Sunday, April 8, 2012

Photos: Buddhist Bangkok

This week we are showing photos from our trip to Asia last month, which began with a visit to Bangkok.  We were captivated by the artistry, detail, color and intricacy of its Buddhist temples, particularly Wat Phra Kaeo, Thailand's holiest site, shown here.
The solemnity of monks in prayer in a temple inspires reverence.  These monks are praying in the Bot of the Wat Pho temple.  In a future post I will show the Buddha in the front of this scene.
The temples within the Wat Phra Kaeo are guarded by statutes of fierce giants, or yaksha.  This temple complex was built in the late 1700's.
The tile work on the walls of the buildings in the temple complex look too intricate and colorful to be real.  They almost look like something Disney would build to imitate and exaggerate the mystery and charm of the Orient.
This is a night view of Wat Arun from across the river.  This was built in the late 1700's and is named for the Indian god of dawn.  It is 266 ft. (81 m.) high.  From this photo, you can see how steep the steps would be to climb up this temple, which we did.  The steepness symbolizes the effort and difficulty that humans must overcome to reach a higher stage of enlightenment.


7 comments:

FilipBlog said...

Good pictures, you were lucky that you could take a picture in the Wat Phra Kaeo.

Greetings,
Filip

Cezar and Léia said...

Good to hear that you visited Thailand. Love so much this place, its people and food!
God bless you!
Cezar

Unknown said...

I've been twice in Bangkok and I love that frenzy city. Wonderful shots.

Judy said...

This is a gorgeous sample of the hundreds of pictures you must have taken.

Kate said...

Love the photo of the monks; their lives mystify me.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Beautifully shown Dave, brought back nice memories.

glenda said...

Fascinating culture. Very interesting pictures.

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