Monday, December 28, 2015
First Full Day – Revisiting Familiar Favorites – Part 2

This is the second part of my first full day in Bangkok, visiting familiar favorites and new places.This will be a long post — my first full day in Bangkok was a long day, and a good day.

Walking to Wat Mahathat

Part of the goal for this visit to Thailand is to break in the hiking shoes I am planning on using when I walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain in April. With that in mind, I started walking from Wat Pho to Wat Mahathat with an intention to walk all the way to Wat Inthara Wihan, the home of the large standing Buddha statue. This is about a 4 km walk and the day is hot and humid (over 90 F and 80%). On the map, the route to Wat Mahathat looks direct and easy. In reality, being a non-Thai-speaker in an area where there are very few tourists and signs in Thai only, I became unsure of the way, and a little nervous about where I was, not wanting to add to the distance.

View of Wat Mahathat, the main viharn (worship hall)

I stumbled on Wat Mahathat almost by accident, because I could not tell what road I was on. Wat Mahathat is one of Bangkok’s oldest temples, and is Thailand’s largest Vipassana Meditation center with daily meditation classes, almost all in Thai.

This is a Royal Thai Temple of the first class, listed only second to Wat Pho. An indication that this is a royal temple is a large square structure around the main viharn holding many Buddha statues as seen in this photo. Once I learned this, I reflected on those Royal Temples I had visited, and all have variations of the same structure, most notably Wat Pho, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep (outside Chiang Mai), and others. Two important temples on the Royal Temple list that do not have the square structure are Wat Suan Dok and Wat Phra Singh in Chiang Mai. There is probably a story and a reason, so there is more to learn.

Wat Inthara Wihan

I was going to walk/hike to Wat Inthara Wihan. It is a hot day, and I cannot tell what road I am on, and while I know the general direction and the distance (about 2.5 km), I would need to get across two highways, and it did not seem to be a good time to walking not knowing exactly where I was going. So I got a taxi, and the route was complicated, but relatively fast for the dense traffic (traffic is dense everywhere in Bangkok, it seems), and I was soon at Wat Inthara Wihan, the home of the large standing Buddha. This is a Royal Temple of the third class.

The most notable feature of Wat Inthara Wihan is the large standing Buddha statue. At 35 meters tall, is is large, but smaller than the Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho. The status is made of brick and stucco, and construction started in 1867 and took 60 years to complete, being completed in 1927. In 1982 during the 200th anniversary of the establishment of Bangkok as the new capital, the statue was refurbished and fitted with mosaic tile.

Here are the feet, with two people cleaning them. This gives an idea of the size of the statue – it is large.

Ornate windows at the Wat Inthara Wihan main viharn (worship hall)

There were several cases of these rather ornate urns. All three urns in each column are identical except for the size, and each column is different. My guess is that these urns house ashes of passed loved ones. These are beautifully presented and there are about 6 or 8 of these cases at Wat Inthara Wihan.

After Wat Inthara Wihan, I walked to the river to get the boat back to my starting point of the day. I got to the river itself under the striking King Rama VII bridge (I could not get a good angle to get a picture…there are some on the internet), but could not figure out how to get to the boat pier. A security guard helped me, and I started through a complicated maze of small alleys with several dead-ends. Two young ladies and a gentleman asked if I were lost and to where I was going. I told them where I was going and they told me that the boat no longer stops at the closer pier. They told me to follow them, as they were going in the right direction. Soon I was at the pier, and I am happy I had help: the way to the pier is not well-marked, but it is used primarily by locals and they know how to get there.

I made it back to the hotel and to a welcome shower and a change of clothes. I went to the Siam Parragon foud court, and had dinner at a Chinese/Thai restaurant. No pictures of the food – I forgot to bring my camera. I fell asleep easily and early. This was a long day; a very good day.

Next: Jim Thompson and Suan Pakkad