Bangkok II

Our first trip to Bangkok back in April didn't go as well as planned. Wes came down with a stomach bug and as a result the sightseeing itinerary was cut short. So, we vowed to return and see some of the sights we missed the first time around.

We arrived in Bangkok late on Friday night. On Saturday we awoke early and headed to Bangkok's old town, where many of the large temples are located. The first stop was Wat Phra Chetuphon Vimolmangklararm Rajwaramahaviharn, or more simply, Wat Po. Wat Po is the original home of Thai massage and the largest Buddha image in Thailand - the Reclining Buddha.


Wat Po

Over 46 meters long, the reclining Buddha is an impressive sight. It is meant to depict the Buddha's passing into nirvana.


Reclining Buddha


Reclining Buddha

The feet of the Buddha are decorated with mother of pearl inlays. It may be considered disrespectful to point your feet at the Buddha, but apparently not the other way around.


Buddha feet

The temples required appropriate dress (no shorts or sleveless shirts) and required visitors to remove their shoes.


Take off your shoes

The compound is home to many monks, but we only saw a few out and about the morning we visited. It could be that they were still asleep after watching world cup games the previous night.


Annette smiles while a monk walks by

The wat is full of interesting statues of various sizes. Many of them look like cross-bred animals, like a warthog-dragon (does that make a wagon?) Others are images of strange looking people.


Small statue


This statue is bored

There were several of these huge statues of figures with canes, top hats, and overcoats. I thought they looked Peruvian, while Annette insisted they are leprechauns (mostly becaues of the shoes). No no no, Annette - leprechauns are waaay smaller!


Peruvian or Leprechaun? You decide.


Wat Po

Wat Po is full of elaborately decorated spires, called "chedis." Some of them are covered with broken porcelain pieces that Chinese ships carried to Thailand as ballast.


Wat Po


Wat Po courtyard


Roof


Roofing tiles in a pile


Wat Po


Wat Po

Bordering the courtyards, there are glass cases full of golden Buddha statues. They pose in many different ways. Some hold up one hand, some hold up both, some neither. Also, some are draped in orange cloths while other are not. Are some Buddhas more modest than others?


Stop in the name of love... (or maybe Hey Buddha-rena...)


Hot at Wat Po


Wat Po


This must have taken some monk a long time to complete. It keeps them from getting bored.

The next stop was the Grand Palace, where Thailand's kings resided from the 18th to 20th century. The compound also houses many important Buddhist landmarks, including the highly revered Emerald Buddha.


Grand Palace

This golden Chedi contains the relics of Lord Buddha, although I have no idea what the 'relics' might consist of. Nevertheless, it is an interesting piece of architecture. [Note for those who have not traveled to the religious sights of the world and seen relics - this is usually a fancy name for body parts. Bones, teeth, hair...whatever they can find. At least here (unlike Europe) they were not displayed under glass.]


Phra Sri Ratana Chedi


Phra Sri Ratana Chedi


Grand Palace

Circling the grand palace are murals depicting scenes from the Ramakien epic. In the story there are a bunch of gods, then someone leads an army of monkeys in defeating an army of demons. Yeah, I don't get it either, but evidently the story is a favorite of the Thai people.


Restoring some of the murals

Around the palace, giants guard the emerald Buddha.


Giant


Grand Palace


Flower


Flower

This chedi is surrounded by neat looking creatures from the Ramakien epic. Some are monkeys, some demons, though it was kind of hard to differentiate. There are also some hybrid animals from the story, including lion-angels which look like birds with tails.


Golden Chedi


Creature


Creature



Grand Palace


Model of Angkor Wat


Grand Palace


Giants guard the entrances

After touring the compound for a while, we finally came to the centerpiece - Wat Phra Kaew. This is where the emerald Buddha resides. The emerald Buddha is very popular with the locals, and many of the faithful were giving offerings of lotus flowers and incense outside the temple.


Wat Phra Kaew


Wat Phra Kaew

We took off our shoes and went inside, where several hundred people were seated on the floor. Many were tourists, but others were bowing and meditating in the presence of the Buddha. The Buddha has three golden outfits for each of the three seasons (hot, rainy, and cold.) On the appropriate day, the king himself comes to change the Buddha's clothes.


Rules for Wat Phra Kaew

As you can see, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but in this photo you can (barely) see the Buddha through the front door.


The Buddha


Statue of the Buddha's doctor.

Next we passed by the former residence of the King. This building was an interesting mixture of French and Thai architecture.

As a side note: If there is one thing we learned, Thais love their king. The weekend before we visited, the King celebrated his 60th year on the throne. To mark the occasion, people sold yellow shirts and wristbands (yellow is the Kings' birth color). We were amazed by the number of people wearing yellow, even a week after the celebration. [Fun game - go back through any picture with a crowd and count the number of yellow shirts]


Grand Palace

There are many Chinese statues around the grand palace. These were also brought to Thailand as ballast for Chinese ships.


