11.16.11
Posted in Playing the Tourist, Uncategorized, family stuff, food and restaurants at 3:45 pm by Administrator
Yes, that’s right, 25 “years” of marriage! Yikes! And Brian and I still get along! Enough so that we celebrated our 25th anniversary with a weekend in Mexico City. While both of us have been to Mexico, neither one of us had been to Mexico City. What a treat it turned out to be! It all started last Friday night. This was the view from our airplane window.
We were booked with American Airlines, but it turns out that AA is managed by Alaska Airlines? Uh, I don’t get it. And I also didn’t get who is this guy on the tail of all the Alaska planes?
It took me a while to see it, but maybe that black ring around his head is part of his Eskimo suit? Or should I say Inuit suit? Well, if anyone knows more about that, would be interesting to me to know.
So we arrived in Mexico City and stayed at the Emporio Hotel on the Avenue Reforma. It was a really quick trip, but we managed to get in a few sites like The Anthropological Museum, The Guadalupe Shrine, and the ruins of Teotihuacan. I’ll share some of those pics once I get them uploaded and I can sort through them (yeah, that’s what I thought about my Philippine pictures that are still not up! Ha! One of these days I’ll try to post pics of our trip to the rice terraces). Until I get those pics up, here’s one that Brian took of me at the breakfast buffet at the Emporio Hotel.
The breakfast was very good. The green drink in front of me was a combination of cactus, celery, grapefruit, and a little bit of orange. Interesting, huh? First time I’d had that, and it was pretty good! The little quesadillas on the side had cheese and cactus in them. We had heard about the cactus to eat, so we wanted to try it. The taste of them reminds me of cooked green bell peppers. It turned out to be a very satisfying breakfast and really held me over during our tour trek. Lots of walking and climbing! All worth it, tho. . . And everyone was so kind!
Marlakins
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10.30.11
Posted in Anything goes, Historical Trivia, Playing the Tourist, gardening, hobbies, museums at 9:16 am by Administrator
On Friday my boys and I visited the Getty Villa Museum in Malibu.
Wow, I would love to have a courtyard like that! But alas, only in my dreams, heheheh. Actually, this was my first time back at the Getty Villa since it’s reconstruction. The first time I had gone to the Getty Villa was during my high school days way before the Getty Center opened in Los Angeles. For anyone visiting Los Angeles, this is definitely one of the museums that should be on your list to visit. The Getty Villa was constructed as a replica of the Villa Dei Papiri for the purpose of housing J. Paul Getty’s art collection. The Villa was also intended to give the visitor the feeling of what it was like to walk in the villas back in it’s day and get a feeling of what it must have felt like to be in ancient Italy. It’s really a lovely place to visit full of history and art. Not only is the art collection engaging, but so is the architecture. Our docent told us that the Romans were obsessed with math and right angels and such, so a lot of that is seen in their architecture. This picture is an example.
According to our docent, the Romans were very practical, so all of their construction had dual function. That is, nothing was created solely for aesthetics, but also for functionality or special meaning. The gardens were also designed to grow plenty of herbs as was believed was done back in ancient Italy. The garden is impeccable. I even saw the most perfect pomegranate tree there. Other pomegranate trees I’ve seen have usually been unkempt and wild looking. The one in the Getty garden looked perfectly pruned. The picture doesn’t seem to do it justice. I found it to be very striking in person.
As with all museums, there is even a nice little gift shop. I always get sucked into those, heheheh. I found that the Getty Villa also has live stage performances. I’ll have to look into those and see when they do them and how to get in. I’m not sure, but I was under the impression some were performed in the amphitheater just in front of the villa. For anyone who loves art and architecture, you can easily spend the whole day there. Not only are there art works that you’d normally expect like pottery and sculptures, they had other things like this mummy.
I didn’t realize that the Italians did this back as early as the 1400’s (I think that’s about the date of this). I’ve been to Italy years ago and even visited some of their catacombs, but maybe I wasn’t paying attention if they mentioned these. The ritual was changed from the Egyptians, but there are some similarities, but also some differences like the face painting on the head of the mummy. Apparently, that painting was supposed to be what the deceased looked like.
