Day 8 was another "Free Day" and, still feeling rather ill (coughing a lot and no energy, I had taken a covid test and it was negative) I opted to stay at the hotel. Most of the group took the hop on hop off boat on the river to visit various places. Nicky sent me some photos from her and David's day so that is what follows.
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This was near the top of a pagoda at the Royal Palace.
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The Airavata (Erawan in Thai) three-headed elephant in Hindu mythology is not only the god Indra's vehicle but also a symbol of the eastern religion's cosmography. from yourthaiguide.com
We kept coming across examples of symbols from various religions comfortably side by side. There seemed to be an acceptance of a variety of beliefs. This was pointed out by Pra K.K during the monk chat. That Buddhism is a way of life and does not exclude other beliefs.
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Nicky mentioned that she loved this ornate door that seemed to glow from within.
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Historically, elephants in Thailand are considered to be very important culturally. There are many elephant's references to artworks, literature and national emblems. Since Thailand is a majority Buddhist country, elephants are portrayed as sacred animals from their special symbolism in the practice of Buddhism.
Many artworks in Thai royal palaces and temples have drawings of
elephants on the paintings on the walls. In 1917, Thailand's official
flag was a white elephant in the middle of the scarlet background. White elephants in Thai society also represent wealth and power because of their past association with the Thai royals. The royal Thai navy flag also bears the symbol of the white elephant. Many provinces in Thailand used to have elephants as part of their official emblems as well.[25] In the Thai animal and planetary zodiac, the elephant is the fourth animal zodiac of the Thai people.
Asian elephants share a close relationship with the Thai people,
from being used warriors on battlefields, worshiped as religious icons,
and faithful laborers to loggers. Environmental exploitation, massive
landslides, and mudflows led the government to ban logging in Thailand
in 1986.[26] This led to almost 70% of domesticated elephants to be out of work [27] but they still help a large amount of cultural significance in Thailand and were are a large part of the local's livelihood.from Wikipedia.
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Nic said that the walls of the palace were all painted in amazing detail.
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Another stop on the boat was the flower market.
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I am really sad I missed this as I would have loved to have seen it.
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I am told it was massive and full of colours and scents.
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There are flowers everywhere: in the hotels, hanging from the fronts of the long tailed boats, even on the massage beds. Flowers are part of the offerings to the spirit houses on a daily basis.
Amelia also went to the textile museum which she was amazed by and spoke of the elaborate weaving and embroidery including painting clothing with gold.
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Our hotel had "Happy Hour" and I joined everyone for that.
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While we were sitting in the restaurant we noticed that the road, that was normally teaming with traffic, was suddenly empty and lined by security/police. We walked out to see what was happening. It seemed something was going on at the temple across the road (the one I had walked around on the first day).
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Judy managed to snap a picture of this cream coloured car which was followed by a line of red cars. Then suddenly the road was full of traffic again. The waiter said it was the princess and she had been at a funeral at the temple. From the list below it is unclear which "princess" it was. Ammy also referred, at different times, to the Kings mother, daughter and his wife as "my princess".
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The current king is 72 and was crowned king when he was 20. He has been married 4 times and has seven children (2 daughters and 5 sons) although there is no clear heir apparent. 2 of his sons live in the U.S., one is a lawyer, one a doctor. One daughter is in a coma. Below is a listing from wikipedia that, interestingly, does not list 7 children.
This is a list of current members of the royal family:
- Descendants of Rama IX
- Descendants of Rama V
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