Lazy Weekend

Last weekend was rather a lazy weekend. Thursday, classes were cancelled because of graduation (yes, the class of 2010 graduates in October, so graduates all have to come back for the ceremony, odd, I know). Kat and I went to visit the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas. We got a little lost getting there, because it’s off the beaten track, but we eventually found it after exploring some other temple/cemetery-like place. 

 So we thought it was a cemetery because it had these rooms with walls filled with pictures of people and dates like (1940-2006) or something like that. And there were only Chinese people there, Kat and I were the only foreigners so it didn't seem like tourist site.

 View from this place/cemetery/temple?

To get to the Temple of 10,000 Buddha, we had to climb up 400 stairs, lined with gold Buddha statues. When we finally reached the top, we headed for the main room, where the 10,000 Buddhas are located. It was amazing. The walls of the rectangular room are lined with Buddhas, none of which are the same. Each wall has 30 rows of Buddhas and they were all perfectly placed. Outside the main building were more Buddhas (apparently the Temple actually has over 12,000 Buddhas) and provided a great view of the surrounding area/city.  

 

  

Typhoon Megi was expected to hit Hong Kong Friday night/Saturday morning so we decided to postpone our plan to visit Tai-O to a later date.

Saturday, Kat and I roamed around Kowloon and Harbor City. We had planned on going to Hollywood Road, which is famous for it’s antiques but I thought Hollywood Road was the same as Avenue of the Stars and took the MTR to the Avenue of the Stars rather than Hollywood Road. So we roamed around, ended up at Kowloon Park and walked through for a little bit, which was beautiful and was able to cross off my ‘Hong Kong To Do/See List.’ It was a lot nicer than Hong Kong Park- there was more to see and do including a pool, a maze, a fountain and more animals.

Sunday, we explored the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Garden. At the entrance, we weren’t able to find a map so it was rather difficult to find everything, but we eventually did. We were able to explore a greenhouse, which contained numerous types of flowers and plants. Then we went on to the rather small Reptile House and Zoological part of the park. There were so many different types of animals including Chinese alligators, tortoises, monkeys, lemurs, tamarins, and various types of birds. 

 The entrance to the Zoological and Botanical Gardens

Some lemurs

Thailand: Day 2 Ayutthaya

Monday we planned on spending in Ayutthaya, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We woke up early again because we weren’t too sure how to actually get there; all we knew was that there were daily buses/vans to Ayutthaya from Bangkok. The hotel receptionist informed us that we could get a minivan from Victory Monument to Ayutthaya. Having no clue where this monument was, we took a taxi. It was basically a huge statue in the middle of a rotary. We had to wander around for a little while and ask multiple people where to get the van, but we finally found it. We were the last two people in the van, so we got to sit in the front and it was only 60bhat (or about $2USD)!

A tuk tuk (I realized I didn't post a picture in the previous post, so here you go!)

The ride took a little over an hour and once we got closer to Ayutthaya, the driver would randomly stop to let people off. We had no idea where to get off but at one point the driver pulled over and was like “Ayutthaya” and dropped us off on the side of the rode where there were about five or six tuk tuks. Of course they bombarded us at once offering their driving services, but for ridiculous prices, especially compared to our 20bhat ride the day before. After much bargaining we finally agreed with one driver for 200bhat per person for 3 hours. Our driver told us these tuk tuks are more expensive because they don’t bring you to different shops like the ones in Bangkok do, so no tailors for us today. Haha.

Our first stop for the day was an elephant village where we were able to ride an elephant for thirty minutes! When Kat and I were planning this trip, riding an elephant was at the top of our to-do list, but we weren’t too sure how it was going to happen. Thankfully this opportunity basically fell into our laps! The ride was great! We rode around a temple site and through the elephant village and Kat and I were actually allowed to sit on the elephant’s neck while our guide took pictures. It was quite the experience.

Our tuk tuk driver then took us to Wat Maha That; a lot of the actual places he took us to, we had no idea what they were, but they were all very interesting and we were able to see a lot of Ayutthaya. Wat Maha That contains the ruins of an old monastery that was destroyed in a fire in the 18^th century. The ruins are amazing, and rather good condition. Inside Wat Maha That is the head of the Sandstone Buddha Image; the body of the image has disappeared but the head is rather engulfed in the trunk of a tree; quite a site to see.

