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| They are making distinct efforts to maintain and even repair some of the ruins as you can see above and here. They have put up scaffolding and supports (though it is unclear if the supports are for people doing repair work or for the masonry itself). In the literature we had about Thailand we learned that 95% of all Thai are Buddhist and that Buddhist monks are highly respected. We also read that the feet are considered the lowest part of the body and that the head is the highest. As such, when you are sitting in a temple you should insure that your feet are never directed toward the image of Buddha but instead in another direction. We also read that a woman should never touch a monk as they are celibate. Another thing we read was the between the ages of 16 and 21 virtually all Thai will spend three months living as a monk. |
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| When we were visiting the ruins we saw a group of five monks that were visiting the ruins as well. I wanted to take their picture but was hesitant until one of them came up to us with his instamatic and asked me to take there picture. Then after I took their picture I also with his camera I took one for myself. The monk who is to the right of Barbara in this picture put his arm around Barbara and she went 'Woh!' with surprise (having read about not touching them). Everyone laughed but he didn't put his arm back around her. To us the just looked like young kids, high school graduates or so, and so were probably not as serious about being monks as they might have been. One thing that impressed us is that they weren't allowed to carry money or eat any food after noon. Any food they ate was received in the morning as offerings. However, I imagine that since most everyone was a monk for a few months, they tend to be more generous about feeding the monks as they remembered their own time as monks. After the fact I wonder if the monk on the far right of this picture is a woman, but who is to know at this point. |
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| Here is another picture of the monks in addition to a tree that is growing on the top of a wall. On the other side of the wall is the head of the Buddha that is overgrown with the roots from that tree. Apparently the tree overgrew the body of the Buddha but kept puching the head out so that it came to look like a part of the tree. The Thai seemed to have more of a live and let live attitude than many Westerners and so were more inclined to leave to the tree be even though it would likely destroy the wall over time. Some of the towers and such were in quite good repair as you can see in the one below. Also below is a section that we guessed would be quarters for monks as there were many small cubicles with two windows and a door and reminded us of the monks quarters that we had seen in Korea. |
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| Here is a picture of three of the conical towers in a row. Below on the left is a picture we saw of the famous 'Black Buddha' before it was restored. It was in pretty good shape, but was surrounded by ruins. Next to that is a picture I took in the town we stopped at on our way back to Bangkok. I think it was the town of the queen's palace but we didn't visit the palace, just walked around the town before taking the train the rest of the way back. This was a farmer in a sarong walking with his water buffalo. |
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| This is (according to the tape) the same 'Black Buddha' but moved and restored. It is really massive and about three stories tall. Below are some chickens that were wandering the street. It seems they are somewhat kept chickens with that pan of food for them, but they looked a lot wilder than most chickens I am familiar with (and pretty scrawny for eating chicken though that is almost certain what they were headed for). |
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This page was last updated on October 29, 2005.
