Visited the Temple of Dawn and National Palace today…..

Today was Sunday and the only day off on this job so I slept in late then rode the sky train downtown and caught a water taxi up the Chao Praya River to the Temple of Dawn. The Temple of Dawn is not the most impressive in Bangkok but it is the most imposing and towers over everything on the river except the skyscrapers. It is also the most recognized symbol of Bangkok in movies and pictures—if you remember the James Bond movie shot in Thailand the temple was prominently displayed in the background of the river scenes. On the final photograph note the ceramic dishes and cups incorporated into the intricate designs. This temple is very, very old and in the old days of the sailing China Clippers many times the ceramic cargoes would be destroyed en route due to rough seas and mishandling so the Buddhist monks would take the broken pottery and glass and fashion it into temple decorations. In the 1800s when a major renovation of the temple took place the monks didn’t have enough glass or pottery shards so they requested the citizens of Thailand donate any broken dishes to be used in the restoration. Being devout as they are, the Thais broke dishes to give the monks or donated complete sets for the temple.
From the Temple of Dawn I crossed back over the river and visited the National Palace and the Emerald Buddha. I had taken a tour on a previous trip here so today I just walked around and photographed the grounds. The pictures on the right should say it all—it is one of the most beautiful temple complexes in Asia and I think it is far more impressive than the Forbidden City in Beijing.
After visiting the National Palace I took a water taxi back down to the Oriental Hotel and ate lunch on the veranda over the river and watched the rice barges. I’m not getting much time off this trip and job but the time I do have is so enjoyable. I’ve finished two of the three classes now and am on the short side of the trip until I come home. Tomorrow I hope to confirm an overnight trip to Angkor Wat. If so, I’ll be posting some spectacular photos before I return home on May 29.