Thailand,
Cambodia and Myanmar
This
is another of our ‘bucket list’ trips and it covers a lot of real estate and
the unique sites that are located throughout these three countries. This type
of trip creates exceptionally large blog chapters so I will attempt to break it
down to decent size chapters.
To
give you an idea I came home with over 3000 photos! Through the editing process I deleted a
little over 400 photos leaving about 2600 for me to choose from for this
blog!! So I will begin in Thailand with
the sites in Bangkok.
Thailand is often referred to as the Kingdom of Thailand and is formerly known as Siam.
You might remember the Theatre production of ‘The King and I’ or the
movie with the same title which was based on life in Siam under the rule of the
King. Thailand is bordered by Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, the
Gulf of Thailand, Malaysia
and the Andaman Sea.
From a political point Thailand is
nominally a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy since 1932. The coup in 2014 established a de facto military dictatorship under a junta. In 2014 the Army Chief seized
power stating an intervention was necessary to restore order after six months
of protests and violent clashes over political governmental issues. It was decided that political differences and
how to settle them had finally balanced out and in March of 2019, after five
years under the military junta, an election was held and Thailand is now a
fully democratic country with a constitutional monarchy, and a parliament whose
members are elected.
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| King, Queen and Members of the Royal Family |
So given the information above, our
guide during our visit explained many additional stories of unrest in his
country. He explained how these
conflicts held the people and their country back from growth in industry,
farming and financial gain. The growth
in all areas that is seen in Thailand today is the result of the last twenty to
twenty five years. Considering all they
had to deal with, their accomplishments over the last 20 years are astounding!
The city of Bangkok is the exotic
capital city of Thailand. We enjoyed a
city and Temple tour and here are some photos of the mix of ancient and modern
times. Photos taken while riding in a bus include government buildings, general street sites and a few of the small independent temples that are in most homes, neighborhoods and business properties.
Note the amount of exposed wires on this photo. It is like this everywhere in the city. Not sure if they are not able to bury the wires or if they haven't thought about it!
Photos of the flower market.
Look closely - this shows thousands of flowers in bags waiting to be purchased.
More photos from the bus as we drive around Bangkok.
Wat Pho is a Buddhist temple complex in the Phra Nakhon
District, Bangkok, Thailand. It is on Rattanakosin Island, directly south of
the Grand Palace. Known also as the
Temple of the Reclining Buddha, its official name is Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimon
Mangkhalaram Rajwaramahawihan. Try
saying that three times!! The Reclining
Buddha is a wonder to see! It is one
hundred and fifty feet long and almost 40 feet high. The Temple of Reclining Buddha is
in the highest ranks of importance of Thai temples - a royal temple. It was
built by King Rama I and it is a place where some of his ashes are buried.
During the reign of Rama III, it was renovated and enlarged. The temple complex
is filled with golden Buddha statues, the most prominent and imposing being the
one that gave the temple its name, the Reclining Buddha.
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| The bottom of the feet of the Reclining Buddha are covered with this beautiful Mother-of-Pearl inlay. |
In the garden area in front of the Grand Palace were 'long boats'. The Saturday after we finished our trip and came home Bangkok was celebrating "The Festival of Lights" with a 'long boat' parade down the river which would include the King, Queen and other members of the Royal Family along with government officials. Our guide said the river would be lined by thousands of Thais. Here are some pics of a few boats.
The Grand Palace complex was
established in 1782 and consists of the royal residence and throne hall, some
government buildings and the renowned Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The Grand Palace is surrounded by four walls
and covers 2,346,532 square feet! Here is
some of what we saw as we ventured out into the complex.
The Emerald Buddha is an image of
the meditating Gautama Buddha seated in the lotus position. It is made of a semi-precious green stone - jade
or jasper rather than emerald and is clothed in gold. It is 26 inches tall. The
image is considered the sacred palladium of Thailand. It is housed in the
Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew) on the grounds of the Grand Palace
in Bangkok. (Wikipedia)
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Temple of the Emerald Buddha
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The statue of Cheewok Komaraphat is of a patron of Thai medicine and was built during the reign of King Rama III. He was doctor to the Lord Buddha and is regarded as the father of Thai herbal medicine.
Phra Mondop is the Buddhist
library built during the reign of Rama I in 1789. It houses a large mother-of-pearl inlay
cabinet which contains the Buddhist scripture.
The large doors are also covered in mother-of-pearl.
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| Phra Mondop - Buddhist Library |
Phra Bussabok is the four small pillars surrounded by elephant statues.
The Gallery of the Ramakien Story contain
mural paintings depicting the battle between Tosakanth, the king of demons, and
King Rama. The story consists of 178
sections …. And although I took pictures of each one I will not be able to show
all 178 to you here! Keep in mind these beautiful murals were painted between 1766 to 1824!
The Chinese Statues came from China in the early reign of the Chakri Dynastry. AT that time trade with China included rice and teakwood vs silks and porcelains.
Chakri Maha Prasat Hall was a
royal residence built by King Rama V in 1877.
This is the only building in the Grand Palace complex that mixes the
European style building with the Thai style roof.
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| Chakri Maha Prasat Hall |
The Grande Spired Hall is used
today for lying-in-state of Kings, Queens and members of the royal family.
The Grand Residence consists of seven connecting buildings and today is used for meeting officers of state and foreign ambassadors. Here are a few additional photos of the Grand Palace. The workmanship of the time was astounding as you will note in the photos of some of the porcelain work. Here you will also see photos of the miniature model of Cambodia’s Angor Wat.
We finished our first day in
Thailand with a Thai buffet dinner and a performance of the “Journey to the
Enchanted Kingdom of Siam”. Before
dinner we were able to take a self-tour through a life size village for Thai
homes and businesses of an earlier time.
Jan 🌷🐾🐾
