Trip to Thailand, January 2013
We parked on the side of a little soi and put both kids up on our backs, Marcus still 100% sleeping, though Samantha was awake, and walked a couple blocks to the ferry (3 baht) to the temple. The temple was amazingly beautiful. We availed ourselves of the free waters once we’d paid the admission fee and gone in, and then we all climbed up the steps to the first level.
I stopped there with Samantha, because the rest of it was just way too steep and too high for me. Marcus had woken up just as we entered the temple grounds, and he was hot and thirsty, but he eventually got interested in the cool climbing possibilities. Meanwhile, two people also hanging out on the first level struck up a conversation with me, mostly because of Samantha. They cooed at her, took pictures of her and of each other posing with her, and we started stalking. They both work to collect waste paper and recycle it, which they insisted is a very good business. Though natives of Bangkok, they couldn’t answer my questions about the temple, saying they only came here because it was close to New Year’s and they thought they should. When they couldn’t answer my questions about history or architecture, a guy who’d been standing near us suddenly answered for them, and then I started talking to him too. He was a university student, a junior studying history and economics, another Bangkok native. He said his hobby was going to different temples and historical sites each weekend and holiday, just to consider the history of them. He was very Basil (Considine)-like, and very happy to talk to me. He told me about how the temple was built, what the symbolism was of the different animals, and about the different languages of Buddhism (Sanskrit and Bali) and how they figured in the history of the temple. My recycling friends slipped away, sadly, bored at this, and then George came down and eventually drove my Thai Basil away. George carried my bag down the stairs so I could descend. The stairs definitely looked steeper from above, but were fine once I was on them.
As Robert and Marcus came down, we watched some workers stringing a rope around the entire temple; George explained this was so the monks could hold the end of the string and envelope the temple in their blessings to give it good luck for the whole year to come.
Heading over to the ferry to Wat Arun.
View from the ferry, on the ferry, and monks boarding the ferry.
Climbing up, up, and then down by the free water station.
I'm looking up, Robert's looking down; then Robert zoomed to show my waste paper friends gushing over Samantha on my back.
Stringing the blessing thread around the temple; Samantha conked out on my back for the ferry back.
Walking out together, we had more free water, considered the day-of-the-week offering areas (you donate to a specific day depending on which day of the week you were born), and admired the sunset. Sam fell asleep on my back while we were in line waiting for the ferry back. Marcus loved the boat and the pretty lights on the water, as now it was getting dark, and we looked back at the temple gates now closed behind us.
On the way to the car Robert bought a pork stick from a vendor near the ferry dock (shack) as she was closing up shop, and he and Marcus ate it on the way to our restaurant for dinner. I transferred the sleeping Samantha to my front, and she stayed asleep.
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Created: 1/15/13. Last Modified: 1/15/13.