I’m a sucker for art or most any craft, so I love to get ideas in places like this. For instance, one of my interests have been to learn to tole paint, so these murals caught my eye as I would love to learn how to paint these floral curly cues.
I love the floral vines along the column, pedestal, and below the window. Just before I went to the Philippines, I picked up some paint and paint brushes to try to learn how to do these as well as flowers. Have not gotten back to it since I’ve returned, wah. The other hobby that I’ve wanted to dabble in is mosaics. I purchase a book on this as well as checked some out from the library, so the Getty mosaics were also a great interest to me.
I like the idea of the shells as well. I’m thinking maybe I can try a small scale project like a flower pot for starters. The Getty mosaics definitely serve as a source of inspiration if not only for admiration of Italian creativity and skill, but for aspiring artists. We took a lot more pictures (I just love museums that allow picture taking), but there is just too much to share on a small blog like this. Suffice it to say that I highly recommend visiting the Getty Villa. For art lovers, it would definitely make for a very nice day.
Marlakins
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06.12.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist, gardening, hobbies, knitting and crocheting, museums at 8:34 pm by Administrator
Today I was able to make a quick trip down to the Huntington Library in San Marino. I really love that place, so it was a shame that I was only able to spend a couple hours there. Usually whenever I go there I have to visit their cactus garden (they have the best collection that I know of here), but today I didn’t have time. Instead I bee-lined it to the herb garden because they were having a special exhibit which featured natural dyes for yarns. Oh yeah! But first. . . I had to wend my way through their rose garden.
The only other rose garden that I know of that is comparable to this one is the one Brian and I visited during our trip to London. I forget the name right now, but I sure took a lot of pictures there! Maybe some time I’ll upload some of my rose shots.
So not far from here was my intended destination–the herb garden. Towards the back perimeter they had tables and charts set up with dying information, including some samples and a small demonstration.
This woman was very nice and helpful (actually all the women there were!) Not only did she give me lots of information, but I learned something that really made me happy–one doesn’t have to use mordants to dye yarns! Woo hoo! Mordants have been one of the things that have kept me from taking the dying plunge. I didn’t want to use any toxic chemicals, and now learning that I don’t even need to use a mordant and that I can use herbs right from my garden or even kitchen I can feel another hobby coming on. Granted, using a mordant is supposed to help the colors hold fast and fix more brightly, but I’m not that picky. Here’s a chart with samples this woman had on display that her son made back in 1977. The colors, while faded a bit, still held well enough for my taste.
There were also other fiber addicts there demonstrating their talents like this woman spinning yarn.
Another woman was sorting through some fleece. Again, I was able to learn more information about fleece from her, which is good to know since I still have my fleece to work on that I got from my trip to the Isle of Man.
There were also women working on different types of looms. This is a small rectangular loom by which one can make small woven pieces to sew together.
Apparently there are quite a few different shapes used for weaving. I was shown one that I’ve never seen before–a triangular loom.
I do have a more complicated loom that Brian bought me years ago, which I have still never used. . . I guess I just look at all that threading that needs to be done before weaving, and I just can’t seem to get myself to do it. Or maybe it’s really that I’ve been too lazy to figure it all out. But when I saw this knitter’s loom, it looked very simple and something that might be a good starting point for me.
Oh yeah, now that I could see myself dabbling in. This particular loom is called the knitter’s loom by Ashford. The woman explained to me that Japanese kimonos were originally made in strips 14″ wide and then sewn together, thus explaining some of their striped patterns. I could see trying this! Look like fun to me, and yes, I have plenty of scrap yarns to test it all out, too.
By this time I had already spent about 1 1/2 hours here, and still wanted to visit the Chinese garden Matty told me he wanted to see. So off we zoomed back through the garden.
This path lead down to the Japanese garden first.
Then we veered off to the Chinese garden.
And another shot.
Gorgeous! I really love the Huntington Library gardens! I could easily spend the whole day there, but alas I didn’t have time. So not long after strolling through this garden, we had to head back without even a peek at the library museum, bookstore, or cactus garden, wah. . . maybe next time. I thank God that there are some really creative and talented people out there who can create such beautiful, peaceful environments, not to mention the amazing variety of nature that God has given us to tend and cultivate.
