depaysement

Finally guilt-tripped Scott into going to a temple with me. We chose Wat Arun, a Buddhist temple situated along the Thonburi side of the Chao Phraya river. Wat Arun, also known as the Temple of the Dawn, has incredible mosaic work. Built to represent Mount Meru, the center of the world in Buddhist cosmology, the temple is covered with mythical beings. The four shorter towers, or prang, surrounding the central prang house images of the guardian gods of the four directions.

We climbed to the top of the teeny tiny steps and had a 360 view of central Bangkok. Amazing to be standing on such an old piece of architecture (built sometime during the seventeenth century) and looking out over traditional boats in the river, but then in the same view see skyscrapers and kids on smartphones. It’s a crazy place, Bangkok.