Bangkok - Visiting Temples - Last day

When I woke up this morning I researched shopping malls to visit as I wanted to buy some gifts to take home.

Venice shopping mall sounded good but I should have taken more notice of the 3* review rating. I caught a grab car there and was disappointed to find a mostly closed down little village.

Venice shopping mall might have been nice once but it is pretty run down now. Also because of the style of the mall there was no aircon. I called another grab cab to take me to hopefully a better mall. It was better but I did not find what I wanted in the way of gifts. I do not now remember what the name of that mall was.

I got a grab cab back to Mr Kong’s Homestay and he was waiting with an offer to go out for the afternoon. I hesitated but Mr Kong argued that I can rest tomorrow when I am in the plane … so off we went.

The first place we went to was Wat Leng Noei Yi also known as Wat Mangkon Kamalawat (translated to English means “Dragon Lotus Temple”). This is a Chinese Buddhist Temple and was very busy.

I was thinking that because it was now Monday that the roads and the temples would be quieter … but no … I now find out that it is a public holiday long weekend for the Makha Bucha holy day that was on Saturday 24/2.

Mr Kong praying to the god of good fortune. It was funny watching Mr Kong as he bowed and said a few words. He then took some notes out of his wallet. I thought that he was going to give the money but instead he wiped the money over the Buddha a number of times and then put the notes back into his wallet. There was a queue of people waiting to pray to this god.

Mr Kong was born in the Chinese year of the dog and therefore not lucky but I was born in the Chinese year of the tiger and am lucky … this is what Mr King told me. I am unsure if this is just for this year or all years. Because Mr Kong was born in the year of the dog and therefore unlucky he must do more paying and praying … evidently.

I am not too confident with explaining what is happening next but am going to try. Mr Kong is queuing to buy some papers (because he was born in the unlucky year). I attempted to queue too but he said that I don’t need to. So I photographed him buying his paperwork.

I can only assume here that it is because Mr Kong was born in the unlucky chinese year of the dog that he must perform this ritual. Mr Kong is deaf and only has limited vocal language so I have to guess most of what is going on. There are instructions on the table for him to follow and Police are there also going around the tables and helping. I am thinking that surely the Police have more important things to do. Maybe this is an important thing to do. Maybe these are just temple police dressed up as real police. Who knows.

There were many people revolving through the various sitting areas and filling in their paperwork … the unlucky ones I am guessing.

After this we go into a room where there is a shrine and Mr Kong, with many others, reads chants from his paperwork, rubs the paperwork on his body and head, prays and then places his paperwork on a shelf in the shrine room. Thank you Mr Kong for sharing this with me and I wish you a lucky year.

Do you see how we are all carrying little bags … our shoes are in here. We take them off and carry them around with us.

Once Mr Kong had placed his paperwork on the shelf we continued to explore the beautiful temple which is already very large but still under construction.

I did wonder for a few moments about what happens to the paperwork and whether this ritual really will help Mr Kong have a lucky year. And then I thought that maybe it is just nice to have something to believe in.

As we leave I photograph the moat around the temple.

We drive for a while to get to a series of other temples and Buddha where there are night markets and a fair … probably due to the holy day long weekend. Our first stop is for food.

I have a broth, noodle and pork dish and we share a dish of mussels and egg. Lovely family running the stall … the food was okay. The broth, noodles and vegetables were good … just the meat was a bit suspect.

This temple area is called Lat Pla Duk. I am unsure if the whole area is called this or just the large golden Buddha.

You will see on this Buddha that it has added gold pieces … worshippers add this gold. There were ladies here that had a stall where they were selling what I will call offerings packages that included pieces of gold that you could put onto the Buddhas.

I put some gold on the Buddha … it was very sticky stuff … I got more on my fingers than on the Buddha.

I bought a candle, floated it and made a wish. I am not sure if I was supposed to say a prayer or make a wish. There were so many different options for praying and worshipping at this temple facility.

The cups, above, were filled with numbered sticks. You rolled the cup in your hands until one came out the top and landed on the floor. If 2 came out, as did for me, you have to put them back and keep going until just one stick comes out.

When you have your numbered stick you look at a chart on the wall and for your corresponding number and it gives you advice for the year.

I really wanted to know what it was saying so I downloaded the Translator Go App which worked well (0.99 cents for a seven day trial … just make sure you delete it).

This is interesting reading but I am not sure that it is saying anything in particular … maybe it got lost in the translation.

At this stall you could buy packages with everything that you will need for your worshipping experience eg lotus flowers and gold stickers … offerings for the buddhas.

This beautiful large golden Buddha could be seen from quite a distance. I walked around the Buddha for quite a while trying to get good photos of the Buddha with the setting sun. I didn’t get exactly what I wanted but it was good practise for future sunset photography.

On the way home we went to more night markets that were under an overpass not far from Mr Kongs Homestay. There was live music and market stalls outside but the variety of food inside was amazing. I bought a variety of different things to try. The above quail eggs were cute.

This is my last night in Bangkok … tomorrow I start my journey to Christchurch, New Zealand via Hong Kong. I am not looking forward to this long flight.

I did have a really good day today experiencing the temples with Mr Kong. I look forward to learning more next time I come.