Our Second Day With Diana's Family,

for today we are going to visit the Golden Buddha, one of the places, and the Temple of the Dawn,

but first breakfast, 

and here we are, 

a group photograph before we go inside, 

one of the temple monks with Rojen,

Rojen and Dioshane, again to save time I will not comment on every photograph, I just hope you like looking at them as much as I enjoyed taking them,

the King of Thailand, 

Diana, 

and Mum, 

strike the pose, 

and Diana rings a few bells, 

one more time!

and here it is, 

the Golden Buddha, it has a fascinating history, and weighs in at just over 5 tons of gold!

we made our way outside to look at the rest of the temple complex, 

outside I noticed this, 

a mushroom growing all by itself, 

back into the van, our next port of call here, 

Mum with almost countless Buddhas, 

everywhere everything was totally immaculate,

on either side of this gate there are lions guarding the entrance, 

many years ago Duncan and myself visited here, in the mouth of each lion, one either side of the entrance, 

there was a ball in its mouth, we were told it was good luck to put your hand in its mouth and rotate the ball 3 times, 

but unfortunaly now, 

the ball in this one has broken, 

we made our way back to the car park,

before walking to the pier, 

we are there!

our boat arrived, 

and that is where we will be going later, 

the Temple of the Dawn, or Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan, as it is known,

but first a trip along the canals, or khlongs as they are called, 

to make our way inland we have to negotiate a lock, 

the other boats out first,

then our turn,

it was crowded, 

mind the propeller!

the other gate opened, 

and we started our cruise inland, 

we relaxed as we past homes and businesses on the canal,

yes it looks dark, a weather front is coming in, hopefully the rain will hold off, 

a water dragon as the guide called it, a water monitor, (Varanus salvator),

this tree was huge,

major works going on here, 

what ever it is going to be, it will be strong!

this is more like it, 

more works taking place,

oh dear, a broken home,

as we made our way along the canal other craft came from the opposite direction,

a Taoist temple,

I believe, 

a couple of herons, or are they cranes?

waiting for their next meal,

we arrived at the lock,

other boats coming out of the lock speed past, 

I did not even try to say, 

the name of this temple,

these machines work 24/7 cleaning floating garbage from the river,

keep up the good work!

into the lock, 

it was all too much for Diana,

once inside, 

we made our way to the closed gate,

which when ready, 

was opened, 

and we were on to the main river,

hurtling along, 

nearly there, 

all off, 

and out,

at the Temple of the Dawn,

the place was packed, 

not so in 1983 when Duncan and myself visited here, 

when the crowds thinned out a tad, 

it was time,

for a few photographs,

group photo, well nearly everyone!

a lily pond,

and Diana, 

Mum and Donna,

as well as Diana,

everywhere we looked, 

photographs were being taken,

many people had hired costumes for the day,

no one up there, 

but lots up there, 

what sights, 

these figures must have seen,

looking down, 

so many here, 

even a few farangs were hiring costumes, 

group photograph,

before we leave the Temple of the Dawn, when I was here in the 1980s with Duncan, and it was not so crowded, 

here is a photograph I took there, 

I had it enlarged to 23" X 33" of course that was back in the days when I shot everything on a 6 X 4.5 cm camera, so even at that size the photograph does not lose any detail, I popped it into a frame, 

and here it is in our hall, 

we were back in the mini van,

on our way back to the hotel,

traffic permitting!

the skyline of Bangkok,

filled with buildings,

of all shapes and sizes, tomorrow Diana and her family leave for the Philippines, it was so nice to see everyone again, there is one more post of Diana's first day back, and then posts of my time in Pattaya.