Thailand Trail Wednesday 18th January A day on the river

 There is an overhead metro line about 5 minutes walk from our hotel which gives us access to the southern most pier which the hop on hop off tourist boat calls at. A £1.50 day pass ticket gives us use of the system until the early evening. There are at least four different lines of boats, each colour coded according to price, frequency and which piers they call at. Add to this the little ferries that just cross in lieu of a bridge and the private hire long tailed boats The results of all this is one very busy river, especially around the piers. The boats are in and out of the piers within a few seconds. Don't forget the commercial traffic, like the huge barges you can see in one of the photographs later which add the dumplings to soup of floaters. 

One of the first eye-catching buildings we see is the Catholic Church of the Holy Rosary. 

The next very striking building is the Bangkok River Park Condominium. Who dumped the White House on the top of this skyscraper? I'm not sure that this mix of architectural styles really works for me. 

The Wichai Prasit Fort. This was one of the first defence points constructed around 1780, though much altered. It was to defend the first site of the capital at Thornburi on the west side of the river. Now it's owned by the Thai Navy and is the equivalent of our Dartmouth Royal Naval College. 

One of Bangkok's classic sites, the Buddhist temple of Arun Wat. Built initially in the mid C16 it is dedicated to the Hindu god Aruna who is god of dawn. The central spire was built in the mid C19. It is very busy with tourists, pilgrims and local visitors. There are many girls here dressed in traditional silk embroidered kimono type dresses who look quite stunning whilst posing for their selfies. 

The external murals make the strongest impression. They are constructed from broken pieces of porcelain from China which was dumped by the Chinese junks having served its purpose as ballast. 

Have a closer look. This shot involved climbing up a couple of very steep sets of stairs which I found pretty daunting but was out of the question for Helen. The whole enterprise is a splendid example of recycling twice over. 

What I have named the clock temple. This side temple at Arun Wat contains six longcase clocks and two wall clocks. They are all late C19 but more or less telling the right time. This is also the Ordination Hall where monks are ordained. In the background you can see the beautiful murals and a painting of the Niramitr Buddha. 

Back across the river heading for a Amulet Market. This sells all sorts of religious ornaments and jewellery. Most of it is modern, reproduction and low quality. Buddhists tend to be very fatalistic and all these charms are important to them. Some of the stalls do sell genuine antiques. We bought a marble pig and a metal Buddha to cover all bases. 

Some huge barges being towed up river with a tug front and rear. 

Alongside the Amulet Market are the traditional medicine stalls which thrive despite or maybe because of modern science based medicines. 

Here we are at a UNESCO World Heritage temple complex called Wat Pho. It is first on the list of six temples in Thailand classed as the highest grade of first class Royal temples. It contains the largest collection of Buddha images in the country including this 42 metre long reclining Buddha. I knew that it was going to be big, but I was staggered by the sheer size. The Buddha is reclining because he has reached the state of Nirvana. We could do with a bit of nirvana, so at least we know where to come. 

It really is very difficult to photograph this statue and succeed in capturing the true scale it.

These are the bottom of his feet, or perhaps I should say the soles of his flip-flops. 

The temple was particularly dressed up today because of the imminent Chinese New Year. Watch out for rabbits. 

That was the last landing of our river trip apart from back to the pier and train for home. We still had time for an early evening walk out to the park and as the Lumphini Park, Bangkok's green lung is close to our hotel, it was the obvious choice. Named after the birth place of Buddha, the park is a great place for exercise. There are masses of park runners as well as more organised dance aerobics classes 

Swan Lake?

The park is also home to these Asian water monitor lizards. This chap is about 4 feet long but they can grow up to a couple of metres. The are completely wild but have not as far as I can gather been known to have attacked a human being. 

You certainly should be okay if you have left some of your lunch for the Buddha under the banyan tree.

A final good night from the park and skyline.