buddha

The Scamp in Bangkok, Thailand

Posted on by erranteditor

The next stop on my grand adventure was Thailand. I spent 5 days there and divided my time between Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

The guide I had in Bangkok was seriously one of the best humans I have ever met. Chaiya Poboonma is in his early to mid-20s if I had to guess, and was just a big ball of sunshine. He got me to the hotel and ensured I was checked in and cared for. I had the rest of the evening to myself. I wandered a bit and found another 7/11 to pursue treats and interesting flavours of crisps. Asia really did not disappoint with the fun crisp flavours and interesting desserts. I was not brave enough for the late-night street food, but it did smell delicious.

I stayed at the True Siam Rangnam. Of all the hotels that I stayed at during this trip, this was my least favourite. The hotel was clean, but the room was very basic and not super comfy. I think it was a surprise after coming from the luxury spa in Cambodia. The gym I had been going to at the time had made some videos of home workouts for us to do over Christmas, and I tried to do one of the workouts in the hotel room and it was just not comfortable. I did get a good laugh over the hot trainer doing an ab workout and complaining through the whole video though.

Chaiya and the driver picked me up bright and early the next mourning to see the highlights of Bangkok. Chaiya was knowledgable, but also really fun about the way he told me about the different temples and palaces. He also had a thing about photos….he knew how to take amazing photos. I’ve never had so many photos of myself taken in one day.

and all of the photos are fantastic.

The first stop was the Wat Traimit in Chinatown. The temple was founded by three Chinese friends sometime in 1820’s-1850’s, and was originally called Wat Sam Chin Tai (the south temple of the three Chinese). The temple is best known for housing a 9ft tall, 5.5 ton golden Buddha statue.

The statue is a bit of a mystery. It was built in the 13th or 14th century, and at some point, it was covered in stucco and coloured glass to conceal just how important it was. In 1801 the statue was sent to Bangkok to be in one of the many temples built in the new capital city.

In 1955 the statue was being moved and the stucco cracked, revealing the golden statue underneath. The statue is actually made in nine parts that all fit seamlessly together and came with a key on how to take it apart for easier transport. It was truly magnificent.

Our next stop was to Wat Po, the home of a 45-meter reclining Buddha statue. This temple also served as the first school for Thai massage.

The last stop on the guided tour was the Royal Grand Palace, the most revered national royal monument in Bangkok. This place was crazy. It was so full of people and large tour groups. The palace is massive. It is 218,000 square meters and protected by a wall that is 19,000 metres. It has served as the home of the King of Siam since 1782.

While there are many impressive structures and things to see in the palace, one of the most important is the statue of the Emerald Buddha. According to Wikipedia:

is an image of the meditating Gautama Buddha seated in a meditative posture, made of a semi-precious green stone (jasper rather than emerald or jade), clothed in gold.[1] and about 66 centimetres (26 in) tall.[2] The image is considered the sacred palladium of Thailand.[3][4] It is housed in the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew) on the grounds of the Grand Palace in Bangkok.[1]

For the three seasons, there are three sets of decorations for the Emerald Buddha:[3][19]

  • Hot/summer season from March to August – a stepped, pointed crown (makuṭa); a breast pendant; a sash; a necklace, a number of armlets, bracelets and other items of royal attire. All items are made of enameled gold and embedded with precious and semi-precious stones.
  • Rainy season from August to November – a pointed headpiece of enameled gold studded with sapphires; a gold-embossed monk’s robe draped over one shoulder (kasaya).
  • Cool/winter season from November to March – a gold headpiece studded with diamonds; a jewel-fringed gold-mesh shawl draped over the rainy season attire.

The sets of gold clothing not in use at any given time are kept on display in the nearby Pavilion of Regalia, Royal Decorations, and Thai Coins on the grounds of the Grand Palace, where the public may view them.

The photo is from Wikipedia because photos are not allowed inside the chapel, and it is considered a very spiritual place.

We wandered around the rest of the palace and had a mini photoshoot to prove that I had in fact, been there.

I had the rest of the day to do as I pleased, so I went to the Pratunam Market to look around. It was way too overwhelming, so I found a nicer mall with a food court and got myself some tasty chicken and then headed back to the hotel. I did stop in all of the 7/11s that I passed. The crisps continued to delight.

I ended the day sat by the pool in the hotel enjoying the warm weather and my book.

The next day I boarded a flight to Chiang Mai. I travelled on yet another budget airline for the 5th flight of the trip.

The Scamp in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

Posted on by erranteditor

My time in Hanoi was brief. I took a flight to the other end of the country so that I could explore Ho Chi Minh city, one of the largest cities in Vietnam. It is commonly referred to as Saigon, the city’s name until 1945. The city is in the southeast part of Vietnam and is home to around 10 million people.

I was met at the airport by a guide who got me settled into the hotel. I stayed at the Prague Hotel, which had really nice clean rooms and good food in the hotel restaurant. It was also near a 7/11 and the best little sandwich station. I arrived on Christmas Eve, and got to take advantage of the warm weather and the bustling street. One of the great things about being in this part of the world is the smell of street food. Although I was not brave enough to try street food in Vietnam, the smells were amazing.

Christmas day was a journey to My Tho, which is an entrance to the Mekong Delta. I was on tour with three couples from India. The women were all friends from college. There was another couple from India as well as a guy who was travelling solo (also from India) and some people from the US. The whole group was fun and lively and the tour guide was such a nice guy. He was probably in his early 20s and he loved hearing travel stories from everyone.

The first place we stopped was the Vinh Trang Temple. The temple is known for the giant Buddha and the beautiful tiles and gardens. There is a great article that you can find here that provides an overview of the temple, but some of the highlights include:

  • Statue of Maitreya Buddha: This colossal statue was inaugurated in 2010, constructed from reinforced concrete and steel, standing at a height of 20 meters and weighing approximately 250 tons. Under this statue is an office building of the Buddhist Executive Committee of Tien Giang Province.
  • Statue of Amitabha Buddha: Inaugurated in 2008, this standing statue of Amitabha Buddha measures 18 meters in height and 150 tons in weight.
  • Reclining Buddha statue: Often mistaken for the statue of Amitabha Buddha, this Reclining Buddha statue was completed in 2013, with a length of 32 meters, a height of 10 meters, and a weight of 250 tons, made from concrete and steel.
  • 7-story tower: In addition to the colossal and majestic Buddha statues, Vinh Trang Pagoda also houses a 7-story tower located at the rear. This tower serves as a repository for the ashes of Buddhist disciples and monks of the pagoda.

We then boarded a boat and sailed down the Mekong around four islands, Dragon, Unicorn, Pheonix and Tortiose. We stopped on Unicorn island and then took a sampan through the Thoi Son canal to see a honey bee farm and have a very interesting lunch.

The island had a host of animals that were for sale and some interesting drinks that promised a wide range of cures. I was not brave enough for snake wine, but I did hold some bees and a snake.

Once back at the hotel, I had a Christmas Banh Mi, which is a sandwich that was filled with veggies and chicken and some sort of spicy chilli sauce that was amazing. This was not the first Christmas that I have spent away from my family, but it was the first warm one that I’ve had in a while.

I really enjoyed my time in Vietnam, but it was not long enough. 5 days was not enough to see everything, and it is definitely a country that I would visit again. The people were really nice, it was fairly easy to navigate, and the food was amazing. I felt very safe there being a solo female traveller, and found that there were a lot of good tours that could be easily booked to get me around. It really is a must visit.