Bang Pa-In Summer Palace, Ayutthaya and Wat Maha That

Off early in the morning to go about an hour and half from Bangkok to the Bang Pa-In Summer Palace.  Along the way were many fields of jasmine rice with living quarters smiliar to these...

I learned so many little things today that I would like to share with you....first, the flag of Thailand...it is 5 stripes...the first Red for the people...White for the Religion...Blue for the Royalty...White again for Religion and Red again for the people.  There is also Yellow flag of the king that is seen most often next to the Thailand flag...it is Yellow since the King was born on a Monday....I was born on a Tuesday so my flag would be Pink!! Yeah...

Remember when I blogged about the people in India just stopping along the road to relieve themselves?  Well in Thailand for a man it would be called "Shooting the Rabbit" and for a woman it is called "Looking for a flower"....just a more refined way to express oneself....

An earlier Blog item related how the Thai information person told me to "walk...walk...walk..and turn right".  Well, I found that by repeating the word there it emphasis on the distance...so what she was telling me was that I was going to walk quite a while before I turned to the right.  I found this out after trying to figure out how to ask for food well done...i.e.,eggs or meat especially.  The Thai word is "Suci.."(sp)....so if I say "Suci...Suci"...that should do it....will let you know in a future Blog.

Finally....I learned of the three distinct types of style/architecture of the temples....in this photo one can identify on the far right the Sri Lanka style...in the center the Cambodian and on the far left the Siam or Thai style....

Okay...to Bang Pa - Summer Palace.  It is actually used as such.  The current king at 84 does come here in Summer (April)....often traveling by train (Royal train of course...arriving at the Royal station)....sounds a bit like Queen Elizabeth huh?....So what would he find?  Well the Royal residence...or parts of it anyway are open to the public...all the materials used in the construction of the palace built in the late 1700's was imported from China.  Here are some views of these beautiful buildings...

The guest house....similar to the "Blair House" in the United States was really lovely....

King Ramadan V had the Summer Palace built....here he is in the center of this shrine...

His wife died a very strange death....she drowned....only because she was a woman and no other man was allowed to touch her.  Her boat overturned as she was traveling to the Summer Palace and met her untimely death...this was her memorial...

The grounds of the Palace are so beautiful....check out this sculptured bush...yep elephants...

A chicken here and there....and then this Monitor lizzard...YIKES!!

A couple more shots of the Palace....

Hard to imagine that the Palace is actually used...but the presence of a large number of armed soldiers may make you a believer.

Before heading to the the Ancient City of Ayutthaya....I want to share this with you....it does not...I repeat does not mean "no pants" for men...only for women...

Okay the ancient city of Ayutthaya was the capital of Thailand or Siam for 400+ years...and was burned and destroyed by the Burmese in the 1700's...the ruins were unreal....

The small windows as seen here deterred invasion while still allowing light....

Notice that most of the Buddha figures were destroyed....leaving only partial remnants...

There was one famous Buddha...

The one on the right encased inside the tree...the one on the left is the Bobby...not the Buddha...

Then later in the day to Wat Maha That...1374 monastery - residence of the Supreme Patriarch....here I found many Buddha....

Here we have the Buddha and disciples...

The famous reclining Buddha is also at this site....

I noticed one of the Nuns who are the woman counterpart to the Monks...folding a "white" cloth for the use in covering the Buddha....my tour guide Sunny (Sitthisak Lersviriyanont) investigates....

One last pic....sort of a walk...walk...walk....

Oh...and just and FYI....no rain today... it was at least 33 degrees Celsius... 90++  HOT and SUNNY...