Once we were finished wandering around Wat Maha That, we moved on to Phra Mongkhon BoPhit, one of the biggest Buggha’s in Thailand. Built as a sitting Buddha, the statue stands at 16.95 meters (about 55.6ft)!

Following Phra Mongkhon BoPhit we went to another area of ruins (at this point, all the sites were beginning to look very similar) but I don’t remember what this was called, sorry! Basically the same thing though, ruins and Buddhas all around.

Our second to last stop was a reclining Buddha. Unlike the one we saw the day before in Bangkok, this Buddha is outside and is not made of/painted in gold; it’s just chilling on the side of the road (most of these sites are just on the side of the road/around the neighborhood. I think it’d be so cool to live in the area and see all these historic ruins everyday). Size wise, this Buddha seemed comparable to the reclining Buddha we saw at Wat Pho.

Our final stop for the day was Wat Ratchaburana. Wat Ratchaburana was built for King Boron Rachathitirat II (1424-1448) as a burial tomb, something similar to the pyramids in Egypt. In the 1950 (or was it the 1970s?) the tomb was robbed so it too is in ruins. Unlike the other ruins we explored, we were actually able to go inside the main buildings and further explore. We were able to climb to the top of the main building and there was a small exhibit explaining what was found in/stolen from the tomb; it was cool to see everything from a higher viewpoint.

We asked our driver to drop us off at the bus/minivan to Bangkok because we had no clue where it was or where we were. We got lunch (fried rice) at a little side street cart and ha a great conversation with the owner. He answered our questions and was so helpful in providing maps of Koh Samui and Ayutthaya (a little late, but that’s okay).  We ended up taking a coach bus back to Bangkok, or rather the outskirts of Bangkok and then transferred to another minivan to take us back to Victory Monument, where we walked around before heading back to the hotel.

We got dinner at a mall just down the street from our hotel. Oh. My. God. What an amazing shopping area! Of course it was all high-end stores, but the bottom floor was basically the food court/grocery store and so many American brands. Haha. It was great walking around and seeing familiar names and smells. For dinner though, we wanted an authentic Thai meal and found a restaurant offering just that. I got chicken with cashew nuts- so good!

Back at our hotel, we planned our trip to the floating markets for Tuesday, and since we had to get up early for that, we hit the sack early. 

Thailand: Day 1

This past week Kat and I took a week vacation to Thailand. Our classes weren’t too busy and neither of us had exams, papers or presentations so it was an okay week to miss classes. We left Hong Kong Saturday (Oct. 2) at 9:30pm. The journey from Lingnan to the airport wasn’t too bad- it took about an hour on the MTR; and there were no lines at security (though they did take my toothpaste because it was over 3oz- I was pissed because I bought not only for this trip but also the rest of the semester) so it was all a breeze.

The flight to Bangkok was just about 3 hours. We flew Air Jordanian and the flight was continuing on to Amman after stopping in Bangkok. During the flight we were served dinner and I watched “Glorious 39,’ which was a movie about a woman in WWII who found out a secret involving the Nazis and how it impacted her life. It was quite interesting even though I had never heard of it before.

Landing in Bangkok was easy. Since we landed at 11:30pm, the airport was pretty empty and we had no problem getting through customs. We then got a taxi and went to our hotel, The Evergreen Place. The hotel was about an hour away from the airport but the taxi ride was filled with excitement, the driver had a radio station with American music so we were jamming in the backseat. There were so many new sites, lights, signs and languages that attracted our eyes- it was great. Our hotel was on a side street/in an alley so there was a point when we were both like ‘what the heck/where are we going?’ But we made it there with no problem.

Sunday, we planned to visit the famous floating markets but when we asked the front desk about getting there we were told it was too late to go (it was only 9:30!) and that the tours usually left around 6:30am. So we decided to visit the temples instead.