Marlakins
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04.27.10
Posted in Church Issues and Bible Interpretations, Playing the Tourist, knitting and crocheting at 12:13 pm by Administrator
Some people like to accuse Christians of disregarding the earth because of what they “think” is taught in Genesis 1:28.
28“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
It’s the word “dominion” that they like to run with. And in reality, I can see why some people run with that word because I have seen it myself where “some” Christians do in fact reason that this world is only temporary so we have every right to do with it as we please be it cut down all the forests and pollute the land and air with wild abandon. They want no restrictions. However, I would like to assert that not all Christians believe that. I for one think that Genesis 1:28 refers to man being good stewards of the earth, and the “dominion” part of it has to do with our ability to reason and our capacity to think and plan/organize. This is a far cry from recklessly plundering our natural resources without regard of the future ability of the land to regenerate healthfully. Just think that within the very same verse God instructs man to “be fruitful and multiply.” How can man fulfill that command if he pollutes the environment so badly that nothing will grow, and animals struggle to reproduce, and their own children are born with birth defects as a result of that pollution? Therefore, I submit that having dominion refers to being good stewards of the earth that God provided for us, not a license to rape the land, air, and oceans.
So in my little ways, I try to be a good steward of the earth, too, by trying to do green things. Granted sometimes it seems so overwhelming as I look at our trash cans and realize that we do in fact contribute to a lot of waste that clogs up our landfills. I have endeavored to recycle and cut down on plastics and anything toxic that I can think of. But I am guilty of owning and going through several computers and various electronics, consume countless batteries and other excess packagings, and enjoy long-distant traveling. But with this duality, I have become sort of a pack rat with things that aren’t donate-able. I hate to waste and throw things away. . . so I try to donate old stuff when I can. But what to do with the undonate-able stuff? Then on Earth Day I happened to see a video of a woman using scraps of fabric from old shirts and turning it into yarn that she knit up into scarves. Oye! I’ve got lots of old rags. . . even old jeans and bed sheets that aren’t really donate-able, but I still don’t have the heart to throw away. What to do?
Well, I decided to try it and make a small rug out of one of my old bed sheets. Here’s how it looked when I started. I had already started ripping before I thought I should take a picture of my progress.
After I stripped the sheet down, I started to connect the pieces by just tying the ends together and wrapping it up in a ball.
Then it was ready to knit. This is what it looked like half way through.
And here’s my little rug completed!
Yeah, I know, kinda of a funky rug, but hey, it works! Not sure if I’ll just leave those ties sticking out or tuck them in or what, but I’m loving that now my old sheet that was essentially unusable is now going to be used again. It’s completely washable, too! And the added bonus to this project is that I not only recycled, but “upcycled” something. Heheheh. I love it.
Okay, so that’s my little recycle project, but while at Santa Monica last weekend we saw a larger scale green project in the works there. It’s a system called “SMURRF,” Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility.
The yellow tank in the foreground has dirty, gritty, oily water in it where it is filtered and cleaned. As the water passes through the system it ends up cleaned as shown at this stage.
As described in the placard, the water that is captured in the SMURRF system comes from the city storm drains, which contains a lot of debris and which ordinarily would go straight into the ocean without being processed first. But this system captures some of that dirty water, cleans it, then recycles it to water the landscape. I love it! Not only is the dirt prevented from entering the ocean, but the lawns are also fed and maintained.
Thank God for people who have the genius to know how to put these facilities together. Now that’s a good use of a scientific brain, and what I think would qualify as a good steward of the earth.
Marlakins
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04.26.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist at 1:15 pm by Administrator
The Lobster had nice big windows so that we could see the pier and parts of Santa Monica around us. Just outside while we ate we saw this man. . .
We had to take a closer look to see that those were not real snakes, ack! Not sure what his thing was, but I guess he was just balancing all sorts of things for donations.
