A relatively short post for a small but lovely temple in Chiang Mai.
It's only a small temple, but it is lovely. Although it's a big, gold Buddha and a big gold stupa and a big, gold dragon, I prefer the black and white version of the shot.
Some nice repeating patterns and the whimsy of these two.
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This is, as the name would suggest, as temple made of marble. To be precise, white Italian marble. It is one of the temples that crops up on the 'top places to visit' or 'most instaramgrable places' in Bangkok (When did instagramable become a word?).
Construction of the temple began in 1899 at the request of King Chulalongkorn after building his palace nearby. The temple's name literally means 'the Temple of the fifth King located near Dusit Palace'. The ashes of King Chulalongkorn are buried beneath the Buddha statue in the main hall. It is the temple on the obverse side of the 5 baht coin, The weather wasn't the greatest, but I think these black and white shots of the Mahanakhon Tower came out pretty well, with some nice repeating patterns broken up by the, what would you call it? Half-finished design?
Wat Sutheat is one of the oldest and most important Buddhist temples in Bangkok. It is a royal temple of the first grade, one of ten such temples in Bangkok. As a Royal Temple it has a special reverence within the country. First built over 200 years ago during the reign of Rama I, huge teak doors were added by Rama II , before finally finishing construction in 1847 when Rama III ascended the throne.
Just outside the temple, in the middle of a roundabout is one of the symbols of Bangkok; A Giant Swing that was an integral part of the old annual rice harvest festivities when groups of men rode it to its full 80ft height, as they attempted to grab bags of silver coins. Unsurprisingly, a few too many fatalities put an end to the custom. The magnificent teak arch, however, is still standing and forms part of much safer thanksgiving ceremonies in the modern day. Although often described as being one of the most instagramable places in Bangkok, I found it massively uninspiring as a photography subject. The temple itself was a another matter...
The marble floor outside the temple, gives great reflections. I need to go back just after it's rained and see if I can get even more pronounced reflections. It is definitely one of Bangkok's quieter temples. I wouldn't say I had to myself, but there can't have been more than a handful of others there, including locals who come to pray. Outside the walls Bangkok rages in it's noisy busy-city was but it is very peaceful inside.
![]() Hongluo Temple is about 55km north of the heart of Beijing and has the Hongluo Mountains to the north of it and Hongluo Lake to the south. Originally built in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (338AD), it was expanded in the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). This 1000-year old temple complex covers 800 hectares in total, and is an extraordinary Buddhist holy land. It is said that there are 'Three wonders of Hongluo Temple' - the imperial bamboo forest, the male and female ginkgo trees and the wisteria pines. As with a lot of temple complexes in China, the Hongluo Temple complex is a very cool, peaceful one. There is an abundance of bamboo, as well as thousands of acres of pine trees surrounding the whole area. These two temples are across the road from one another to the north east of the Forbidden City. The Confucious Temple is several hunderd years older than the Lama Temple, but both are impressive temple complexes to wander around. Temple of Confucious![]() The Temple of Confucious was build in 1302 during the Yuan dynasty. It has been added to over the years - the first time being during the Ming dynasty; the second during the Qing dynasty and now sits approxiamtely 20,000 square metres of grounds. The grounds are a very quiet place to wander. The buildings to the sides of the main temple have been converted into exhibition rooms highlighting the life and works of Confucious and how his teachings have impacted other countries. One of my all-time-favourite temples is the Temple of Heaven. This temple, just south of the Forbidden City and Tianamen Square, was completed in 1420 and is a complex of an 'axial arrangement of Circual Mound Alter to the south open to the sky with the conicallly roofed Imperial Vault of Heaven immediately to its north.' (Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial Altar in Beijing - UNESCO World Heritage Centre)
It's one of my favourite temples because it is so different. You don't come across that many circular structures and certainly not decorated to the degree that these are.
After an excellent feed at the highly recommended Chivit bistro we sauntered round the corner to the second of the triumvirate of coloured themed attractions. Unlike the White Temple, the Blue temple is similar to many temples here but is, well, blue. Very blue! It is, I have to say, pretty cool. We've seen a lot of temples over the years but this was one of the most striking.
Perhaps not quite as stunning as the White Temple, it is still really impressive and is an actual temple rather than an artist's folly! One of the nice things about here is that on some evenings Sukhothai is lit up.
So, a nice simple post this time. A series of pics from the sights we had seen earlier on the Saturday but this time at night. The only problem with this is being bitten. If you do go and want to see it at (The day time ticket is still valid for re-entry btw), then bring the mozzy spray. ![]() A year ago we bobbled up to Ayutthia for a couple days on our way up to Chang Mai. This used to be the capital of Thailand until it got sacked by those naughty Cambodians. Now, don't get me wrong, Ayutthai is great but Sukhothai is really amazing. Loved it! In Thai, Sukhothai means 'dawn of happiness' and the whole thing is a UNESCO world heritage site. . The ruins are spread across 70 sq KM and there are more than 190 separate ruins. This makes a bike an excellent way to see many of the ruins. All the hotels hire them out for about 50 baht (a quid) per day. The main site is the walled area that used to be the Royal palace. Somewhat bizarrely, but obviously correctly, Wikipedia starts its introduction to the History of Sukhotahi as being before Ice Cream! I'm not making this up!. Historians now believe that this important trading town started its secession form the Khymer empire about 900 years ago. Traditional Thai historians considered the founding of the Sukhothai Kingdom as the beginning of the Thai nation because little was known about the kingdoms prior to Sukhothai. Modern historical studies demonstrate that Thai history began before Sukhothai. Yet the foundation of Sukhothai is still a celebrated event. There is a small admission charge but its valid all day so you can have a cycle round, nip off for a refreshing coffee und kuchin and then todal back, wander, go home for a swim, and come back again. System works well.
