Temples, Boats and Subways

Today I decided to head for the Amulet Market first thing as my plan was to go and look at The Temple of Dawn, which is across the river from the market.

The Amulet Market is as the name suggests a market with hundreds of stalls selling Buddha amulets, I guess these are popular in Thailand as I have seen quite a few people with them hanging around their necks. There must be levels of quality as i spotted a few people with magnifying glasses out to inspect the carvings and intricate detail on them.

It wasn't too long before I got fed up of looking at amulets and made my way to the nearest pier to get the ferry (they call it a ferry but it only holds about 30 people) over to the Temple of Dawn.

The good thing about this temple was that you could take steps up really high and it gave a brilliant view over the river and surrounding areas. I managed to get a Japanese guy to take a photo of me then impressed him with some Japanese words ha ha! I went for the backwards method to get back down as these steps were steep and their were a few people having trouble, especially the women who were wearing skirts as there was a bit of a breeze!

Next was onto the boat down the river so I could get off at a stop nearer to the Golden Buddha temple where i was off to next. I'm pretty sure you had to pay a fee on the boat but i just got on and off and no-one noticed so it was a cheap ride for me.

When i reached the golden Buddha, there was a monk sitting on the floor in the middle doing some kind of blessing to the Thai people who entered and I was unsure about taking any photos at this point so I just sat on the nice comfy chairs and relaxed for a while. When the Thai people left i took my chance and started to snap away at the Buddha, which looked quite nice as Buddha's go.

My next planned destination was Jim Thompson's house, so I though I would give the MRT and BTS a go (both like subway lines) to get there and it was really cheap too! Fortunately for me I had my ISIC card on me (Youth Travel Card), which had my age on it as I got in for half price at 500 BHT. I had to wait a few minutes before they started a guided tour, which was the only way you could view to house so I spent that time having a look around the garden and fish pond, which had a huge stingray in?

The guide was good and explained a lot of information about the house, which was quite interesting and the house was quite nice. Once I was done i hopped on the river taxi next door and shot up the river closer to the vicinity of my hotel. I then shared a tuk tuk which a couple of Ozzie guys i met on the boat to Kao San Road and strolled back to my Hotel to freshen up.

I then went back to Kao San later to get some food and a beer and took my time to have a look at all the stalls and shops who love to get you in for a look around and promise a special price for you, but i declined.

I've found an Internet place which has Skype for I can phone home for tuppence woohoo!