Tuk Tuk Tour

On December 26th we went on a Tuk Tuk tour of Bangkok City. A tuk tuk is an auto rickshaw with three wheels. It is generally meant for 2 to 3 people.

Eileen and the girls in the tuk tuk.

On the tour we visited two markets and two Buddhist temples.

The first temple was the Golden Mount Temple in the middle of the city. We climbed 318 stairs to get to the top of the temple. Up to the 1960's it was the highest building in Bangkok.  We could notice that there was more smog in Bangkok compared to Penang although in the last 15 years the city government has been dealing with that, we were told, by planting more trees in the city.

The view from the Golden Mount Temple.

We then went to a flower market, where they sell flowers for special occasions or to be used in the temple.  This market was probably 4 blocks long crammed with stalls filled with a large variety of flowers.  We were surprised how inexpensive the flowers were, for example, 30 roses cost about 40 Baht or $1.33 Canadian.  Yellow flowers are reserved for Buddhist temples and celebrations while orange flowers are reserved for Hindu temples and celebrations.  Lotus flowers are considered highly prized for Buddhists and their leaves are used to carry food in as the leaves don't absorb any liquid.  We found out afterward that we should not have smelled the flowers close to our nose as then the flowers are then considered  impure and cannot be used for their religious purposes.   

Roses in the Flower Market.

Below, Aimee and Elizabeth experiment with the lotus leaves as the water beads and runs off.  This was on the grounds of the Wat Pho Temple.

We visited an Amulet Market also.  Amulets of all kinds and cords and necklaces to hold them were for sale there.  Some were expensive jewelry and others could be purchased cheaply.  They had different pictures on them and were made of different kinds of materials like gold or stone.  Amulets are worn by all ages of people including babies as a kind of good luck charm or for a desire to come true.  I (Eileen) felt uncomfortable there and I didn't take any pictures there on purpose.  I just walked through quickly to get to our tuk tuk on the other side and didn't look around much.  If felt like a "wrong" kind of place.  Also, on an aside, that was, I think so far, when I was most scared about one of our daughters, in this case, Kate, as we got separated from her without realizing it and I couldn't find her.  I was just about on the verge of starting to yell her name in a hysterical way in these big crowds, really starting to panic.  My brain was reminding me that we were in a neighbourhood we did not know, in a city we did not know, unable to speak the language, and no meeting place all of us would know to go to.  God calmed me down to start to think and I started to race ahead of the rest of my family on the road as the sidewalk was so crowded with amulet stalls and people and after about two blocks I could see Kate way up ahead with some of the other people in our tour group and then I could slow down.  Kate hadn't been worried at all.

The other temple we visited on the tour was Wat Pho, one of the oldest temples in Bangkok. It also has one of the largest indoor reclining Buddhas in the world. It was interesting that our tour guide used to be a monk at this temple.  We all had to dress modestly and take off our shoes in this temple.

The head of the giant buddha.

Kate standing by the feet of the giant buddha.

Another view of the feet.  The feet were about 4 meters long. Buddha's life is described on his feet as well as on beautiful and intricately painted panels around the inside of the building.

This buddha was made of brick, covered in plaster and then gold plated.  Every year or so there is an earthquake and buddha gets a crack in it and that part has to be patched and replated with gold.  The rest of the building is not affected by these earthquakes because the walls are built on little pedestals around the outdoor-facing walls and this allows for some shifting of the building walls.

This tour helped us as Christians to understand Buddhism better and understand better the beliefs of  Buddhists. One thing though, we could not figure out what kind of god they pray to.  I feel like I have more compassion for Buddhists.