"If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree." -Michael Chrichton
Thankfully, Hui let us sleep in a little bit before we made our way back to Bangkok. The traffic was awful, so it took a long time to get there, but the conversation we had as a group on the bus was amazing and full of insight from our wonderful professor Dr. Register. We didn't arrive at Erawon until around noon.
Yes, Erawon is the largest Elephant in the world. And it has three heads!
Before entering, we made a wish and sent off a lotus flower for good luck.
The inside of the temple is EXTREMELY ornate. The staircase and figurines are covered in pieces of painted ceramic.
Four of these pillars are inside the "lobby" of the temple. Each represents a different religion and depicts stories/doctrine for that religion.
After you climb up the stairs and take an elevator up a story you get to the Buddha room which is inside the elephants head.
The view of Bangkok from inside the Elephant!
This is Thailand: taking your shoes on and off all day.
Hui showed us how to Karaoke Thai style at lunch after we visited Erawon.
Kolby, Lily and Rayna then sang "Let it Be." Kolby was especially enthusiastic.
After we had enough singing and food, we made our way to Ancient Siam. Thailand, previously called Siam, has an ancient history. In order to preserve that history, a large park has been created as a miniature version of Thailand as it was centuries ago. We rented bicycles to ride around the large "history amusement park."
The market within the park as it would have been in Ancient Siam.
Our wonderful tour guide (for lack of a better word) Pat with a fun souvenir!
Jaime tried out wood carving Thai style.
Dr. Register cruising through an ancient farm town.
Hui, teaching us Thai and telling us funny stories about English people misunderstanding Thai words.
Seeing what Thai would be like so long ago was definitely one of my favorite escapades so far. Not only was the park beautiful and interesting, but attempting to ride the sketchy bikes was hilariously entertaining. After we finished up there, we had dinner on a pond in Bangkok. Highlights from the meal includes one of my new favorites: rice noodles! After dinner we went to the night market, which is very different from the Ancient Siam that we had just discovered!
Though the Night market was extremely crowded, I walked away with a pair of sunglasses that were only 50 THB! ($1.60)
I think it is interesting you have to take off your shoes so often. It's very different. These pictures are gorgeous. Is it even better in real life? ;)
ReplyDeleteThe picture NEVER does it justice. You just have to go see it for yourself!
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