Temple Day One

So today with our incredibly awesome tour guide Jan, we visited four different temples/Thailand Landmarks then went to a market that was so huge, it was larger than all of Cochrane. We went to:

1. Bovorn Nivet Vihan Temple


2. Chana Songkram Temple


3. Wat Phra Kaew and the Emerald (Jade) Buddha


4. The Grand Palace


5. Big Frickin' Huge Market Town

Now, of course I took pictures, but seeing how I am on a public computer, it is a little too difficult for me to upload them to show you. They will be up later, oh don't you worry. But in the meantime I will part ways with you with a couple facts/stories. I'll keep it short don't worry. I am just going to spit them out so bare with me.

Did you know, that every King of Thailand must at one point in his life serve as a monk? Yeah, and they can serve for however long or short as they want. And if a man became a monk, left and had a family, but wanted to go back they had to have the blessings of the wife. So if she didn't want him to leave, she going and prays to Buddha and he is forbidden to return to monk ship.

The Emerald Buddha is not made of Emerald, but of Jade, and has its clothing changed by the King or Prince (if the king is unable to do so, like with the present King) every four months to represent the different seasons?

Another sweet little story is of that little chubby Buddha we all know and love, the one Jan calls "Happy Buddha." He was just a regular old Joe (by Joe I mean Monk) who was incredibly Thin and Beautiful. So good looking in fact, that when we led prayer or taught or preached, people were so distracted by his pretty face that they ignored what he said. This man got incredibly fed up and went to Buddha and asked to be fat and ugly so that people would take him seriously. So that is why you see happy smiling fat Buddha's, cause his word is finally taken seriously. Wild, yes I know. I guess it's something to be Fat and Jolly.

So my last one, is about a story of Ramakien at Wat Phra Kaew. It's a mural that stretches an entire Mile! It's insane, let me tell you! Now, i did not read the entire story, that would have been silly cause I was wearing flip flops not runners, but what I did get from it was there was a Good Man, and a Demon. Demon steals the wife of the man, and the man becomes friends with some sort of Monkey God to get her back. So allll the buildings at Wat Phra Kaew had visuals of the Monkey God and the Demon.

Sorry for my less then perfect story telling, it was a long day. I have also discovered why I never got bit by mosquitoes in Africa, South America, and North America. I don't taste good to them. Asian Mosquitoes, on the other hand, like me quite a bit, for I have become practically a walking chew toy for them. My legs are absolutely covered! Okay, time to soak the feet. They are absolutely throbbing. Glad no one read this anyways... That post was quite a mouthful. Took me half an hour and 30 Baht to type.