Former ballast


Chakri Maha Prasat Hall


Annette strikes up a conversation


The king used this pavilion to disrobe after parades


Grand Palace


Enough heat already! Time to cool off.

Well, this is where the pictures end, but it was not the end of our adventure. Shortly after leaving the Grand Palace, we caught a taxi back to the hotel to do a little shopping in the nearby mall. Right after we caught the taxi, a strong thunderstorm came over us and it took us nearly an hour to get a few miles back to the hotel. Amazingly, the taxi fare was only around US$3.

The mall near our hotel was huge! There were all kinds of stores selling real and fake goods side by side. The $5 Birkenstocks were too good to pass up. Evidently other tourists thought so too; we saw them being worn everywhere.

We ate dinner at one of the many restaurants at the mall, and later went to Patpong street to check out the night market, which had the usual collection of t-shirts, mass-manufactured crafts, fake watches, knock-off handbags, CDs and DVDs.

Back at the hotel that night, Bangkok got the best of Wes yet again, despite his best efforts to stick to bottled water and not eat anything too weird. As a result, the next morning we were slightly delayed in making our trip to the Chatuchak weekend market. This market is a huge maze of stalls where vendors peddle clothing, crafts, home furnishings, food, and even pets. Wes had to spend most of the time sitting down while Annette shopped - which meant it was exactly like the last trip to the weekend market.

After the market, it was time for a little more shopping at the mall before heading to the airport. All in all, it was a good trip to Bangkok and we hope to see more next time we're passing through on the way to the beach. That is, if Wes is brave enough to set foot in Bangkok again.

Beijing

The capital of China, Beijing is the country's second largest city. With nearly 15 million people, Beijing trails only Shanghai (17.4MM) in size.

In Shanghai there is a kind of wild-west atmosphere as the city grows wildly, sprouting modern skyscrapers like grass. In contrast, Beijing is a little more subdued. In Beijing there is no towering skyline, but the Ming and Qing dynasty temples and palaces are equally impressive reminders of kingdoms past, while Tiananmen square serves as a symbol of the present.

Shortly after our arrival in Beijing, we took a taxi to the nearby Temple of Heaven park. First constructed in 1420, the Temple of Heaven is a complex of buildings where Ming and Qing Emperors made sacrifices and prayed for good harvests.

After purchasing our tickets (30RMB) we headed through the gate. Once inside, it seemed like we were transported out of Beijing - lots of tall juniper trees blocked the sights and sounds of the city and provided a nice piney fragrance.


Temple of Heaven Park - North Gate


Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests

The Hall of Annual Prayer is the largest and most recognizable building in the complex.



Hall of Annual Prayer


Hall of Annual Prayer


Hall of Annual Prayer - Detail


Temple of Heaven - rock sculptures


Temple of Heaven


Temple of Heaven


The middle of a forest is an interesting place for a no smoking sign.

On the evening of the first day we met our old Houston friend Olen (now a Beijing 'local') and his wife Cathy for dinner. They took us to a local restaurant and took charge of the ordering, which was really helpful because the English version of the menu was poorly translated and a bit cryptic, offering items such as 'slippery beef.' Due to their experience we ended up with more appetizing dishes, including sauteed green beans, fried pork ribs, stir fried beef with peppers, baked eggplant, and fried rice. Mmmm!

The next day we walked from our hotel to Tiananmen square, the center of Beijing and the site of many notable political events. It was here Mao proclaimed the formation of the PRC in 1949, and the site of the 1989 protests that culminated in military intervention on June 4th of that year. Today the broad expanse of pavement is guarded by both uniformed and plainclothes officers that will quickly act to dissolve any person group that tries to protest. A couple days after our visit to the square, the 17th anniversary of the June 4th crackdown, two people who tried to protest were detained. Luckily when we visited we were only accosted by people selling postcards and a father, presumably a Chinese tourist from outside Beijing, who wanted to take our photo with his son.


Tiananmen Square


Statue outside Mao's Mausoleum


Tiananmen Gate


Tiananmen Gate


Museum of Chinese History


A line of tourists queue to see Mao under glass

Just north of Tiananmen square is the Forbidden city, the palacial home of 24 Ming and Qing Emperors. It was the center of China's political power from the 15th century to the early 20th century. We intended to spend a half day at he Forbidden City, but because of the sheer size it took us almost the whole day just to walk through the main areas.




Meridian Gate

Bronze and stone lion sculptures are all over China and there was no shortage of them at the Forbidden city. Typically they are in pairs; the male lion holds a ball while the female lion holds a cub.


