Wat Pho and Wat Arun
Two temples opposite one another on the Chao Phraya River
01.24.2008 - 01.24.2008 96 °F
These two temples are recommended after the Wat Phra temple, so early Thursday morning I set out to see them.
Wat Pho is a temple and the official massage school of Thailand. If you want to have a massage business in Bangkok (of which there are many) you must first get certified at Wat Pho. It also houses the huge golden reclining Buddha, which was quite a sight to see. It was so large and the building so tightly built around it that taking a picture of the whole statue was quite difficult.
The rest of the buildings and stupas at Wat Pho were an different style of mosaic with many Chinese style statues:
After Wat Pho, I couldn't resist the sweet fragrant smell of roasted bananas. It was 4 pieces for 10 baht and as advertised on the sign, they were -- "Good"!
A quick ferry ride across the river took me to Wat Arun, also known as the Temple of Dawn. It's done in the older style and is similar to the famous Khmer-style temples in Siem Riep, Cambodia.
The towers in the background are Wat Arun. You can see the stairs above the orange roof. To prevent becoming an exhausted, sweaty excuse for a human in the midday heat, I opted not to climb up Wat Arun...
Gorgeous flower on a tree outside the temple.
The sun, humidity and heat were not conducive for lingering and appreciating the temple, so I took a quick look and headed to the other famous attraction of Bangkok: shopping. (Indoors, with air-conditioning)
