I Am Splitting Today's Post Into Two Parts,

as I took so many photographs,

first thing we had a visitor,

one of the two ducks that sometimes land in the garden had paid us a visit,

 glad rags on,

and we were out,

Steve and Kai along with Linda picked us up and drove us all to the Thai Temple known as Wat Buddhapadipa or the Buddhapadipa Temple, it  is a Thai Buddhist temple in Wimbledon, London, it is home to monks and nuns, but welcomes visitors of any faith to view the grounds and temple as long as they are respectful to the building,

Steve dropped us off as he parked the car, from the left Linda, Kai and Diana,

we made our way into the temple grounds,

we were early, normally for this special day the temple grounds are packed with people,

this is what we are here for, the Songkran festival, it is Thailand's New Year's national holiday. Songkran is on 13 April every year, but the holiday period extends from 14 to 15 April,

 

time for a few poses, firstly Diana,

Kai,

and Linda,

and here they all are,

at the rear of the main building the food stalls set up,

we started our walk around,

the lady on the left gives bowls of water to devotes to wash their hands as a part of the Buddhist religion,

which the girls will be doing soon,

going up the stairs a magnolia is putting on a good show,

the temple itself,

Diana,

the welcome sign by the side of the temple,

Linda, Kai,

and Diana,

collecting incense sticks,

all set,

to the urn,

where they are lit,

by the side of the incense urn, steps lead down to the pond,

a quick pose,

before the sticks are lit,

and offerings can be made, each figure is a day of the week,

the girls then joined the queue,

for the water blessing,

Linda first,

Diana took this photograph of Linda,

Linda was followed by Kai,

and then Diana,

the water has petals in it,

the lady with the water had a very busy day!

group photograph,

the girls then went inside the temple,

Diana,

Kai and Linda,

a selfie,

when they came out we were spotted!

Kai and Linda,

the main building,

Steve and myself went for a walk around the temple,

looking back to where we had just been,

on the bridge looking towards the food stalls,

there were a couple of bridges over the pond,

we are going to take a walk along the path once over the bridge,

it has changed a bit since our last visit in 2019,

the banks had been cleared and flowers planted,

the Buddha images were still here,

in this part of the garden, also a section had been fenced off to make a conservation area,

the temple on the other side of the pond,

we started to cross the last bridge, on the left the surface of the pond was covered in duckweed, 

but a boom had been placed by the bridge to stop the weed from spreading into the main pool,

we walked up by the side of the temple,

and towards the front of it,

by now a few more people had arrived,

I walked into the area where the food stalls were,

also there were a few other stalls,

where donations could be made,

from the food stalls looking to the bridge we crossed,

in the center of the area tables had been set up,

I started back to the temple steps,

where I caught up with,

Steve and the girls,

more people were arriving,

enjoying the sun and having picnics,

the girls disappeared to the ladies room, where as a part of the ceremony powder is applied to the face,

but that was not enough,

Linda had brought along some oil and powder,

so there was plenty to go around,

just a tad more,

and here they are,

I do not think Diana was sure about this!

group photograph,

by now the area was filling up, 

a couple more for the album,

before we were off,

and going past the main building, Steve and Kai had invited us all back to their home for the afternoon,

on the way home we called into Wing Yip to buy a few things for the afternoon,

the girls all happy as we went to the lifts, but things did not seem right,

the car park was deserted, we then read the sign, the store closes on Easter Sunday!

on to plan B, through Croydon and on to Bellingham,

where there are a couple of stores that cater for Asian and African special foods that the normal retail chains do not stock,

so in we went,

as well as vegetables and spices,

fish and prawns were also on the menu for the afternoon, I am stopping the post here, if you would like to see the rest of our day please click the 'Older Posts' button on the bottom right of the page.