Week One in Thailand Recap – Part 2

Early this morning I flew to Chiang-Rai and then drove north west into the mountains and jungle to begin the one month yoga teacher training course here. I can’t even tell you how spectacularly gorgeous it is here. I’ll post pics later after I download them. This post I am mostly going to include some photos from Bangkok and brief descriptions.

First though in the Small World Department – The first person I met here lives in the same town my parents and sister do in BC Canada. In fact, her parents live just down the street from my sister’d family. Second person was from Seattle – Ballard to be exact. You gotta love these things. Across the globe to run into people from practically next door.

This is from the the huge and totally amazing Wat Pho in Bangkok. The atmosphere and energy of all the people in the room kneeling and praying was amazing. I joined them and offered a few of my own. Wonderful feeling.

Here at the impressive Grand Palace – so happy I thought I’d join in the dance. The rules here are no shorts, tank-tops etc out of respect. Of course most westerners in the heat are wearing precisely those duds. Rather than forcing everyone to make the jumbo trek back later, their clever solution is to “lend” everyone in need whatever you need with a refundable good faith deposit you get back. The lady who fitted me took less than a billionth of a second to size me up and hand over the pantaloons. They fit perfectly. Gotta love a pro.

Another shot of the Grand Palace. The place is huge with too many buildings to post here at the moment. There was a big ceremony going on in the temple that houses the Emerald Buddha so I couldn’t go in to see it. Monks, functionaries and other participants all over the place. 
Buddhist Monk looking at Wat Arun across the river crowded with Long-Tailed Boats, Barges and Ferries. Fun to watch all the activity.
…and Wat Arun… across the river….
The Reclining Buddha also at Wat Pho. This one is 138 feet long and 45 feet tall. It’s hard to wrap your head around the scale and harder still to back up far enough in the temple to get it all in the shot. Staggering.
Looking up 45 feet to the Buddha’s head. This statue depicts the Buddha at the moment of his death entering into Nirvana. 
The feet of the Reclining Buddha. This is as far back as I could get and as much as I could fit in the frame they are that big. The ornate detail is incredible.