The Temples of Bangkok

Getting to Bangkok took a while. I was up 35 straight hours, flying from Birmingham, Alabama to the capital of Thailand. I was there to visit Ramkhamhaeng University, but I also wanted to see some of the city's famous Buddhist temples. I got that opportunity and I returned to Birmingham impressed with the city and its temples.

I took in the first temple the next day after strolling through the neighborhood. The major street was covered with local vendors selling food, T-shirts, and women's clothing.

Dogs are obviously loved; nearly every store had one lounging in its shades, and the inevitable droppings seemed to be accepted and tolerated, although the odor was pervasive at times.

The most important thing I learned on that first day is that Bangkok is really hot. It reminds me of summer in South Florida and makes Birmingham's summers seem comfortable.

I finished my wanderings at the local temple, Phra Krai-Sri Noi Temple, which was a short, one-block walk from my hotel. It was the prize of the afternoon.

A few cats meandered around the temple grounds, while some priests lounged in the open-air shop offering amulets and other Buddhists icons. The temple's ornate design was impressive, and it's not even on the top list of recommended temples to visit.

Later, when I took my first tour, I found out why. The tour van picked me up at the hotel at 6:30 - before the hotel's restaurant was open for breakfast.

No problem. The young clerk behind the desk had the cook fix me a chicken sandwich and provided me with a small carton of orange juice.

After gathering a number of tourists from several hotels, our van made it to the Grand Palace just minutes before its 8:30 opening

The Grand Palace is the former home of the Thai King. But, perhaps more importantly, one of its temples - Wat Phra Kaew - is the home of the Emerald Buddha. The Emerald Buddha is an 18-inch statue of the deity that was carved from solid jade. It was first discovered in a small, rural temple in the 1400s, covered in stucco.

Years later, when the stucco cracked - possibly from a lightning strike - the jade core is was discovered. It was mistakenly identified as made of emerald at the time, thus leading to its misleading name. Still, while it may be small, it's still impressive.

But, quite frankly, it's a minor part of a complex that beats anything I've ever seen. I thought Japan had some great temples, particularly those in Kyoto.

But they pale in comparison to this multi-temple complex. I've never been to the Vatican, but that's the only thing I can think that might rival it - if the Vatican were gilded in gold.

The architecture is inconsistent - sometimes Thai influenced, sometimes European, sometimes Ceylonese, sometimes Cambodian. Each of the nine kings who served on the throne seemed to be determine to build a temple that matched or exceeded that of their predecessor.

They succeeded. Every turn seemed to offer another photo opportunity.

The only disappointment was that you were not allowed to get a photo of the Emerald Buddha from inside the temple. There was one spot on the outside where an angle was possible. I used a telephoto lens and got four shots.

After that, the tour moved to the Grand Palace grounds. Tourists aren't allowed into the Grand Palace itself, but there's still plenty see in the other parts of the grounds. That includes the throne room and a ancient weapons museum.

The highlight of this area was the changing of the guard. The Thai system of government is heavily influenced by the British system. This includes military guards in spotless white, colonial style uniforms. The changing of the individual guards involves a marching troop of similarly dressed guards, with two stepping out to take their turn in front of the royal building.

The Grand Palace tour took most of the day. That meant another day was necessary for touring the other temples in the area. Again, the tour van picked me up at the hotel.

First stop: The Temple of the Dawn, or Wat Arum. We had to take a ferry over the "River of the King" to reach Wat Arum. Not as big as the Grand Palace, but nonetheless impressive. It's a Cambodian-style temple made of more than one million pieces of Chinese tile.

After an hour at Wat Arum, we took the ferry back to our starting point, walked across the street and reached the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, or Wat Pho. I've used the word "reclining," because that seems to be the most common English translation to describe this monument which celebrates Buddha "approaching Nirvana." However, the tour guide used a variety of euphemisms ("sleeping," "in repose", etc) to avoid saying that it depicted the Buddha dying.

The temple itself is beautiful, but no match for the grand palace. However, the Buddha is huge - about 45 feet tall and nearly 50 yards long.

Outside, the temple grounds include a number of small pagodas inlaid with mosaic tile. These pagodas are essentially cemeteries for royalty, with slots cut into the sides for the interment of funeral ashes. Since this temple is a royal temple, though, the average person would not be able to choose it for their final resting place.

We had to return to our tour van for the final stop of the day, the Marble Temple, or Wat Benchamabophit Dusitvanaram It was pretty, but a bit disappointing.

It gets its name because it is constructed of Italian marble. Probably would have been beautiful, except that there was so much construction and repair work going on that it was hard to appreciate the building itself.

Inside, though, was a magnificent gold-gilded Buddha called Phra Buddhaninaraja. The statue marks the burial place of the ashes of King Chulalongkorn, the fifth Thai king (Rama V) who held the position from 1868 until his death in 1909.

You could take photos of the Buddha. I did, and it looks almost as impressive in the photo as it does in person. While not the biggest or the rarest, it was the best artistic work of any of the Buddhas that I saw.

Outside, ringing the courtyard, are a series of 52 bronze Buddhas representing a variety of temples from around Thailand and beyond - including Cambodia and Japan.

I enjoyed the tour, but it was a tiring day. Walking is the only way to really see these sights, and sometimes that includes a lot of stair climbing. The Temple of the Dawn, for example, prides itself on the steep stairs that have to be conquered in order to get its best view. I went part of the way up, and then had to be careful coming back down.

Regardless, the attention to detail and the emphasis on ornateness made these last four temples the most impressive that I've ever seen. I don't have much for comparison, because Japan and Hong Kong are the only two other places in Asia that I've visited.

Still, if you're in Thailand, the temples of the city should be on your "must-see" list.