After we ate at The Lobster, we decided to walk along the pier. It was a really nice day with lots of people out and about. So since I had my trusty camera with me, I decided to take more pictures. And no sooner did we just get to the pier when I found my first photograph subject–Gwen Stephani! Apparently she was out strolling with her family or friends, and she was taking pictures of their kids. Here’s one of the pics I got of her. She’s the blonde one with the dark glasses on.
There were a couple of paparazzi following her and taking pics, so I just took a few quick shots and left. I’m sure these stars would appreciate being able to go out and do family things without being hounded by fans all the time.
One thing I like about the pier is the sampling of different musicians. And actually on the day we were there they all sounded pretty good. Here’s a couple that we saw first.
This was musician #2.
Here’s musician #3. I thought his dog was so cute!
And while I did like the sound of all of them, I think musician #4 had the most interesting sound. Now that I think of it, maybe I should have purchased one of his CDs.
Then interspersed along the pier were shop and food vendors and other types of artists like this one.
Here’s a closeup of his work.
There were also sculptors and finger painters, trapeze lessons, and even this interesting guy. . .
He positions he was able to twist himself into was amazing.
Okay, so that’s a fair sampling of the ongoings at the Santa Monica Pier. Afterward we did a little shopping, then headed home. There were a few other pictures I took of this water purification system they had set up nearby as well, but I think I’ll try to add those pics with explanations on another post.
Marlakins
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03.28.10
Posted in Historical Trivia, Playing the Tourist at 11:30 pm by Administrator
Just as the stop at the woodcarving factory was a surprise, we made “two” other surprise stops–one at a jewelry factory and another one at a leather factory. Well actually the tour we took the previous day did the same thing in that we stopped off at a jewelry factory and a Thai silk shop without knowing that we were going there. That jewelry factory specialized in sapphires and rubies set in gold. They did not allow any pictures inside, so I didn’t comment on it. However, the next tour we took brought us to another jewelry factory which specialized in Thai silver as well as gold and other stones. We were allowed to take some pictures here, but not in their showroom. Here’s a pic of the front of the factory.
So here are a few pictures of their jewelers at work. This guy appears to be faceting a stone.
These are a closer look at the mounted stones just before grinding.
Well, I suppose I should show some of the stones at the beginning of the process.
And some emeralds.
A guy working on a ring. I believe he was adding the stone mounting here.
Another guy working on a necklace.
Another person working on a bracelet.
A gal sorting through sapphires.
There were quite a few other workers there, but I think this is a decent sampling of the working going on during our visit. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the showroom, which was a shame because that’s where the finished work is displayed and can be appreciated. Suffice it to say that that jewelry was lovely.
The next stop was at a leather factory. They didn’t allow any pictures at all inside their building. But I did want to share something I purchase there because I thought it was unusual. These little wallets are made from leather with a weave of horse hair and silk. They came in a few colors, but I liked the plain black.
I had never seen anything made from woven horse hair and silk, so I thought they were a little novel and bought a couple for my sisters. When we came back home, Andrew had to go to a museum for one of his history classes. I tagged along. The museum he chose was the Pacific Asian Museum where, to my surprise, they had on display some traditional Korean folk hats made from woven horse hair! I never knew! Fortunately, the Pacific Asian Museum allowed as many photos as we wished so long as we didn’t use flash. Here’s a pic of one of their horse hair hats.
And another. . .
And here I had never heard of woven horse hair and silk to make wallets, while the Koreans were wearing horse hair hats hundreds of years ago. . . Learning seems never-ending. I’m supposed to be teaching Aaron, but I keep learning things right along side him. Actually, the Pacific Asian Museum had a lot of interesting things on display. I took a lot of pics, so may share those later when I have more time.
Well, it’s late, so toodles for now!
Marlakins
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03.20.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist at 5:05 pm by Administrator
Since I seem to be following a pattern of alternating travelogue pics with miscellaneous posts, I guess it’s time for some travelogue pics. . .
So continuing on with our tour in Thailand, after the elephant ride and woodcarving factory we headed out to the elephant show, which turned out to be at a zoo. Before we watched the show they fed us a buffet lunch, which was actually pretty good for being at a zoo.
