Bangkok- 4/5/13 - 4/8/13
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Day 1-Grand Palace, Part 2
Elephants are important to the people of Thailand and they have been a cultural icon of Thailand since ancient days.
Elephants came to mean much more to the Thai people than a mere beast of burden. It has become a symbol of fortune, and the superstitious will pay to pass beneath the animal's body and receive a share of the luck that it carries. Elephants are omnipresent in Thai arts, they are prominent in Thai Buddhism. Visiting a temple we can see murals representing the story of how the Gautama Buddha was conceived (Queen Maya after a dream in which a white elephant entered her womb through her ribs), also the Thai Jakata Tales (instructive Buddhist folks tales) tell many stories of wise and kind elephants.
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Here I am entering the prayer room. Shoes have to be removed! Lots and lots of people in there buying incense sticks and they kneel down and pray.
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Lots and lots of gold!
Incredible workman ships with amazing details.
Beautiful Wat Pra Kaeo
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Miniature Thotsakhirithons ( Giant Demon) guarding the temple.
Mural paintings depicting scenes from the famous epic "Ramayana" describing duties of relationships by portraying ideal characters like the ideal father, ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal wife and the ideal king.
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The Ramayana is a Hindu epic, but is very important in Buddhist Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. The story is filled with moral lessons as well as plenty of adventure and magic. In Thailand, all kings since around 1800 have officially taken on the name Rama, after the king in the Ramayana. The current king, King Bumibol (pronounced Pumiopon) is officially Rama the 9th.
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There are a total of 178 connecting scenes starting from the right side of the northern gate facing the Mondop and going clockwise.
This place is where people can bring flowers, lit an incense and pray.
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A prayer .... |
People can buy a special bottle with perfume water and then they pour over the body of the Buddha while praying. |
we are done with our tour and we are on our way out....
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On our way out we had to wait for our chauffeur and we saw this old lady selling papaya salad and grilled chicken.
It looks really good but we don't even dare eating just in case...
Next.. Lunch
