Above, the former King of Thailand in his youth as seen on the wall of a restaurant here in A’dam where I had dinner with an old friend last month. Below, his son the current King of Thailand as seen from my boat en route to Wat Arun :-).
We’re sharing the rest of our Wat Arun photos in this post. I’m staring with the photo above so that you understand just how remarkable all the big buildings you’re seeing in the gallerie below are: they’re pretty much all faced with this level of delicate and beautiful terra cotta. This was perhaps my eighth visit to Bangkok since 2005, yet for some reason my first ever exploration of this fabulous place. Just outside the main pedestrian / street entrance are several stores that rent period costumes, which you can see many people wearing as they do their tour. It’s a photo opportunity for social media folks. 🙂
Thailand’s King Rama IV is recognized for many things including the accurate prediction of a total solar eclipse in August 1868, indicative, one reads, of his ability to move Thailand towards modernity and resist Western colonial expansionism through diplomacy. Amongst many legacies, he’s remembered in this statue at Bangkok’s Lumphini Park, and, yes, The King & I. 🙂
All from my July Thailand visit. I’m hoping my friend and reader Jean (sorry, I know I’m overdue to answer en email…) will confirm or correct my tendency to call the flowers that aren’t water lilies plumeria or frangipani. They smell lovely but I’ve a feeling they’re maybe not really what I think they are…
Wat Arun, in Bangkok, is more amazing temple than garden – and we’ll show you more of its astonishing ceramic surfaces in future posts. But this time we’re concentrating on the greenery and lovely lilies and other smaller wonders to be found around the temple grounds when one has time for a leisurely exploration. Big shout-out to friend & former colleague Pamela, who recommended this.
With apologies, I’m throwing another big post at you – all the remaining shots from a short visit I managed to squeeze in to Chiang Mai during a short workshop-related visit to Bangkok back in March. It was such a pleasure to finally see some of the historical temples and other parts of this city I’d often heard of but never been to :-). This partially destroyed older temple shown a few times below was the original location of the Emerald Buddha, prior to his relocation to Bangkok around the time of the earthquake that partially destroyed this temple – if I recall correctly….
Lumphini Park, Bangkok – last month. I’ve had so much work travel both short and long-haul this year that I’ve decided for this current vacation to stay put in NL. This morning I’m off for a mostly-bike domestic exploration of areas I’ve intended to visit for years, so I’m taking the rather bold step of making this my last post using older photos, and for at least the balance of this week ahead you’ll only see pics I’ve taken here in NL while on this journey. Bold b/c it means I risk missing a day, and as you know I rather enjoy doing dailies. This morning is a bike ride to the train station then a train with one connection and about an hour bike ride at the end to the place I’ll be staying for the next three days. More about that once I arrive!
(so much world, so little time....) 