Thailand Pictures

I wrote about the job fair a while ago, but didn't post any pictures of our sightseeing. We had a few days to explore Bangkok after we'd gotten our jobs. We were mostly so tired that we didn't see too much. Our friends Noel and Rachella had been there before and met us there, so they showed us around some. We went through Chinatown and to a Wat, or temple. To get to the part of town where the Wat was, we rode a water taxi. It was kind of a long time to be on a boat on the river, but I guess it was better than being crammed in a regular taxi stuck in traffic. It was also cooler out on the water than in town. I got quite a giggle out of this sign we saw on the platform while waiting for the boat.
I thought about editing those pictures on photoshop to edit out the profanity, but then I figured everyone who comes to this blog can handle it more maturely than I did. I giggled for about 15 minutes.

Here is the Wat we went to. I don't know the name of it.
It is guarded by these fellows.
I love their expressions.

Inside the temple grounds you can buy little pieces of gold leaf to stick to statues of Buddha. People did that and then prayed. There were a bunch of people kneeling in front of these statues.

A pretty fountain/garden inside the temple:
The main attraction at this Wat was Thailand's largest reclining Buddha. To get into the building he is in, you have to remove your shoes. They had a bunch of cubbies to put them in.
This is as much of his head as we could capture in one picture. He is one big dude.
And, I read that they positioned him in this building which is only slightly larger than he is on purpose, so that he cannot be completely photographed at one time.

Here are his feet, and they're inlaid with mother of pearl, showing the 108 something or others of Buddha. (I know that sounds ignorant but I don't remember if it's stations or what... I could look it up but I'm a little lazy right now.)
I liked his toe prints.

This was also inside the temple grounds. A giant ring-toss game for the stone guardians to play when we're not looking.

This guy doesn't approve of my ring-toss joke.One Wat was enough for us that week. We love Thailand and I think, for both of us, it remains our favorite place we've been--but we prefer the beach!