Travelling Hopefully - Cultural Experience Edition

OK so apparently there are floating markets in Bangkok.  I know this because I saw signs saying “floating market” studded about the place as we did a canal tour of Bangkok.  Since the signs were attached to pontoons bobbing about in the canal this seemed pretty definitive although they all seemed to be closed.

With a probably unnecessary correction (nobody can possibly be coming to this blog for accuracy) I can focus on more important events.  Firstly the proudly independent traveller section of my holiday has come to a close.  Henceforth I shall be merely one a group of a dozen people thrown together at random by a capricious god to share a fate whether for good or ill.  We’re mostly Australians and New Zealanders with an Englishman and a Thai tour leader tossed in.  A much needed touch of the exotic is provided by the presence of a Transylvanian German who was rather surprised when I knew what a Transylvanian German was.

This evening we catch the train to Southern Thailand but first we hopped a bus (two actually) to see the Wat Pho temple and its famous reclining Buddha.  The temple is actually a complex of buildings including a monastery, schools, stupas galore and a large construction to keep the rain off the aforementioned reclining Buddha.  In days gone by of course the temple was a community centre providing education, healthcare and a place of refuge for the local population as well as being somewhere the people could come to get their Buddhism on.  And not necessarily just Buddhism either.  The Thais are largely Buddhist but they also believe in keeping their options open thus they are rather catholic as regards other gods.  They work on the principle that if you ask all of the gods one of them might say yes.  Actually that doesn’t sound very Catholic at all really.

Did I say stupas?  Have we got stupas, we have stupas to burn.  Actually the burning occurs pre stupa.  This is a royal temple and for someone to have their ashes interred here after cremation (or a really bad house fire) is a mark of signal honour.  The temple grounds are crammed with stupas presumably containing the ashes of prominent Thais.  It is bad form to sit on them or stub your cigarette out on one.

And finally to the reclining Buddha itself.  What can one say about a forty metre long statue of a guy resting on one elbow completely covered in gold leaf?  At least what can you say that wasn’t covered in the previous sentence?  Try this, check out the soles of his feet.  They’re covered in mother of pearl and they look amazing.