Lion outside the Supreme Harmony Gate

Everywhere we went in Beijing we saw scaffolding on historical buildings, as Beijing prepares for the onslaught of the 2008 Olympics. During our visit the Hall of Supreme Authority was completely covered with scaffolding and netting. They were kind enough to paint a picture of the building on the netting so we could get a feel for what it was supposed to look like.


Hall of Supreme Authority


A recently restored section of the Forbidden City


Nine Dragon Screen - enameled tile


Nine Dragon Screen - enameled tile


Lost in the Forbidden City

While the Forbidden City is famous for its wide courtyards, there are also many gardens where the Emperor and Empresses would retreat to relax and write poetry.


Pavilion in the Imperial Garden


Intertwined pines in the Imperial Garden


It was tempting to go climbing in the rock garden, but the sign said no.



Another Lion


Enameled tile wall


Imperial Garden


Forbidden City Doors


Forbidden City - roof detail


View through a door


High walls kept invaders at bay


Imperial city moat.

On day two we were too tired from walking to take our chances at a local restaurant, so we ate dinner at Pizza Hut. This turned out to be a cultural experience in itself. First, there was a line to get in... seemingly strange for a country where cheese is rarely eaten by locals. After we were seated we ordered a standard pepperoni pan pizza. While we waited we observed an interesting phenomenon at the salad bar. Evidently Pizza Hut salad bars in China are sold as a single-trip. Locals took their bowl and went to the salad bar and meticulously stacked slices of cucumber and pineapple around the outer rim of the bowls until the amount of 'salad' on top of the bowl far exceeded the amount below the rim. Several people spent 15 or 20 minutes on their creations, making sure to maximize the value in their salad bar trip. Many of the creations were surprisingly artistic, and pretty much all of them were enough to be shared by four people sitting together.



Ashamed to be in the queue for Pizza Hut

The next day we arranged to be taken to the great wall by Alvin Jiang, a Beijing local who was recommended by a traveler on the Virtual Tourist website. Getting to the wall was a bit of an adventure when Alvin showed up at our hotel in a car with an empty gas tank. We searched in vain for a gas station, thinking that we would soon run out and have to sit on the side of the road for rescue. Thank goodness we finally found some fuel and made it to the wall at Mutianyu.. a restored but not overcrowded section of the 6000+km wall.

The wall is situated mostly on mountainous ridgelines. From the base at Mutianyu, there are three ways to get up: 1) Hike 2) Ski Lift 3) Gondola Lift. We decided on option #3, as it was raining when we arrived at the wall. Alvin said this was the first time he had seen it rain at the wall.. 'lucky us', we thought. Undaunted, we put on our raincoats and grabbed a ticket for the Gondola.


In the Gondola

On the wall there are enclosed fortifications every few hundred meters, so when the rain began falling heavily we waited in a fortification. When the rain let up, we headed to the next fortification. While the rain was a bit of a nuisance, it was also a blessing because it drove away other tourists, and we were alone on a long section of the wall for several hours.


Great Wall Map


Mutianyu Great Wall


Getting a bit wet on the wall


Alvin


Mutianyu Great Wall


Mutianyu Great Wall

After walking for a while we reached the end of the restored section of the wall. Beyond, the wall was crumbling and overrun with trees and shrubs.


Unrestored section of the Great Wall


Mutianyu Great Wall


Mutianyu Great Wall


Fortification


Mutianyu Great Wall

On the next day we traveled to the Summer Palace, which was built mainly in the 18th and 19th centuries. Aptly named, the Summer Palace was where Emperors and Empresses retreated for the hot summer months.


Summer Palace

The Summer Palace is a popular destination for Chinese tourists, and it can get quite crowded, especially on the weekend.


Summer Palace crowds



Summer Palace


Summer Palace Gate

At the center of the Palace is Kunming lake, which was hand-dug by 100,000 laborers. A very popular activity is taking rowboats and paddle boats out for a cruise.


Kunming Lake


Summer Palace Gate

Empress Dowanger Cixi frequented the palace during her rule from 1861 to 1908. This car was given to her as a gift and supposedly was the first car in China.


Empresses' Car


Musicians


Summer Palace Theatre

No royal Chinese garden is complete without a plethora of interesting rocks. Some look like petrified wood, some are full of holes. Evidently this particular rock enticed a gentlemen to such an extent that he spent his entire fortune trying to get it to his garden. He failed and it somehow ended up at the summer palace instead.


Huge ornamental rock


Summer Palace Gate

This marble boat was built by the Empress Dowanger with money earmarked for the Chinese navy. Her frivolity with military funds contributed to the fall of the Forbidden City to allied forces during the Boxer Rebellion.


Marble Boat (Obviously does not float)

On Saturday night we met up with Olen and Cathy again and had a traditional Beijing Roast Duck dinner. Afterwards we went to an acrobatics performance.


Acrobat Show


Acrobat Show