After an exhausting day yesterday, we thought Monday would be a lighter one as we will have a city tour. It was part of the tour package we bought.
The first stop was the leaning buddha. Just behind the opulent extravagance of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha stands Wat Phra Chetuphon, which is more commonly known by its old name of Wat Po. The temple is actually much older than the city of Bangkok itself. It was founded in the 17th century, making it the oldest temple in Bangkok. The name Wat Po comes from its original name of Wat Potaram. King Rama I, the founder of Bangkok, enlarged the temple, installed many statues and other artefacts recovered from Ayuthaya, and renamed the temple Wat Phra Chetuphon in 1801.
Rama III enlarged the temple in 1832 and turned the temple into a center of learning, making it in essence Thailand’s first university. Rama III is also responsible for the construction of the reclining Buddha. The Wiharn housing the reclining Buddha is just barely big enough to hold the statue, which is why you never seen any wide shots of the whole thing. Further information can be read in this website : http://thailandforvisitors.com/central/bangkok/watpo.html
Inside the temple, I was filled with awe at the buddha’s size and experienced the usual tourist elation at seeing such work of art. However, as we exited the temple and went out to get our shoes, my digital camera got stolen. I just bent down to tie my shoelaces and someone opened my bag and stole the camera! I was so angry that someone could do such an evil act inside the temple’s premises. My friends tried to comfort me by having our picture taken in the different chedis surrounding the temple and let me feed the pigeons.
We lost interest in going to the other temples because of the incident. So, what better way to appease an angry woman? Shopping, of course! So we went shopping until mid afternoon. I went to have a massage. I haven’t experienced the Thai massage so I asked the massage place to give me one. It was a bit painful than the Swedish massage I normally ask in Manila. It was done on the floor and I was given a set of pajamas. It was a dry massage with the massuese just pulling and stretching my body using her legs and arms. It will be quite a while before I try Thai massage again. 