Wat Pho and Wat Arun

I have about $20 to spend today so I decided to go cheaper than the $50 I spent yesterday.  Just a little south of where I'm staying were a couple wats (temples).  I started walking around 9:45 thus morning an along the way were a whole lot of outdoor markets.  It was still kinda early and everyone was still just setting up, but it was real interesting to see.  Right before I got to the Grand Palace, there were a bunch of pigeons and this lady came up to me with a bag of popcorn kernels.  She was real adamant about selling them to me, saying that it'll bring me good luck, but I wasn't going to spend money just to feed pigeons.  

The Grand Palace costs about $7 to get in and I didn't feel like spending that money so I walked passed it ... for about a grand 15 minutes.  Right after that was a temple called Wat Pho, Thailand's oldest temple famous for having a huge reclining Buddha.  I wasn't sure was that meant, so it didn't really interest me.  But with a $1.50 entry fee, I was game.  About 180 years ago, the temple was turned into a university by putting all kinds of pictures relating to history, literature, and animals.  I didn't notice anything like that except for maybe a bunch of framed pictures that were faded beyond recognition.  Now, it's a center of medicine, especially Thai massages (without the happy ending I'm sure).  Right when I got in, about 5 ladies were trying to sell me a massage for $10.  Although I knew it was going to be good, I declined.  

I walked around for about 45 minutes, looking at hundreds of golden, seated Buddha, animal sculptures, towers decorated with tiles, and funny sculptures of people giving each other massages.  



I was going to leave because I forgot that there was supposed to be some huge Buddha there and it was crawling with high school kids on a field trip.  Also, I think I started at the exit and was going the wrong way.  I walked through some gate and saw a bunch of foreigners, so I went in.  

A reclining Buddha is a Buddha just chillin.  It was lying down in it's side resting his head on his hand.  It was HUGE.  It's 45 meters (150 feet) long and it's cool, relaxed smile is 5 meters (16 feet) wide.  The feet were enormous and on the bottom of his feet were covered with pearls showing some kind of pictures.  The reclining nature of the Buddha represents him entering Nirvana.  


After I left Wat Pho, I went looking for how to cross the river to get to Wat Arun.  My book said it's supposed to be 3 baht (10 cents) so I wasn't gonna get duped into paying any more than 5 bahts.  While I was looking for the pier, there were so many street vendors and markets along the way.  The mixture of fish, durian, and chinese herbal medicine was pretty interesting.  I bought a savory grilled chicken along the way for 30 cents and when I finally found the pier, the guy said 200 baht (about $7).  I asked for the cheaper one and he very kindly told me it was 5 minutes back where I came from.  I was surprised that he didn't try to sell me the more expensive one.  I got to the other pier in about 10 minutes, paid my 3 baht, and took a 1 minute boat across the river right to the entrance of Wat Arun.

I didn't spend as much time at Wat Arun as I did at Wat Pho, and it wasn't as impressive, but much more geared at tourists.  I don't know why though.  It was built to represet Mount Meru, the Home of the gods in Khmer mythology.  Ta Keo in the Angkor complex in Cambodia also depicted this mountain and was way better.  The 5 towers at Wat Arun were decorated with porcelain flowers and the four outer pillars represent Buddha at te most important points in his life; birth, in meditation, preaching his first sermon, and entering Nirvana.  I forgot that, so I wasn't looking for it.  The center tower had extremely steep steps that declined toward the bottom.  I'm surprised no one falls and dies.  These ancient temple builders really like steep and crazy dangerous steps.  I wasn't all that impressed, but I'm sure it would be nice to see the sunrise or sunset.  I guess that's why it's called the "Temple of Dawn."



I took the ferry back an started on my way back.  The sky cleared up, so it got really hot.  I took a different way back an saw the other markets selling just about everything from cell phones to rare gems and from Saran wrap to illegal DVDs.   It was weird because these "stores" are just blankets on the side walk so I wonder where they got all these cell phones and iPod parts from.  I passed the pigeon lady again and I kept her on my right so I would be able to see her if she approached me again, then out of nowhere on my left, this other lady crammed a bag of popcorn between my bag and my chest.  I told her, "I don't want it!" but she kept on insisting that it would bring me good luck and that she was going to give it to me, so I took it and shoved it back into her stupid bag and took off.  I would have punched her in the face if she followed me.  

This ended my 4-hour temple tour and it only cost me about $3.