They also had a fruit and dessert bar as well as this soup bar.
Um, yum!
After stuffing ourselves we headed over to the place where the elephant show was to be held. We got there a little early and found that they were having a magic show first.
For this trick they started out with an empty tank. Then they filled it up with water from a hose. After tossing this sheet around a bit, they covered the tank like so. . .
I don’t know how they did it, but they then pulled off the sheet, and the tank was full of these fish! Ack! Hmmmm.
Hmmm. . . tricky, tricky! I have no idea how they did that! These two were actually pretty good and have several other tricks that I found pretty entertaining. Anyway, after their act, it was finally time for the elephant show. It was actually longer than I had thought it would be. They showed off the elephants displaying their ability to do various tricks, and then also explaining how elephants were once used during their battles. So part of the show was a battle recreation of old.
Apparently, they actually fought battles while on the backs of elephants. So I learned a little bit about elephants on this trip such as how agile they are. I never knew they were so agile. They showed elephants kicking soccer balls into goals, banging on drums, swinging hula hoops around their trucks, as doing all sorts of poses and even dancing. . . hmmmm. Apparently, elephants are a big deal in Thailand and are also a symbol of good luck to them.
Here’s a recreation of how they fought on the backs of the elephants.
After the elephant show, we hustled out to the crocodile pit. It turned out that the other big attraction at this zoo was the crocodile show. At the pit the crocodiles are swimming around in the water along the perimeter of the stage. As the show starts, the guys walk into the water and rustle up the crocodiles like so. . .
Then they kinda work with them tapping on their mouths with sticks. This seems to get the crocodiles to open their mouths. It took a while for them to rustle up the crocodiles. While they did that we got a good idea of how fast and powerful crocodile jaws are. These guys would try to put their hands in their mouths and with a lightening crack, the crocodile’s jaws would snap shut in a flash. Was kind of nerve-racking, actually. But if that wasn’t bad enough then the finale came and this guy decided to stick his “head” in the crocodile’s mouth. . .
Ack! Turns out I wasn’t the only one that felt stressed out at this event. My dad and uncle actually felt stressed at this show as well, so they had to unwind afterward with a little snack. They looked so cute, I had to take this picture, heheheh. Here are the two kids. . .
Hee, hee! I guess no matter how old we get, the kids we once were are always still there deep inside, huh?
Okay, that’s it for now. I’m starting to wind down with my travelogue pictures, so might only have about three or four more posts on our travels, then back to all normal things again. I did pick up The Day We Lost The H-Bomb yesterday as well as Dark Sun, the Making of the Hydrogen Bomb. I only barely started reading the first book, so will take a while before I post my comments on it. So far it’s interesting! And that’s it for now. Better go and work on dinner. . .
Toodles!
Marlakins
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03.13.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist at 6:54 pm by Administrator
After our elephant ride our next tour destination was to watch an elephant show. However, on the way we stopped off at a woodcarving factory. This was a surprise to me because they didn’t highlight a woodcarving factory as a part of the tour. Apparently, one of the specialties in the area we were in is woodcarvings. I really liked how they allowed us to take as many pictures as we wanted. The woodcarvers were outdoors under a shed. Here’s what part of the work area looked like.
They let us walk all around and watch anyone working. Here’s as example of some of the woodcarvers at work.
It looked like they put a white film (gesso, maybe?) over the area they will carve and draw right on it, then carve right through the film.
They carved different types of things. I think this woman is carving a table. From looking at some of the work in the show room, I think this will end up with a glass top.
Here’s another guy working on elephant sculptures. This one is small, but there were completed ones that were bigger than people.
Here’s a pic of me standing next to some of the completed elephant sculptures to help give an idea of how big some of them were.
Here’s another example of how large their carvings can be.
Their craftsmanship was really lovely. I found it a treat to go through their showroom where their carvings were displayed for sale. Not only did they have statues and reliefs, but they also had all sorts of furniture.
The nice thing about this tour was that they encouraged lots of pictures, so they didn’t mind us sitting there and snapping shots. Here’s one with Aaron and me. My mom liked this bench with the relief behind it, so she made Aaron and me sit down to take this picture.
