|
|
|
|
scorch99
Member
|
|
|
Joined: 09 Oct 2003
Posts: 782
Location: On the road
|
| Back to top
|
|
 Posted: 04/07/06 - 00:58 Post subject: Thailand day 9 Bangkok & The Golden Mount
This is the last full day of my trip and the last log entry. Decided to brave the heat and humidity and vivit the golden mount.
A little history:
The Golden Mount
The Golden Mount is part of the Wat Saket temple located just outside the old royal city precincts, next to the Pom Mahakhan fort. The mount has a somewhat unusual history. It was started by King Rama III early in the 19th century, who wanted to build a large chedi on the site to mark the entrance to the city. However, the soft marshy ground could not support such a large structure and it collapsed before it was completed.
Later on, Rama IV built a small chedi housing a Buddha relic on top of the mud and brick mound. The chedi was rebuilt again towards the end of the 19th century by his son Rama V when the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, made a gift of a Buddha relic excavated from the town where Buddha was believed to have been born. The concrete cap was built during WW II to keep the artificial hill from eroding further.
Graves on the slopes of the Golden Mount.
Although the top of the mount has been encased in concrete, the base is still a jumble of bricks and plaster overgrown with trees and bushes. Somewhat curiously, in amongst the vegetation around the base are numerous shrines to departed people. This "graveyard" of sorts includes everything from small plaques to large shrines with Buddha images.
The small shrine beneath the roof-top chedi.
From the ground, a wide stairway spirals up and around the sides of the mount. There are about 300 very short steps in all. Its not a strenuous climb at all, as the slope is quite gentle and there a numerous spots to stop and see something. However, the best time to visit the temple is during the cool season from late November to January, when not only is the temperature much cooler, but the frangipani trees around the base are in bloom, giving off their wonderful jasmine-like smell.
One thing to keep in mind before you make the climb is that once you reach the top, there's an admission charge of 10 Baht (about US$ 0.25) to enter the building and gain access to the rooftop terrace. The interior is a large, rather plain and undecorated room with windows along the outside walls while in the center lies the square outer walls of the shrine. A short stairway in the center of each side leads up to the shrine holding the Buddha relic, which lies directly under the chedi on the roof. The shrine is encased in many layers of gold leaf applied by the devout for more than 100 years.
In the corner of the room that is to your right as you enter is a narrow stairway up to the roof. The first thing you will see upon emerging onto the roof is the huge chedi covered with thousands of gold mosaic tiles. From the rooftop terrace you have a 360 degree view of Bangkok. To the west you can see the prangs and rooftops of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha at the old Grand Palace. Closer in you can see the tips of the Democracy Monument as well as the peaks of Wat Ratchanadda. To the northwest you can see the single pylon of the new Rama VI bridge with its golden threads of suspension cables. Looking east you can see the towers of Bangkok's business district.
If you exit via the back entrance to the temple, you come out onto a street lined with wood shops. The sights, sounds and smells can be worth a stroll. This is also the easiest way to walk from the Golden Mount to Wat Ratchanadda. Turn right as you exit the temple and walk past the fire station. You'll come to the intersection of two canals and about six streets. Continue on the bridge to your your left over the canal and past the Pom Mahakan fort. Cross the street to Rama III park and you'll see the Loha Prasat in the background.
let me tell you the stairs climbing this thing is a bit@H, on a hot and stickly day. But the vievs of Bangkok made it worth the climb.
In this picture you can see Wat Arun in the center
After that all that was left to do is to go to MBK Center for some last minute gifts
Just want to say thanks to all who were in part along for the journey.Tomorrow is travel back home.
I do recommend riding the tuk-tuk just once if you get a chance
S99
|
|
|
|
|
RangerG
Bounty Hunter
|
|
|
Joined: 13 Mar 2003
Posts: 7301
Location: Gmail Server Number 126
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 04/07/06 - 06:42 Post subject:
Nice photo tour with dialog S99!
Thanks for being out tourguide!
Now for closing credits, a song a few of you will remember, and most of you would like to forget..... Yes folks it's...
One Night in Bangkok!
THE AMERICAN:
Bangkok, Oriental setting
And the city don't know what the city is getting
The creme de la creme of the chess world in a
Show with everything but Yul Brynner
Time flies -- doesn't seem a minute
Since the Tirolean spa had the chess boys in it
All change -- don't you know that when you
Play at this level there's no ordinary venue
It's Iceland -- or the Philippines -- or Hastings -- or --
or this place!
COMPANY:
One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
And if you're lucky then the god's a she
I can feel an angel sliding up to me
THE AMERICAN:
One town's very like another
When your head's down over your pieces, brother
COMPANY:
It's a drag, it's a bore, it's really such a pity
To be looking at the board, not looking at the city
THE AMERICAN:
Whaddya mean? Ya seen one crowded, polluted, stinking town --
COMPANY:
Tea, girls, warm, sweet
Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham suite
THE AMERICAN:
Get Thai'd! You're talking to a tourist
Whose every move's among the purest
I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine
COMPANY:
One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me
THE AMERICAN:
Siam's gonna be the witness
To the ultimate test of cerebral fitness
This grips me more than would a
Muddy old river or reclining Buddha
And thank God I'm only watching the game -- controlling it --
I don't see you guys rating
The kind of mate I'm contemplating
I'd let you watch, I would invite you
But the queens we use would not excite you
So you better go back to your bars, your temples, your massage
parlours --
COMPANY:
One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
A little flesh, a little history
I can feel an angel sliding up to me
One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me
|
|
|
|
|
.jrjo
Member
|
|
|
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 900
Location: Lake Wobegon, MN
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 04/07/06 - 11:06 Post subject:
Safe travels home Scorch. Thanks for the virtual touring 
|
|
|
|
  |
All times are GMT - 4 Hours
|
|
