Last temple.....

I posted these with no explanation...it really does deserve some 'splaining.  The funny thing about our temple visits and tourism in Thailand was that we have done a lot of the learning after-the-fact.  So little information was given or posted or translated into English that we kind of floated around these amazing heritage/cultural/religious sights just appreciating them for their beauty/enormity/age but not really understanding what we were looking and without being able to put things in context.  This temple was one of the last we visited in Thailand.   It is "Wat Pho" and is named for the monastery in India where the Buddha was thought to live. The official name is....wait for it...... Wat Phra Chettuphon Wimon Mangkhlaram Ratchaworamahawihan  which explains a why such a grand and important and enormous place has such a plain name..it's only a nickname.  It is one of Bangkok's oldest (founded in 1781) and biggest (20 acres/80,000 square meters) monasteries and it houses both the working temple/school and a theravadic massage schools.

The bronze bowls (above) number 108 -- one for each of Buddha's auspicious symbols -- and visitors/pilgrims drop coins in the bowls for good luck.  The donations help support the monks.

There are a number of stone guards on the grounds of the temple...they were originally brought to Thailand as ballast in Chinese ships.

I could start a whole gnarly cat blog.  I could even start a gnarly cats at temples blog.  that would just be gross.

The monastery grounds are not..."overrun" with stray cats but there are a lot and they really don't look like ones you'd want to take home.  In fact you kind of want to avoid them.  Maybe it's just that I'm not a cat person?

The grounds have 400 of 1200 gold Buddha statues in the same pose but in different styles and from different period displayed.  This pose represents the Abhaya mudra pose -- fearlessness and reason.  I found some wonderful iconographic explanations of the different poses (seating, standing, relcining, and hand gestures (there are 6 options)) and can share this (small) bit about the statues at Wat Pho:

There is no requirement that every Buddha image be identical, and in fact there is a wide variety of artistic styles and national traditions in representing the Buddha. There are, however, certain rules of representation that must be adhered to.  Fearlessness (Abhāya mudrā) th:ปางประทานอภัย pang bprà-taan à-pai: either one or both arms are shown bent at the elbow and the wrist, with the palm facing outwards and the fingers pointing upwards. It shows the Buddha either displaying fearlessness in the face of adversity, or enjoining others to do so. Right hand raised is also called "calming animals" th:ปางโปรดสัตว์pang pròht sàt; both hands raised is also called "forbidding the relatives" th:ปางห้ามญาติ pang ham yat. These 'mudrā are usually associated with a standing Buddha, but seated representations are not uncommon.

I feel like I have to apologise for the black and white photos.  Sometimes the gold and the jewels and the colours and smells and sounds...it was just too much.  The only way I could sensorily process these temple visits was to just dial it down and focus on composition and contrast....But...check it out: Incredible.  There are nearly 100 of these chedis or mounds...each one completely overwhelmingly spectacular. (and crawling with the gnarly stray cats...)

Bangkok

The Gang of Four.  Taking a rare break from Nerf Gun Warfare.  (oh, look !  The haircut finally happened! and nothing since.  I'm putting the pressure on get get back to this cool look again. It's back to being a complete mop. )

Hat Rai Leh - Railay Beach

This is the post I've put off.  It's a bit too precious and I have wanted to both keep these memories to myself. Being in landlocked Zambia....the time at the beach in Thailand was absolutely incredible.  We have to give a big, huge, ginormous thanks to our hosts, Todd and Sihin for finding this great spot and also for coming there with us.  Pitty...what can we say but "Thanks."

That is one gnarly cat.

Close Encounters with the superfreaks.

One afternoon of rain towards then end of our time...we all took a much-needed break from the beach.
 (The view from our balcony)

Some days the beach was crowded.  Like this day: Gid AND Peter Finch had to share it with that guy in the red shirt back there.  Later, his two kid showed up and wanted to build a sand castle.  We said to go find your own beach.  I mean, couldn't he see this beach was taken?

Hi, Solo.  XOXO

The view from the plane.

One morning, we hired a boat.  We wanted to do a big 'four island tour' but the activity office talked us into just hiring our own boat and going over to the marine reserve and to Chicken Island.  (Did someone say Village Chicken?)

We had breakfast, packed up and headed out.  We had no idea what we were in for but when we landed on this beach....it didn't really matter what else happened the whole trip.  We were shocked at the beauty of this place.  We had two boatmen; they tried to explain where we should go.  At one point, they were kind of rushing us -- they said we needed to cross a sand-bar before the tide got too high. 

sho'nuf...the tide came in quickly.

But we come to find out that while the tide WAS coming in and we DID need to cross, they also wanted us to get going b/c before long, the beach was properly INVADED by nearly a dozen boats packed to the gunnels with tourists doing the 4 island tour!  It turns out our guys' itinerary and our private-hire boat was taking us to all these incredible spots BEFORE anyone else got there. It was actually pretty darn funny once we realized it.  (And finally understood what the boatmen were really trying to tell us. duh.)

"Hi, sweet Family."


"Hello, Friends."  

"Hi, cute boy."


"HOLY CRAP! Let's get OUT OF HERE!"