We quickly changed (since your legs must be covered to at least your knees before entering the temples and you aren’t allowed to wear sandals) and went on our way. We arrived at the Grand Palace first and walked around. It was gorgeous. Everything here is gorgeous. The buildings are so ornate, elaborate and filled with so much detail and gold. It’s amazing. The Grand Palace is an area of many buildings and used to be home to the King, until he moved his residence to Chitralada Palace. Inside the Grand Palace is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, otherwise known as Wat Phra Kaew, which was built in 1782 as the Monarch’s personal place of worship (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Palace). In order to see the Emerald Buddha, or inside the majority of the buildings you are required to take your shoes off, so there were all these racks and cubbies outside the buildings for you to put your shoes. It was quite interesting.

After the Grand Palace we walked down the street to Wat Pho to see the famous reclining Buddha. It was HUGE. There were so many little buildings and statues around Wat Pho, all decorated in great detail.

Once we left Wat Pho, Kat asked a guy on a street how to get to another place where we had free tickets. The guy told us it was too far to walk but he would get us a ‘tuk tuk’ to drive us there as well as the bus station to get tickets to Ko Samui and a few other places for only $20bhat. So we had our own personal chauffeur for the day for less than $1USD. What an experience this was. Tuk tuks aren’t afraid to drive on the wrong side of the road to pass other cars or drive horizontally (does that make sense) through traffic.

Our tuk tuk drive first took us to a lucky Buddha. It was basically just a statue of Buddha in a room with some other things. The place was empty, we were the only people there. One of the workers (not sure who he really was) started talking to us and explained that people came here asking for luck and such.

Then our tuk tuk driver took us to a tailor. Yep. This is when we realized it was going to be that kind of day; the day where in between the things we want to see, we are dropped off at other places where our driver gets compensation in forms of gas we later found out. We were warmly welcomed in the tailor’s shop and shown all these catalogues with things we could buy and personalize. Um, thanks, but no thanks. We politely turned them down after giving them about ten minutes of our time.

Our next stop was the Marble Buddha. It was very similar to the lucky Buddha; a room with a Buddha and other trinkets and pictures surrounding him (writing this only a week later I am having such a hard time distinguishing one Buddha from another, or at least the Marble Buddha- thank God for pictures).

Then we went to another tailor shop. Yep. Haha.  Once again, warm welcome, walked around, gave them about ten minutes of our time and peaced out.

Our tuk tuk driver took us to the standing Buddha next. On the way in there were all these street carts selling different types of Thai food and souvenirs; we decided we would get food before we left because we were starving. The standing Buddha was impressive, I forget how tall it was, but it was huge. Kat fell into a tourist trap and got these birds in a cage and released them inside the temple for luck. It was great and hysterical. We stopped for food when we left. We have no idea what we got, but it was DELICIOUS. Seriously, so good I wish I knew what it was. We ended up getting two servings; even better, it was cheap- one dish was only 10bhat (1USD=30bhat) so two dishes was 20bhat, so less than $1USD for lunch!

Before dropping us off at the Vimanmek Mansion Museum(what we had the free ticket for) our tuk tuk driver brought us to a diamond factory and encouraged to buy lots of things! He was really like “Buy two- three-four things! Spend lots of money!” When we walked inside, we were once again warmly welcomed and shown around the factory before bringing us to the shopping area filled with diamonds and other stones and gems. Everything was gorgeous but I didn’t want to buy anything. Kat got a great pair of diamond earrings for only $20USD though!

Our tuk tuk driver then dropped us off at a monastery/temple (?) and told us the Vimanmek Mansion Museum as right down the street. We wandered around the temple- it was a shopping day because it was filled with little booths with various souvenirs, trinkets and food.

We finally reached the Vimanmek Mansion Museum about 4 hours after leaving Wat Pho. We weren’t allowed to take our purses or cameras inside so I don’t have any pictures, but it was a museum of royal things, including thrones, silk and smaller replicas of carriages. And everything was in gold. It’s amazing. Everything is in gold, or at least painted gold.

Exhausted after a long day, we headed back to the hotel and had dinner at the hotel’s restaurant.

[While we were driving around today, as well as during the rest of the week, I realized there are pictures of the King and Queen EVERYWHERE. Literally, on the street corners, highway overpasses, walkways, on the sides of buildings. I am amazed; I’ve never seen a political figure so publicized like that.]

Plans for Monday: Ayutthaya!