About 1:30 this afternoon, Dang, one of my friends down the street, called me. She was off work and wanted to take me to Wat Asokaram (a Buddhist temple nearby). So, at 2:00, she picked me up, and off we went. Fifteen minutes later, we pulled into a large temple compound with multiple buildings and shrines.
Pictured below is one of two main buildings on the compound.
Inside the temple at the far end from the entrance is the Buddha image.
On the left-hand side in the back was a display honoring one of Thailand's famous monks, now deceased. The flowers and fruit are offerings to??? I'm not quite sure I understand exactly who the offerings are for, but people bring offerings and pray in front of this display.
On the right-hand side in the back was a display honoring a monk, maybe the same one??. But here there was a clay replication of the monk.
Next to the above display was a case holding crystal containers of relics from famous deceased monks. The containers on the top shelf contain relics from Buddha himself.
On the way out of the wat, I needed to take at least one picture of the many paintings on the walls.:)
Exiting this wat, the view that met our eyes was an impressive white building that appears to still be under construction. We didn't go inside, as nothing was finished, but we enjoyed exporing the various levels on the outside.
Pictured here: my friend Dang in the middle, her friend Dang on the right, and the sister of Dang #2 on the left.
From the white building we walked down a quiet street lined with beautiful houses. Dang informed me that the wealthy folks donate money to the wat to build dwellings for the monks. The name of the donor is placed across the top of the doorway. Below is one such house.
We turned onto a smaller elevated walkway taking us through trees and brush and more monks' houses, though not as fancy. The ground below the walkway was actually mud and water full of crabs and those fish with legs.
The pathway ended at the sea (the Gulf of Thailand). Dang (below) said the tide was out, hence the mud in place of water.
As we made our way back, we happened upon a few monks who graciously agreed to let me take their picture.
On our way back to the car, Dang took me past a series of little shrines, each built in honor of a particular monk. People bring their offerings and prayers to these shrines as well.
That is NOT the end of my day by any means, though I took the bulk of my pictures at the wat. To see the rest, please check my extended entry.
Dang and I parted ways with her friends at the wat, and from there she drove me to the sea at another place with a pier. Unfortunately, we could only see mud there as well. My friend was quite concerned about that; she said normally the water comes up quite far. She wonders if global warming has anything to do with it. In all honesty, the view was not that great, as you can tell by the picture below. But I told Dang it's not her fault the water isn't there!:)
Well, from the sea, we drove to some little outside shops in the Tesco Lotus parking lot. (Tesco is a lot like Walmart). We ended up getting foot massages, and wow, did that hurt!! But supposedly it is a good sign when it hurts, because that means they are working out the kinks in your system. By the way, foot massages are actually more than just foot massages; they usually end up being leg massages as well. That's my foot below!
While we were getting our foot massages, Dang's friend called and invited us to her house for food! It was a fun time. Of course, there were other Thais there as well. :)
Just when I thought we were ready to head home, I was informed that we were going to stop in to see Dang's friend's house. Apparently where we were eating was not her house, but someone else's house. So we stopped in at her house right next door, where we feasted on fruit and chatted some more. And once again, I was introduced to more people, some of the family members. Below is that picture.
Finally, Dang dropped me off at my apartment about 10:00PM! But at this last home, I was given a couple gifts, pictured below. I will never be able to eat those bananas before they spoil. And I'm not quite sure what to do with the picture of the king and queen, but I do feel special.:)
