Temple of Emerald Buddha

Temple of Emerald Buddha (Wat Prakaew) is a great place to visit in Bangkok Thailand. It used to be the Grand Palace of Thai Royal family. There are so many things to see around the temple and palace. One of my favorite is murals around the inner wall that surround the main hall where the Emerald Buddha is housed. I had a bit of chance to take few pictures of them here (oh, by the way you cannot take picture inside the main hall). I believe it is the only temple in Thailand that does not have any resident monks. The place is opened for visitors and for royal family tradition visits and ceremonies only.

I wished I had time to go around and take time to see the these paintings and stories they tell. Not only the main story lines were told, the artists included daily lives, humors and even naughtiness. The work of art is second to none, in my opinion.

A bit of brief introduction (Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Phra_Kaew):

” The Wat Phra Kaew (Thai: วัดพระแก้ว, RTGS: Wat Phra Kaeo, IPA: [wát pʰráʔ kɛ̂ːw], Pronunciation, English: Temple of the Emerald Buddha; full official name Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram, Thai: วัดพระศรีรัตนศาสดาราม, IPA: [wát pʰráʔ sǐː rát.ta.náʔ sàːt.sa.daː.raːm]) is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple (wat) in Thailand. It is a “potent religio-political symbol and the palladium of Thai society”.[1] It is located in the historic centre of Bangkok (district Phra Nakhon), within the precincts of the Grand Palace.[2][3][4]”.

The outside of the main hall of the temple.  Beautiful wall and columns.

Roof structures of the near by halls. The roofs are covered by painted clay tiles. The bright orange color is pretty much tradition.

I am a bit fascinated by the architecture of the roof designs. You may notice there are small bells or wind chimes hanging along the overhangs.

This is a view of the out side main hall. I could not resist sneaking a picture of place with the lovely couple 🙂

This is a hermit who practiced medicine. The stone in front of him for symbolized grinding stone for mixing up ingredients.

The based of of the “Stupa”. Those figures at the based show their incredible strength supporting the sacred structure. They are characters from Indian epic Ramayana.

This is one of the section of mural in the inner wall. I think it is about the confrontation of the two small troops from the Indian epic Ramayana.

The power full figure in this section has many arms.  It is a palace where the leader listens to his commander report or gives the order to his commander (I am guessing here).

I believe this scene depicts a major battle. There are so many detailed actions in the painting.

This is a close up of one of the Ramayana character. I believe he is a powerful soldier (not a human).  This one was painted on the door entrance to the inner hall. I guess that he is for protecting the place.

This is the Royal palace off the main temple hall. There were many tourists there that day.

Hope you like the little tour of the place 🙂

Silom Village Trade Center

This was a visit to Silom Village Trade Center in BKK a few years back. The Silom Village is a small shopping area on Silom Rd. The place has an out door (open) restaurant with live Thai music playing. The dinning tables are arranged in the middle of the village and surrounded by many small shops selling Thai crafts, services or Thai desserts. It seems like a nice place to visit just to see things if you just happen to be near by. The night time or after dark is probably the right time to go.  I do not think the place is for local people to hang out but rather targeted for foreigners or tourists.

The front entrance on Silom Rd.

The buildings inside follow old style wealthy house from about 50 or 60 years ago, I believe.  They create atmosphere of BKK around that era.

The upper floor window. I like the design and  the pink curtains of this window.

It was not crowded at the time or on that day.  That was nice.

This is one of the food stands there attended by very friendly personnel.

A dessert stand – sweet.

This is one of the craft stores there. This store is selling Thai small dolls or statues.

Such a pleasant looking statue or doll.

Beautiful crafts

This lady was showing her soap (I think) carving skill.

Her beautiful works.

This nice little man made waterfall and greens created cool refreshing feeling around the area. A nice idea especially for the most warm climate there.

Time to say good bye.

I hope you enjoy a little virtual tour of the place and worth your mouse scrolling efforts. Thank you.