Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha)

Wat Pho (Thai: วัดโพธิ์, IPA: [wát pʰoː]), is a Buddhist temple in Phra Nakhon district, Bangkok, Thailand. It is located in the Rattanakosin district directly adjacent to the Grand Palace. Known also as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, its official name is Wat Phra Chettuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram Ratchaworamahawihan (Thai: วัดพระเชตุพนวิมลมังคลารามราชวรมหาวิหาร IPA: [wát pʰráʔ tɕʰêttupʰon wíʔmon maŋkʰalaːraːm râːttɕʰawɔːráʔmahǎːwíʔhǎːn]). The temple is also known as the birthplace of traditional Thai massage.

(Source: Wikipedia)

It has been a while since I blogged last. I have to fight the laziness and excuses that I’m very busy now. Yes, with all the craps created by my office; we were forced to be cleaner even though we pay those contract cleaners. Weird isn’t it? Plus, my assignments are attacking me badly. I must make sure that I can submit them all before the due date!

Since it was few months ago I visited Bangkok, my memory is getting weaker. Haha. Yes, I have to remember them in detail if I want to write about it :)

I’ve visited 2 temples when I was there. So, let me start with Wat Pho first. It’s also known as Temple of the Reclining Buddha.

If you want to know the detail, you can click the link here.

I’d like to share some pictures with you here. Enjoy!

I’ll write about another temple in the next post :)

Thank you for reading!

Bangkok (Day 2) : Tiger Temple

Gosh! It takes me ages to write another post about my vacation in Bangkok.

After I went to River Kwai, the next trip was Tiger Temple. You can read the detail about Tiger Temple here.

When we reached there, the weather there was cloudy. A hint that it was about to rain. I prayed that the weather will stay cloudy because it won’t be too hot and the most important thing no rain. Why? Because I brought along my DSLR camera and if raining, it would be hard for me to use it.

All tourist from the same van with me walked quickly to the gate and some even ran. Then, we realized that we have to walk further to the canyon!

Haha!

At this point, I started to run and left my 3 friends behind as the rain started to pour.

When we reached at the canyon not many people was there. I did not realize I was at the queue and it was my turn to snap with the tiger! LOL.

The woman took my camera and I was shock. “Hey!” was the only word came out from my mouth. She told me that she will take the pictures and I must follow what she says and keep holding her hand in the canyon. I told her that my friend, Keith has no camera and whether it is possible for him to follow me. I saw Keith was waving his hand telling me that he wants to follow. She said “…later”.

Fine.

Amazingly, she knew how to use my DSLR. As soon as I started to take picture with the tigers, the rain started to pour heavily. Damn it! I was worried and she was smiling happily. Haha.

After I had done taking picture, she grabbed Keith’s hand to follow her and repeat the same thing I did. Luckily, he was the last one because they stop the taking picture session for safety reason. Tigers will be VERY AGGRESIVE!

As soon as Keith finished taking picture, he passed me the camera and I hurriedly wipe the camera with the tissue. Haha.

When the rain stopped. The Tiger Temple staff told us to go to the fake cave because they wanted to take all tigers back to their home. If the tigers see us walking around they might attack us because they feel insecure. So, I walked to the cave waiting for the tigers to pass by. So many tourist were there and some waiting with the camera. I took out my iPhone instead of DSLR waiting for the best shot.

The monk brought all tigers and one of them brought the cub to the cave. I was shock as I didn’t know he was at my back. Haha.

Then, I saw some other animals running toward us. Water buffalo, deer, wild boar, cow and many others. I realized they were running here for the food.

After they had done stuffing themselves, I walked out and talked to a monk when on my way back. Oh yeah, I saw a bear in a fake cave and tall fence was around it. I wonder why the bear was in there while other wild animals were outside happily running here and there? Hmm.

The journey back to the hotel was not good. Bad traffic jam and we stuck in the jam for about 2 hours! Roughly. The van did not stop in front of our hotel but somewhere in town. I took cab to the hotel.

As soon as I reached hotel, Marcus text me. Asked me out for dinner at Somboon. A seafood restaurant. I went there with Keith and met Marcus and Marc there. The foods were awesome!

After that, we went to some good places for drinks and went back to hotel pretty late.

Great day even though it was a very tiring one.

One of the best vacation.

Bangkok (Day 2): River Kwai

After I had done with Boat Ride, I went to River Kwai.

Maybe some of you do not have any idea about River Kwai at all. I got this info from here:

In case there was any doubt concerning man's savagery to his fellow kind, then the Thai-Burma railway, all 415 kilometres of it, stands as a horrific testament to human brutality. Constructed under order of the Japanese by prisoners of war and enslaved locals during WWII, the Death Railway's most famous section, 'The Bridge Over the River Kwai', now acts as one of Thailand's major tourist attractions.

The bridge is located in the small town of Kanchanaburi where the majority of guesthouses back onto the infamous Kwai River.

The bridge is, well, a bridge. The history behind it however is far from ordinary. As the Japanese extended their invasion of Thailand into the West of Burma, their success was hampered by the difficulty in supplying troops with provisions and so a supply line, the railway, was built. The Japanese, using POWs and civilian conscripts, adopted a brutal and barbaric work regime that saw the completion of the railway in one year rather than the three it was estimated to take. These 'speedo' tactics cost the lives of a staggering three hundred thousand men.

Fuhhh!

It is not a good story to know even though it is part of world history. When the tourist guide told me about this, my jaw dropped and I felt sad about the brutality. Even though it is history, I wonder how cruel a human can be.

It reminds me of a video I watched last year; a video of a pregnant monkey which was attacked by a leopard and suddenly the baby came out from the mother.

Hmm.
Back to my travel adventure, I would like to share with you some pictures as usual.

So, that is River Kwai. I did not across the bridge :-)

It was very hot and the local durian ice cream was very good!

Stay tune for more adventure. Me with some real TIGERS. Rawrrrrrr!!!

Bangkok (Day 2): Boat Ride

After I have done with the Floating Market, I went to the other side which was just beside the floating market entrance for the boat ride. The boat ride was included in the package that I paid earlier.

I’d say that Floating Market is a must and it is ok if you skip the boat ride. Nothing much to talk about :-)

Enjoy the pictures ya.

… and this was after the boat ride. They have Snake Show here but I did not go in. It was pricey and I did not think worth it.

Ok, done with the boat ride :-)

Stay tune for Kwai River story.