Though we’ve spent the day visiting wonderful sites from old Bangkok, I can’t resist heading today with this, Rama VIII bridge, which is just downstream from where we catch the river bus, and which I’ve been admiring since we arrived.
I had a few minutes earlier sent this to the lads, commending its elegance and saying it was the only suspension bridge I’d ever seen with just one tower:
Paul put me right with the info that it was in fact a cable-stayed bridge, not a suspension, and also informed me of its name, id’d using Google Lens. Amazing. Anyway, a few minutes later our river-bus arrived, and I found myself in just the right time and place for the shot at the top, with which I was well chuffed.
We then proceeded to Chinatown, which proved to be ok, and worth the visit, though nothing really special – as well as being rather smaller than we’d expected – but we did manage to get a very nice Chinese, which made a difference from all the Thai food we’ve been enjoying lately. After which we decided to cut & run, and caught a bus back – a rickety old clatterbucket, with all windows open, which sped through the near-empty streets at breakneck speeds and delivered us home in little more than 15 minutes. And all for 8 baht a head. Bar-gin!
So this morning we set off for a couple more Bangkok classics: Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan, and the reclining Buddha. I’d actually managed to photograph Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan last night from the river:
And it looked no less striking in the morning light. In fact, the closr you got, the more remarkable it became, with detailing on a par with the Grand Palace – and on the same immense scale. And though undeniably busy, it wasn’t quite the mad scrum the Grand Palace had been. Though the heat was no less intense – today is officially tagged as ‘excessive heat’, being 37 degrees (‘feels like 41’) and though yesterday was also reported as feeling like 41, today felt hotter, to us at least.
As we wandered from temple to temple, in a bit of a daze, it was impossible to take in all that was on display. In one, I took a video, which gives at least some idea of the combination of sheer scale and immaculate detail – these wall paintings were everywhere, and easy to overlook, but if you took the time, all of humanity was there – warriors and demons, animals and children, people cooking, playing games, fighting and flirting, wrestling and worshiping and hanging out the laundry…
And did you hear about…
Then onto the ferry across the river, to the site of the reclining Buddha. The one even I had heard of, and knew to be enormous, and gold. And though it proved indeed to be enormous, and gold, it somehow exceeded expectations, and despite the gaggle, had an undeniable peace, tranquility and majesty to it. It certainly would be wonderful to see it without the scrum.
One thing I didn’t know about the reclining Buddha: he has beautiful mother of pearl inlays – quite small, not much more than a foot long apiece – on the soles of his feet. And no, this isn’t the wrong way up – it’s on its side, because he’s lying down 🙂.
And away from the Buddha, in the wider complex, everywhere you went were lovely things – statues, beautiful little gardens with bonsai-like trees, and buildings richly decorated and full of Buddhas and other religious artefacts, till your mind spun with the sheer profusion.
And after all that, stupefied once more by the overload and the crushing heat, we decided to cut & run, and returned to our air-conned accommodation, where we’ve wiled away the furnace hours, building up reserves for another night out on the town. What are we like 🙂.
PS In the event we couldn’t face another trek into town, so took a brief amble down to a local locals’ streetfood pavement restaurant, where we had an excellent meal for 170 baht all in, including large water. That’s a tad shy of £4. That’ll do nicely!