I liked this set.
I thought they had nice quality furniture, but it sure wasn’t cheap. For example here’s one of their completed reliefs with a price tag of $10,500 U.S.
Very nice, but mama mia, that’s a hefty price tag for me meager budget.
They had a variety of designs from delicate and serious to more whimsical like this cute little set.
They also had these types of carvings for decor.
Don’t ask me who that guy is behind there. He just sort of popped into the shot, ha!
Okay, so I’m running out of room for this post, but they did have many more pieces and styles that I took pictures of. So one last fun piece to share is of this rocking chair. There was actually a much larger one that everyone else was using taking turns taking pictures in, so I just hopped onto this one.
Isn’t that a wild looking rocking chair? Ha! In retrospect, I should have been more patient and waited to take a pic on the larger chair, but you know how they rush you through tours. . .
Sorry I don’t have the name of this place or even what type of wood they use. . . I’d love to go back sometime to get more info. Was fun. . . But anyway, I’m about out of room for more pictures and dinner is about ready, so toodles for now!
Marlakins
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03.08.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist at 7:50 pm by Administrator
The second tour we took in Thailand took us to four provinces outside of Bangkok. I would list the names, but I can’t remember them. Actually, when the tour guide told them to us, I could barely understand them anyway! I found the Thai language very difficult to repeat. My ears are just not used to hearing their words and just to learn how to say “thank you” required that I had to ask the gal at one of the shops to say it several times very slowly, heheh. Then I wrote it down as she slowly repeated it several times. If my ears got it right, thank you in Thai is “kap kun ka.”
The floating market was part of our tour, and that was at Damnoen Saduak just on the outskirts of Bangkok. First we took a long boat to get to the market. This is what they looked like.
We had to be careful to take turns boarding as well as being mindful of where on the benches we sat since these boats are a bit narrow and can easily tip. Here’s a pic of me and my parents on the bench in front of me.
From here we rode through waterways with houses on either side of us to get to the floating market. Here’s what it looked like.
And this was a view at one intersection.
I noticed that along the way they also had foot bridges so people could walk from house to house. Here’s what it looked like.
Once we got to the floating market we transferred onto the paddle boats for an additional fee because long boats aren’t allowed within the floating market because of their engines. Two people were allowed to sit on the front and the rear benches, but only one person on each bench in the middle. Aaron and I sat on the front bench, so I turned around and took a pic of my dad and my mom behind him. He’s wearing a hat my mom just bought for him there, heheheh.
Basically, what the floating market is are a bunch of vendors selling their wares or goods from paddle boats. We hire a boat that paddles us around the market and we stop at whatever vendor looks good, heheh. They sell all sorts of things like hats, carvings, stuffed animals, etc., including food. Here’s a pic of a vendor selling hats.
Here’s a pic of other vendors selling food.
They sell all sorts of foods from cooked foods, to raw fruits and veggies and even raw meats. We bought some fried bananas from this vendor, yummy! Here’s what it looked like.
Some vendors were on boats side by side. Here’s a shot of what I mean.
If you wanted to buy something from the vendor three boats in, she would put her stuff in a basket with a long handle and reach it over to you. You would then remove your purchase and place your money in the basket.
It was very crowded with tourist. This is one shot showing how crowded it was.
Once we got off the paddle boat, there were other shops along the way where you could still buy stuff just walking around. There was so much to look at that I wished we had more time and more money, heheheh. But alas, we had to go to our next destination, which was taking an elephant ride.
When we got to the place where they gave elephant rides, Aaron and I shared one elephant. We also bought a basket of bananas so we could feed the elephant along the way. I had no idea elephants ate bananas! And I learned that they not only eat bananas, but they eat the whole kit and kaboodle–skins and all! Or course, I suppose they don’t peel them out in the wild? So we were told that since elephants eat like that their poops are very fibrous, and it makes good paper! Ack! The things this city girl has never thought of. . . There was a small bench on top of the elephant where we sat, and a man straddled across the back of the elephant’s neck who lead the elephant for us. After we walked out into the jungle a ways, he turned around and motioned for my camera. I gave it to him, then to my surprise he slid down! Aaron and I were by ourselves on this elephant! Meanwhile the man ran ahead and called to the elephant to follow him while he took pictures of us. Here’s a shot of Aaron and me on an elephant.
