Happy Hari Raya Puasa - Thailand style

I'm out of my funk today...and thank you for indulging me...I'm still jealous that all of you got proper Thanksgiving meals but am okay with the fact that I did not.

Today is the Muslim holiday of Hari Raya Puasa.  According to my trainer who is Muslim this is a holiday to renew relationships with family and friends but also to feast and share that feast with the less fortunate.  For me, it means a public holiday in Singapore so I got the day off.  Instead of flying back to Singapore last night I decided to stay over to tour around today.

The first stop on my tour was to Bang Pa-In Palace which is about a one hour drive north of Bangkok.  It is a huge estate that is used by the Thai King and Queen as a summer palace.  It is seldom used by the current royalty so is open to the public. 

There are a number of buildings on the property.  Most are used as residences so you aren't able to go into the buildings.  But they are pretty to look at from the outside.  This is the Aisawan-Dhipaya-Asana Pavilion:

In English that means the Divine Seat of Personal Freedom.  The building is used as the pavilion where the king changes his regalia...yes, I had to look this up...maybe since I am not of royal blood...it means he changes his crown and other king-like articles of jewelry and clothing.  It seems a bit odd because the building doesn't have any walls so hopefully he isn't changing too much.

Most of the residences are very Western looking and in fact are quite colonial in style.  You turn the corner from looking at that very Asian building above to find this:

This is the Uthayan Phumisathian Residential Hall.  In English it is called the Garden of the Secured Land.  This is the first building that is within the walls of the inner palace which was only accessible to the King and his family.

The next building that you come upon is the Ho Withun Thasana:

In English it means the Sages Lookout which is a very fitting name because it was built to be used as a viewing tower for the surrounding countryside.

At this point in walking around the palace I started to feel a bit like I was at Disney or some other theme park.  This may explain why:

The palace was neat to see but I don't know if I would go out of my way to go there again.  It would be better if you were able to go in and see the inside of the buildings.  The Thai people really love the King and Queen so I think it is probably quite impressive for them to be able to visit here.

Our next stop was to the Ayutthaya region of Thailand to visit some Buddhist temples.  The first temple was by far my favorite stop of the day.  It was to Wat Maha That which is a temple that is over 600 years old.  However, temple should be used loosely because it is actually the ruins of the temple. 

Almost all of the buddha statues had been desecrated during a war by having their heads and their right arms removed.  There were still hundreds of buddhas partially standing on the temple grounds.  When I was walking around looking at them I had this odd feeling like they were all still there because they were too stubborn to let somebody ruin their meaning just because they no longer had heads or arms.  This is one of those places...like the Colosseum in Rome...where you can't help but feel the history surrounding you when you are walking through.  I know this sounds hokey but you really feel like you get a sense of all of the people who have stood there before you.

Now, to be fair, while I was thinking how great this place was and could sense the history of it...I also was wandering around looking at these decapitated buddhas and wondered what they did with all of those heads and arms?  They weren't just lying around on the ground so clearly the people who cut them off also took them someplace.  Do you think there is a pile of heads just hanging around?  If so, isn't there a way we could find them and bring them back to their rightful bodies?

I took a ton of pictures here so will be sure to upload them to Flickr and post the link.

Our next stop was to an old temple that has been renovated.  It looks brand new and is obviously still in use.

 

This is the Qat Na Phra Mane temple.  It is actually on the grounds of a monastery.  The buddha inside is actually quite rare because it is adorned in royal attire.  Apparently very few buddhas get to wear the crown since that is reserved for the King. 

The final stop on the tour was to the Wat Lokayasutharam temple.  There is very little left of the temple buildings however there is one really great thing that is left:

Am not sure if you'll be able to double-click on the photo to enlarge it or not...if you can there is a guy in a blue shirt that will give you perspective on just how huge this thing is.  If not, it'll be on the Flickr link so you'll be able to see it. 

While the reclining buddha was cool to see, I have to say the best part of being at this temple was actually while I was crossing the road.  I was about to cross when this motorbike came whizzing up the road.  I stopped to let it pass and on the back of it, riding side-saddle, was a monk.  As he came up on the reclining buddha he put his palms together...tips of the fingers at his chin...bowed to the buddha and said what I am assuming was a prayer...and then just went back to riding on the back of the motorbike.  It was one of those...geez I wish I had my camera out moments...but honestly, I think it is one of those experiences I'm happy to have in my head as my own memory.  I don't think anybody else noticed him which makes it even more of my own...

It was a fun day and a great way to spend a holiday.  I almost didn't go on the tour...I hate going on arranged tours but sometimes it is really one of the few ways to see these sorts of things.  This one was good because they gave you a specified amount of time to wander around the palace and temples so even though I was transported with a group of people I made the most of my time at each site.