Whilst the ruins are spectacular... particularly at night when, if you go at the right time they are floodlight (see next post), it is the quality of the carving that I really liked. For example, please see exhibit 1, below: Well, its been a while! The temple dates back to the Ayutthaya era, when it was known as Wat Sakae. When Bangkok became the capital, King Rama I renovated the temple and gave it its present name. Phu Khao Thong (Golden mountain, ภูเขาทอง) is a steep artificial hill inside the Wat Saket compound. Rama I's grandson, King Rama III, decided to build a chedi of huge dimensions inside Wat Saket, but the chedi collapsed during construction because the soft soil of Bangkok could not support the weight. The hill was built out of the mud dug out to make the canal network around Bangkok. During the reign of King Rama IV, construction began of a small chedi on the hill. It was completed early in the reign of his son, King Rama V. A relic of the Buddha was brought from Sri Lanka and placed in the chedi. The surrounding concrete walls were added in the 1940s to stop the hill from eroding.
When we lived in Taiwan, on one of the telly Travel channels there used to be an advert they would run again and again and again. It told the story of travelers who turned up in a village in the arse-end of nowhere, realised they were lost and were desperate to get back on the road again. Only, of course, there was no transport for a day or two. They then slowly realised that being lost, or at least not where you wanted to be is what travel is about. I think the tag line was something like 'you can't find yourself until you're lost'. What a load of hippy-dippy baloney, is my usual view of that. I have to say I like things planned. That doesn't mean no flexibility but I enjoy planning a trip and like to know what is going to happen next.
Planning it is half the fun. Although, if that were actually true, then I should plan two trips, have the same amount of enjoyment and save a fortune. But you know what I mean. However, on occasion, I can be proven wrong about this and we stumble upon (or get pushed into) a hidden gem. We were off out for the day from our Air BnB week to, I think, Galle for the day. About 10 minutes into the journey our driver turns off the main road and up a hill, round a corner, up a bit, down a bit and round a few more corners. When he eventually stops he proudly tells that this is the temple of his own village.
This is an amazing temple, well actually a series of temples. I think it's really a monastery rather than a single temple. The one below is only open to males and is truly spectacular. The pictures don't really do justice to the amazing murals on the walls all the way around it.
Although some of the smaller stupas have a touch of the seen better days/jerry built about them, this is one of the more iconic sights/sites of Ayutthaya, with the three stupas all in a row and all still standing.
Built in the 15th century it was the temple complex for the adjacent Royal palace. It once was home to a 16m high seated Buddha. This statue was covered in 143kg of gold but, surprise surprise, it was nicked and melted down by the invading Burmese. This was getting to be hot work so time for an iced coffee and a cheeky piece of cake! Chengdu has lots of interesting temples, as one might expect from somewhere that boasts such a large Tibetan population. However, what is cool (literally) about many of the temples in Chengdu compared to the rest of China is that they all seem to have lovely gardens attached to them. This makes them more than usually pleasant places to kill an hour or two. The WuhouCi temple is a huge rambling affair dedicated to the Emperor Liu Bei, whose head is buried here and dates from the third century. These walls loop around and the mound inside them is where he is buried. The grounds are packed with interesting sculptures and statues such as these... As with all classic Chinese gardens, water is a big feature. This is great because not only does it look nice, it has the practical benefits of cooling everything down a bit too in the heat of the summer. Another of the temples that I particularly enjoyed a wander round was Qingyang Gong, if just for its peace and quiet. The main pavilion is octagonal and is dedicated to some guy riding his buffalo who can be found in the green goat market when his philosophy is understood? Not sure either, but that is what I read! To end this little tour a Chengdu's temples is Wenshu. This is more of a monastery than a temple again, with lovely shaded gardens to wander and cool off in. Just past the entrance is an 11 story pagoda Right outside are a few streets selling all sorts of tourist tat and several places to buy grub, which just completes the morning out as the little people were starting to moan!
The second part of mini-break around the Shanxi was to travel the hour or so to Tiayuan to the Jinci temple complex. The complex dates from around the 6th Century, although it has been modified and adapted many times since then.
It is most famous for the Hall of the Holy Mother which, itself is over 1000 years old. This temple features amazing carved pillars. Each of the pillars to the front of the temple is encased by a carved serpent. After the excitement of the temples we then started heading back towards Jakarta but broke the journey up in Cirebon.
A lot of our travel in Indonesia was by train. They may not be the plushest but they were comfortable, the views were excellent and they are as cheap as chips. Someone came around with a menu at the start of the journey and then around lunchtime your selected meal turns up... and very nice it was too. I'd highly recommend trains over Indonesia's chaotic road transportation system. |
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AuthorsWe are teachers and have worked in various schools in Europe & Asia. This is really a chronicle of out travels over the years. It is meant for us to look back on, reflect and remember where we've been, what we've done and all our little adventures. If you like it too, then fab! If you don't, do you think we care? Archives
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