And this was our elephant “driver” after he took our pictures and climbed back up. I don’t know what else to call him! Ha ha!
I think that’s all the pics I can add to this post, so will stop here and continue on another post later.
Marlakins
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03.03.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist at 6:38 pm by Administrator
The first tour we took in Thailand included visits to a couple Buddhist temples. The first one was at the Royal Temple. This is one view of it.
There were actually several structures, so it was hard to get it all in in one shot. The little roofs seen at the bottom of this picture are actually little shrines for different Buddhas. There was incense available to light for each Buddha. I only know little bits and pieces of Buddhism, so I can’t explain much of it, but the little bit that we were told was that Thais are very superstitious, and they have a Buddha for different things. For example, if they are in need of more financial success, there’s a specific Buddha to pray to for that. If they want a child, then there’s another Buddha to pray to for that. For happiness, there’s another Buddha, and so on. The days in the week are also significant to the Thais, so they all tend to know which day they were born–i.e. Sunday, Monday, Tues, etc. I know the date I was born, but I never knew which day in the week. . . According to their religion, each day is associated with a certain color, which also has some sort of significance to the person.
This is what it looked like inside the temple.
Here’s a closeup of some of their inlaid art on their window shutters.
I believe this one was on the front door.
Just outside the temple were these bells on either side of the building. We were told that what you do is make a wish, then ring a bell. Then do it again using the next bell in line. You keep making wishes and ringing the next bell in line until you get to the end.
Toward the back there was another elevated structure (I think there was a school behind there), and from there I took more pictures, including this picture. Amazing craftsmanship, huh?
The second Buddhist temple we visited was Wat Traimit or Temple of the Golden Buddha . This temple is famous for the “golden Buddha.” This Buddha is supposed to be “solid” gold. For a little history on this Buddha, here’s a little blurb from this link:
Wat Traimit is thought to date from the 13th century. The Golden Buddha image is about 900 years old and is cast in the Sukhothai style. It is believed to have been brought first to Ayutthaya.
When the Burmese were about to sack the city, it was covered in plaster to hide its value. Two centuries later, still in plaster, it was thought to be worth very little.
But in 1957, when the image was being moved to a new temple in Bangkok, it slipped from a crane and was left in the mud by workmen.
In the morning, a temple monk, who had dreamed that the statue was divinely inspired, went to see the Buddha image. Through a crack in the plaster he saw a glint of yellow, and discovered that the statue was pure gold.
This is what it looked like on the day we visited.
Here’s one shot of the inside with the golden Buddha.
That’s Aaron off on the left side looking annoyed, heheh. He didn’t like the crowds. . .
Here’s a close up of one of their reliefs.
Here’s a closeup of one of their gold-leafed doors.
Here we are in front of one of their “money” Buddhas. I don’t know the right name for it, but we were told that if we wanted good fortune financially, then we should take our wallets and rub it three times around it’s belly. . .
After visiting the temples we were taken to a gold factory, which specialized in rubies and sapphires. They didn’t allow us to take pictures inside, so the only pic I go was this one of three of the gals who were greeting the visitors. This factory also had a nice Thai silk selection. Examples of their silk are worn by these gals.
Later in the evening we went to a cultural show. It was called Siam Niramit.
This is in the courtyard right outside of the theater. That’s me dad and mom on the left of the pic and me youngest boy, Aaron on the right.
Here’s a link to the show, http://www.siamniramit.com/ The cultural show included a buffet dinner just before the show. The food was only so-so there, but the rest of the eats in Thailand made up for that, heheheh. For anyone interested in seeing the program know that they do not allow cameras inside and they “collect” all cameras and video equipment and hold them at the front desk. No audio recording is allowed, either. . . After the show, however, they allowed pictures outside of the theater.
That ended our first tour day in Bangkok.
Marlakins
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