Wat Pho - Bangkok

Reaching for heaven

The vast complex

 

 
Grand Palace and Wat Pho were the only historical places that I put into our itenary. Considering the values hold by Thais on both those places, I managed to make my girls agree to visit these places. However, when the day came, the sun decided to give its best, shining brightly until it hurted our eyes and burned our skin. It was 37degrees when it was only 10am in the morning...geez. I wondered how hot it would be when midday. Finally, considering the unfriendly wheather, we decided to visit the famous Pratunam area during the midday and left for the palace in the afternoon.

The humble pier

The crowd of Chao Phraya express boat

The small alley

However, until we left Pratunam using taxi to Saphan Taksin statan station around 2pm, the sun was still blazing unforgivingly. We reached the pier after 45mins drive (though it wasn't much traffic at that time). It felt short since the taxi driver was very friendly, with his limited English, he engaged us in a funny conversation. The taxi only costed us B100 and after 5mins of walk, we arrived at pier. We purchased the boat fare which costed us B40 (they counted 4 of us as 2.5 of the normal fare). Few mins of waiting, then we all were boarded into half-full boat which sped along the Chao Phraya river. It stopped several times at certain pier until it reached pier #9 which was our destination. We were alighted on a very humble pier, small wooden dark alley connecting the pier to the main street. Souvenir and hawker stalls filled up the sides of the road, ignoring the fishy dried fish smell that attacked our nose without mercy.

The sleeping Budha

 

Back to the blazing sun, we noticed it was 3.30pm. Too late for visiting Grand Palace since it was officially closed at 3pm. We diverted our way to the right (Grand Palace was on our left), following the throng of people going to Wat Pho. One thing to remember, you should dress properly for Wat Pho, including № sleevesless top, mini pants and too-revealing dress. They do provide cover cloth (like beach cloth - with a little price) outside Wat Pho for those who don't dress up to their standard. As foreigner, we had to buy our tickets B100/person (free for Thais). The place had a solemn atmosphere, while we walk through the corridor with beautifully craved doors and windows. Stone warrior statues were standing cautiously, as if guarding each door agaisnt the current human malice. From close distance, I noticed several similar attributes of the statues to the Chinese's famous warrior figures. However it was the buildings...the roof style...the temples...the stupas that fascinated us. It was magnificently beautiful, with colourful tiny tiles forms various shapes. I tried to imagine they build this one by one, by manual labor. It was definitely a place worth your time

Row of donation pots

The unique roof decoration

After indulging ourselves on the surrounding, we moved to the place where they put the famous reclining Budha (sleeping Budha). We had to take off our shoes (but they provided a shoe bag to keep ours. Mindful of the sacred ambiance inside, we nudged our way and stole a brief chance to take our pic with the Budha. It was huge in gold, with playful gold and red kind of shades around the building depicting some sort of the stories...probably (we didn't hire the guide though they were available). Circling the Budha, we saw neat row of donation pots on one side of the wall. Thais and several people put a coin into each one of those pots...with clanging sound, they murmured a silent prayer.

  

Tired after walking a whole day, we decided to try the (to-be-said) authentic Thai massage at the back garden of the complex. Several people were waiting for their turns already. We chose the 30mins treatment for B260 (B420 for an hour treatment). After 30mins, we were called and led to our place. Since I was wearing a dress, the masseuse gave me a knee-length pants to use and asked me to store my stuff at the small compartment above the bed. She started the massage by rubbing and kneading hardly into the knotted muscle of mine. With low voice, she asked trivial things with her limited English, probably trying to put me relax. It felt good at first until she hit the most sore spots on my shoulder...my oh my...I wanted to scream at her...asking her to stop torturing me. But I managed to keep quiet (geez...even I didn't hear a squeak from my girls) and tried my best to relax my strained body. I endured the 30mins of torture with terrifying bone-cracking sounds at the end of the session (ehm...am I a maso?). But afterward, a cold relieve spread onto my body and I felt lighter...perhaps I could go for another session *grinning* Even my girls Ŀ♡√Ɛ it...they kept saying that it wasn't hurt and all.

The queue for massage

With lighter body, we continue our walk by exploring the outer gate of the Grand Palace. Seeing some hawker sellers were tidying up their stalls while another were just preparing theirs. Enjoying our leisure walk in fading sunlight, we hailed a taxi for a ride home. Reflecting sunset on the golden rooftop of the Grand Palace was the last view I caught before the taxi brought us back to the hotel.