Around Bangkok

Thailand Map | Home Page 2 of 4 | Page Up | Page Down
 

Sunday afternoon at Sanam Luang Royal Field

Also known as Pramane or Royal  Cremation Ground.  The last King cremated here was the present King's brother.  It is now mostly used for recreation and ceremonial occasions. During the week you can rent bicycles, take a stroll and play or watch soccer.  At weekends families congregate here

In the spring, from mid February through April a dependable breeze springs up every afternoon and the big attraction is kite flying.  A serious Kite Fight event is held, teams are sponsored.   'Male' kites requiring up to 10 to fly them and 'female' single-handed kites engage in battle, scores are kept and at the end of the season prizes awarded
 

 

  

Stepping on to the streets of Bangkok from your air conditioned hotel,  you are assaulted by traffic noise, pollution and overwhelming heat.  Today (1992)  10% of the population lives in Bangkok and 90% of all cars are registered there.   Millions more get around on motorbikes and scooters like this family going to school
 

 

 

School Assembly, complete with musical accompaniment
 

 

  

 

Wat Arun - The Temple Of The Dawn

Water taxi's cris cross the Chao Phya river at frequent intervals.   They never seem to stop, just slow to a crawl by the  piers for passengers to jump on or off.  We took the early morning taxi across to the Temple of Dawn along with these two young monks

You can climb  half way up the central tower.  The view is spectacular but the climb is not for the faint hearted.   Everyone clings to the hand rails and does not look back until reaching the walkway.  Coming down is as bad if not worse.  The descent is made backwards, again clinging to the hand rails

 

 

The  surface of the tower is covered  with mosaics of multicoloured Chinese porcelain.  When the builders ran out of materials, Rama 111 called upon his subjects to contribute broken crockery to complete the decoration

 

 

 

Cat Napping

Cats are everywhere.  They all seem to have mutated tails 

The story goes that a Thai princess needed a place to put her rings while bathing

The cats tail was the ideal size but they kept slipping off, so all cats developed a kink in their tails to oblige her
 

Around the base of this wonderful temple are market stalls where tourists and monks visiting from rural areas can pick up souvenirs of their visit

 
Thailand Map | Home Page 2 of 4 | Page Up | Page Down