. We walked around the place for a hour or so and frankly i couldn't get enough of that place..I could've spent the whole day there without going anywhere.













Our next stop is the 'Temple of recling Buddha' which is also in the same complex. We walked around the complex and reached the temple in few minutes. The temple, as the name suggests, is known for the gigantic buddha statue in reclining posture. The gold-plated Buddha statue is around 50 m long and 15 m high..I've heard about the statue but didn't know that it was so huge. People were walking around the statue (like we do in Hindu temples) and praying at the feet of Buddha..After spending a few minutes in the temple, it was time to move on.





It was afternoon already and the sun was beating down on us. Harvey was sweating like crazy and having seen the place before, he said he can't take the heat anymore and would rather go back and take rest. I bid goodbye to him and told him that I will spend the rest of the day around Wat Arun and come back. Wat Arun is also called the temple of dawn and is probably one of the images that anyone would see on picture postcards of Bangkok. It is on the other side of the river, so I walked around to the ferry station and took the ferry to the other side of the river for a whopping 2 baht (5 US cents). The temple is nothing like i've ever seen before..I guess its the colors and all the other minor details that add up to the beauty of this place when seen from a distance..The temple is actually decorated by small bits of procelain and so is not really appealing when viewed really closely..But from a few feet away the whole appeal of the temple completely changes..I went round and round the temple and took quite a few snaps..After spending a couple of hours, took the ferry back to the hotel.