I Was Up Early,

as I was going to Bangkok,

 so I spent the journey playing with my camera in the back of the car,

 arriving at the car park I took a few pictures from the 7th floor overlooking some of Bangkok,

 if the pictures look a little dramatic, 

 it is because I had the dial on the camera set on creative control,

 which is why I am guessing,

 the pictures look a little more colourful,

 it was at this point I realised my mistake and put the dial back to normal mode,

 this was a chemist apothecary shop, who knows, other than the chemist, what is inside all of those drawers?

 this was the restaurant selected for lunch,

 but first a walk around town, as a kid all fire engines were red, but it appears yellow is the new red,

 along the road is Wat Yan Nawa, so there were monks walking about the street, 

 slowly the shops became thinner on the ground,

 it might seem strange seeing a sofa on the street, but most times although discarded they are used by motorcycle taxi drivers as they wait for their next fare,

walking further along the street and over one of the many canals that criss cross Bangkok,

 I noticed this construction work in progress,

it always amazes me how the scaffolding takes the weight of the workers,

it seems so frail, just held together wit a few nails, but at the end of the day it works,

 and here we are,

 Wat Yan Nawa,

 it is an old Buddhist temple dating back to the Ayutthaya period, located in the Sathon district of Bangkok on Charoen Krung Road,

 outside there was a beautiful delicate plant growing in one of the flower beds, I do not know what it is but it looked so nice,

 it was a busy day at the temple,

 in the grounds there were several coaches, waiting to take the novices on a trip,

 the temple complex is quiet large, 

 and is famous for it's unique junk shaped chedi and viharn built by King Rama III,

 going inside there are offerings,

 on display,

 walking through the complex,

 there are sellers of various goods,

 like this lady,

 who seemed so pleased to have her picture taken,

there are a few smaller temples

 not as immaculate as some of the temples on the tourists rounds,

 but as it happens in the whole day I only saw one other foreigner, and that was at lunch in the cafe,

 some of the novices were picking up refreshments,

 I am guessing there were going to visit another temple,

 the temple has a waterfront,

where you can take a boat,

 looking up river, huge modern buildings and the sky train,

 with more skyscrapers in the distance downstream,

 these two novices really wanted to be in the picture!

 one of the many rice barges,

 one thing there was a lot of here was pigeons, I do not recall seeing that many around, but here there were huge numbers of them,

in the river there are some temple fish,

 you can buy food to feed them, also you can buy live fish to release, I had always thought that this gesture gave you merit, but one thing I have learned that each species of fish has other 'special' attributes, the catfish, locally known as pla duk (Clarias gariepinus), when released it is supposed to ensure that you have no enemies,

 leaving the temple complex there is this mixture of ancient and modern buildings,

 so out through the temple gates,

 past one of the many canals,

 and to the restaurant,

 for a bite to eat, my day finished it was back to the taxi and back to Pattaya, I have split this post into two parts as there were so many pictures, so if you want to see the rest of the day scroll down or hit the older posts button.