Wat Arun

With its 80m high 'prang' towering over the Chao Phraya River, Wat Arun, the Temple of the Dawn, is my favourite temple in Bangkok.

Wat Arun was built in the early 19th Century during the reigns of the Kings Rama II and III, when the capital was located on the temples side of the river, opposite to where it is now.

The construction of Wat Arun is a little different to most of the other temples in the city, with the surface covered in colourful pieces of broken porcelain from China.

Apparently the bits of crockery came from the ballast of ships that were visiting the city to trade. An early example of the benefits of recycling!

The little pieces form beautiful designs such as flowers and shells and is incredibly striking both from a distance as the sun reflects of them at all angles as well as upclose where you can appreciate the craftsmanship.

It is a steep climb, but the view of the river and the city that awaits you makes it well worth the effort. It is truly spectacular.

Combine all this with the various unusual statues and figurines, the cool breeze that blows off the river and the grassy areas and trees of the surrounds and you have an amazing, special place worth visiting over and over again.

My Walk Home

Each afternoon after school I get on the shuttle bus which transports us from RIS out to the main road, a distance of about 3km. You can see the shuttle on the right of the photo at the top of Soi 184 that runs out to the school.

The walk home takes about 10 minutes and goes through a busy section of Ramkhamhaeng Road, with lots of shops, stalls and activity.

The motorbike is a popular form of transport and one of the first shops is the motorbike dealer. New bikes start at about 30000 Baht, around $1000. The motorbikes share the footpath with pedestrians so you have to be careful they don't run you over.

There is a covered market on the way home, which is a good spot to get fruit and vegies as well as a variety of other household items and clothes.

The food vendors are next along the street, the smells of the cooking  making you hungry. I often pick up barbequed chicken from here.

There are lots of other stores including pharmacies, hardware, hairdressers and even a comic store.

I then turn off the main road and into the street that runs down to the entrance of my mooban. The S&P restaurant specialises in cakes and the coffee is pretty decent.

The entrance to Parkway Chalet Village is a tree-lined street

Just before I arrive at my soi there is a pretty little park.

Finally I arrive at my soi and I am home!

Samut Songkram Province

About 50km south-east of Bangkok on the Gulf of Thailand is the province of Samut Songkram. I went with another teacher from Ruamrudee on a day trip organised by the Siam Society.

First stop was the Railway market. As you can see in the photo, the pathway through this part of the market is a railway line - which has a train come through a few times a day. All the stallholders have to pack up and move their items off the tracks, let the train past and then set up again!

In Thai markets, it is the smells that are most foreign. I don't think I will ever grow to get used to the smell of dried fish which is very popular and for sale everywhere. The fresh fish and crabs in the next photo have a strong enough odour as it is.

Our next stop was a small floating market where the shops are the boats.

We were very fortunate to visit the home of the leading craftsman of the Thai fiddle. The fiddle is constucted from a rare type of coconut and the highest quality fiddles can go for hundreds of thousands of dollars. We were treated to a brief performance as you can see below.

Not only does this man make and play the fiddle, he also teaches others how to play. Some of his proteges are sitting in the background above and are practising an item for an upcoming concert below.

The house was in a beautiful garden and orchard; a nice place to sit and relax.

We then moved on to have lunch on the river and then after lunch took a trip down the river, passing traditional homes on the banks.

Our final stop for the day was the town of Amphawa, which is very popular with the residents of Bangkok who make the trip on a Saturday night to shop in the market and enjoy the fresh seafood on the river. It was a very crowded place but an interesting end to the tour.

Cambodia Part 3 - Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is a crazy and chaotic city. Many say it is the real Asia. Others cannot cope with the traffic, the smells, the way it confronts your senses. I liked it from the moment I arrived.

Located where the Tonle Sap and Tonle Bassac Rivers meet the mighty Mekong, there is a beauty to be found amongst the hustle and bustle. The riverfront is lined with elegant old old buildings and a cool breeze blows off the water and along tree-lined streets.

It is hard to believe that in 1975 the residents of the city were forced to evacuate by Pol Pot to go work in the country. It is a place desperate to recover and optimistically looking to the future but the horrors of the past are a prominent part of any visit to the capital of Cambodia.

Nothing can quite prepare you for the gruesome story of what Pol Pot and his henchmen did to their own people. First stop on a tour of Phnom Penh is Tuol Sleng Museum, a school that was converted to Security Prison 21, where thousands were tortured before being transported to the Killing Fields to be executed.

The black and white faces of the men, women and children who were killed is haunting.

The Killing Fields themselves are about 15km south of the city, the tranquil rural setting somehow feeling not quite right. The centrepiece of this moving place is the Memorial Stupa, which contains the skulls of over 8000 people stacked high.

It is a history that is disturbing and sickening but that needs to be told. The remains of all those people are still crying out for justice. Hard to believe it was only about 30 years ago and that the rest of the world sat back and let it happen. Mans cruelty to man is astonishing.

There are some peaceful oases amongst the city, being the Royal Palace and the National Museum. The Royal Palace is famous for the Silver Pagoda, with its silver floor tiles and ancient relics. The walls surrounding the couryard are adorned with amazing murals telling the history of the Khmer people.

The National Museum of Cambodia is a beautiful building in itself but its treasures are the ancient Khmer artifacts, including many from the temples of Angkor, although there is even pre-Angkorian pieces as old as the fifth century. The beautiful couryard is a nice place to have a rest or at least get your photo taken!

The streets of Phnom Penh are busy with traffic, road works and business. I hired a moto for the day to get me around. You get an idea of the traffic in the photo below.

There are however plenty of wide boulevards, especially around the palace.

There are also lots of charming smaller streets.

You don't have to go far, though, to see the real Cambodia, a poor but very beautiful rural country with water stretching to the horizon filled with growing rice. It is well worth a visit or two!