Grand Palace and Wat Po

  Bangkok, Thailand
Monday, September 29, 2008

This week went really well.  The kids were great and they are doing so many great things and doing great thinking. The week went by pretty fast, even though the days seemed long.  I was supposed to get a new student, Bi, this week, but she never showed up.  Hopefully, she'll show up next week.  Not much else happened this week (especially since I didn't post the last update till Tuesday or Wednesday!)
 
On Friday, I went for a nice swim.  I also went and hung out with Sarah and Josh for a little bit.  Sarah and I went for massages.  They were fantastic!  Then I met Jess, after she was done tutoring and we headed down to Lumpani Park where the night market is.  It is similar to Chatachuk, but much less crazy.  They have most of the same stuff.  The prices a little higher since it is more of a touristy area, but it is worth it to be less overwhelmed.  I bought a skirt for myself and got some gifts for the holidays.  It was fun times. 
 
We didn't get home until about midnight and then I had to be up really early to talk to Mom, but she invited some teachers over to say hi if they wanted too.  It was nice to talk to everyone who was there.  Then I had to make pancakes for breakfast since mom sent me maple and boysenberry syrup.  They were delicious!  I went for a nice bike ride in Thana City.  I haven't really been past out apartments, so I was curious what was behind us.  The roads are great because they go in circles so you can head in one direction and eventually make your way around.  There were mostly houses and I eventually hit another soi, but I don't know which one.  I'll figure it out eventually.  In the late afternoon, we headed into town to pick up one of Jess' friends (Paul) who hitchhiked his way from Poland here.  He just came from Cambodia and is staying with us for a couple weeks while he looks for job.  If he can find one here in that time then he'll stay in Thailand, if not he'll venture on more south and eventually end up in Australia.  We all just hung out at the house and had a lot of great conversation about all sorts of things.  Sarah, Josh, and I are planning on going to Cambodia for Fall break so Paul is going to give me some tips on where to go and make the most of the trip.
 
Sunday, I woke up around 8 and went for a swim.  Paul made us breakfast and I had the leftover pancakes, which heat up quite nicely in the toaster oven. :-D  About mid morning, Michael and I headed out to see the Grand Palace and Wat Po.  We had to take a taxi, the BTS (sky train), and river taxi to get there.  Even though it takes awhile to get there, it is a nice trip.  The Grand Palace is quite huge.

Grand Palace from outside the walls

There were a lot of people telling me I couldn't go in because I had shorts on, even though they went past my knees.  I had to "rent" a skit, which was just a heavy cloth wrap before I was allowed in.  It seems silly though, because there were girls with skirts on that were shorter than my shorts and could go in just because they had a skirt on.  I remembered to wear a shirt that covered my shoulders though.

Temple Wall

A good thing to know for the next time I visit temples.  Almost all of the buildings are covered in tiny pieces of mirror and colored glass.

Check out the reflection- no on purpose

They are supposed to represent precious jewels, but obviously weren't since they were just puttied into the wall.  However, when you aren't standing right next to it, the effect is amazing.

Rach in front of Phra Mondop

Today was extremely hot and there isn't much shade, but it was still a nice afternoon.

Lotus with Temple Wall

In one of the temples at the

Rach with Temple Guard

Grand Palace is an emerald Buddha.

Emerald Buddha

He was impressive at first, but then when we went to Wat Po, the Buddhas there were much more intriguing.  They were slightly larger and seemed to possess more personality.  After the Grand Palace, we went to get lunch.  A small open market had a lot of street food by where we got off the river taxi.  I got red curry with chicken and sweet and sour chicken with rice.  It was fantastic.  They definitely prepare their food with foreigners in mind.  Although the red curry had great flavor, it was mild on the spice side- perfect for those not ready for Thai hot yet.     
 
Michael and I then walked down to Wat Po.

Full Buddha from Inside

There were a lot of different Buddhas and one of the most unique statues I have seen.

Rach on Temple

  It is a reclining Buddha.  She takes up an entire building and had very intricate designs on her feet.

Reclining Buddha- Head to Toe

It is always interesting to see what they do with feet because it is supposed to be the most unholy part of the body, however on her it was beautiful decorated with Mother of Pearl.

Reclining Buddha Feet

There was another Wat that I wanted to see on the other side of the river, but Michael was ready to head home.  We headed back and got home, about 15 minutes before a huge rainstorm hit.  Now it has cooled off quite a bit and feels like fall.  Amazing how the weather changes so fast.
 
I'm looking forward to a great week with the kids and super excited about my art project planned for this week.  It will probably end up being a two-week project, but still excited for it.  Since we have been working on the color wheel and mixing colors, I am going to do an artist study on Georgia O'Keeffe and have the kids do a watercolor painting off her style.  I'm going to use watercolors from tubes so it will require the students to mix their own purples and greens.  (The picture is mostly green, purples, and blue.)  It will be interesting how it works out, but I think they can do it!  I'll take pictures of the finish product and hopefully will want to put them on our outside board to display. 
 
We are also doing Read for the Record this week.  I have organized this event for both campuses.  The goal is for everyone to read the same book on the same day to help promote literacy.  It is a huge event in the states and they try to set a world record for the number of adults reading to children on the same day.  This year the story is Corduroy.  We are going to invite the students to bring in their own teddy bears or stuffed animals.  At our campus all the Nursery, Kindergarten, and Elementary students are going to read at the same time.  Then students are going to make a square of their favorite part of the story- either with a picture or by writing.  Then we are going to make a Corduroy quilt with all the squares.  I'm really excited the principals and most teachers have jumped on the band wagon with me.  I hope it'll be a success!
 
Hope all is going well back home...Miss you...love you...(PS I added some people pictures from Koh Samet last weekend...)