Wat Kalayanamit Woramahawihan

Wat Kalayanamit Woramahawihan is somewhere I came upon on a Walking Tour in Bangkok - Thonburi. As I read the description I have to admit in not seeing the Golden Bell though...

I found very little information about the temple that was not repeated but this is the best site for more information and this is a TripAdvisor Review.

I found the enormous Buddha inside but I could not find the Buddha footprint. 

Then there was a big bell by the side of the Chao Phraya River. I guess that this gives me a good reason to go again?

I do now understand that it would be something to take photographs from the river - I only took them from the entrance / land side.

 

Five years ago - weddings

This is a memory that was sent to me - no more weddings for a while for me though...

Here are the old ones - http://timinphuket-weddings.blogspot.com.

Ancient City - Samut Prakan

We took a trip from Bangkok and visited Samut Prakan (this is the trip) and whilst we were here we visited Ancient City.

"The Ancient City is the door opening to the heritage of Thai wisdom. With a wide range of architectural symbols combined with fine arts and craftsmanship, structural layout and natural environment that integrate harmoniously, The Ancient City creates kind of atmosphere that induces visitors to perceive and appreciate the continuity of history, cultures, religions, arts and customs of Thai people from dawn until now."

We visited Ancient Siam and it was certainly necessary to have a map to show what there was and what we could visit.

Their website has a lot of information on it - but I liked the Frequently Asked Questions Page.

Well the map tells you it all and after visiting and now writing about Ancient Siam I would have to use the map to label the things that we saw.

We drove around the area in our car and there is also the possibility of taking an open bus. Here is how it is organized.

 "To collect cultural and art work of Thailand to be a learning source, , the Ancient City emphasizes on the distinguished and unique pieces of art from different periods, the representatives of folk cultural cultivation. Some periods were overlapping in time as the rise of one community could take place anytime without the decline of the existing one. Hence, it is found that each community developed its civilization within the similar time frame, but its peak was different depending on who was the strongest and most flourishing at a particular time. The most outstanding at the period could manifest its superior prosperity before others, yet as the leading kingdom began to recline, the rising one would replace the former at once with its own manifestation. The periods accumulated here are arranged in order of their distinct revelation, ranging from pre-historic era, Dvaravati, Srivichai, Lopburi, Lanna, Lan Chang, Sukhothai, U-tong, Ayuthaya, Thonburi and Rattanakosin."


Pre-historical
Dvaravati (11th - 16th BE)
Srivichaya (13th - 18th BE)
Khmer or Ancient Khmer (16th-18th BE)
Lanna (16th-25th BE)
Lan Chang (16th-21th BE)
Hariphunchai (17th 19th BE)
Sukhothai (17th-20th BE)
Authong (17th-20th BE)
Ayutthaya (19th-24th BE)
Thonburi (24th BE)
Rattanakosin (25th BE)

There was the opportunity to listen to what everything we saw was but I was not organized enough to do it - but if I was and had specific things to visit then I would give it a trial.

Thinking about this I would like to write a 'Teachers guide' for the Ancient City and then take some of my class / school?

Phone Number: 02 709 1644/8

Email: info@ancientsiam.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AncientSiam/

Approximate Price: $$$$$

Address: 296/1 Sukumvit Road, Bangpoo, Samut Prakan 102800
Hours: 9am - 7pm

  

House Number One (Somewhere to go) (BKK) Visit 1

House Number One is a classical mansion adjacent to the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. It is also adjacent to the vintage Captain Bush Lane, open for special events - which meant that I could not get any further...

I walked past here on a Bangkok Walking Tour.

Little Zoo Cafe

We visited Little Zoo Cafe but unfortunately this post did not go out - whoops.

We took the overground metro to get there - this is the children walking over the train tracks to get there - no train came. There is another Little Zoo Cafe in Nonthaburi and this one is a second one - we have been more than once since!!

There were more animals than there were previously and there were a lot more people - in fact at 11 am (opening time) there was a queue outside already!!!

Lots of friendly animals (not always sure though)

The coffee was better than last time and my daughter's friend enjoyed her milkshake.

We had pizza at a roadside outside Pratunam market - we didn't go shopping but it was very busy!!

We came back by the canal boat - much quicker, cheaper and a lot more fun.

Visits

 1) May 2018

Phone Number: 092 448 1116

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/littlezoocafe - Siam Square

TripAdvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com - The Little Zoo

Approximate Price: $$$$$

Address: 420 Siam Square 11 Alley, Bangkok

Hours: 9:30am - 6pm

  

Harmonique (BKK) Visit 2

Harmonique was a wonderful find on a walking trip though Bangkok - John Bush and more.  

What an amazing place to find! Walking along the back streets and then a sign and an old building 

- time for a coffee then (next time food). 

It clearly has a lot of history to the restaurant and unfortunately I can find nothing. 

There is a tree growing in the building and the restaurant is very popular with the Chinese Tourist currently.

Definitely worth visiting to have a look at the number of historical artifacts which are scattered throughout the rooms.

Phone Number: 02 237 8175

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/harmoniqueth/

TripAdvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com - Harmonique 

Approximate Price: $$$$$

Address: No.22 Charoenkung 34 Alley

Hours: 11am - 10pm

 

Lovely lunch and then the Car Park

We had a lovely lunch at the Food Mall at The Mall - Bangkapi - and we will go again, here is a review.

Then we had a lovely Mango Desert at After You - wonderful, as always, here is a review.

On returning to the car to push adjacent cars out of the way BUT one of them had left their hand break on...

        

The lovely Security Guard brought out a device to lift up the wheels of the truck - fabulous, then the owner turned up...

A trip to Koh Chang

We woke early to get the 7am mini-bus from the Suvarnabhumi airport. We had coffees and chocolate from Dean & Deluca and got on at around the expected time. We stopped on the way at a local restaurant (Rastplatz) and had fried rice for breakfast.

We soon arrived at the Ferry Port to Koh Chang Island - stopping only to wait for the ferry to arrive - 10 minutes... We arrived at Pineapple Bay Pier in about 25 minutes - enough time to take some photographs and have a coca cola. 

The mini-bus took us to our hotel AWA Koh Chang - 10 minutes.

Just enough time for a quick swim and find out that there was nothing on the Television system - but the water was hot!!

Off to dinner at the Koh Chang Wine Gallery - very nice food - the coffee was tasteless unfortunately, it was only a walk away from the hotel which meant it was very convenient for us. BUT we were in low season and many restaurants were closed. 

In fact I checked into an empty one - Mojito Bar Koh Chang (with staff) and was replied to on Facebook within an hour - impressed.

Breakfast was great - they had peanut butter and Vegemite BUT the music was terrible, it got worse when I recognised that there was only one track playing all day...

A truck arrived early to take us to Bang Bao Pier with Village and a trip to 5 islands!

Wonderful - the fish were wonderful and the sea was so clear - I was impressed.

The islands were very special - there was a local deer on one and the whole island is a National Park (i think).

On returning to the hotel we had dinner watching the sea and the lights. There was a fire eater at the hotel that night as well - the food was too spicy for me though! We took the bus to the Lonely Beach to meet friends - who had chosen 'Magic Garden' - where we had a beer. Then it was time for a coffee so we went to the Sleepy Owl.

The next morning we got up to go on a short tour of the island - well worth it.

A viewpoint, with ice-cream at the bottom.

We were taken to the Shrine of Admiral Krom Luang Jumborn Khet Udomsaki - with two machine guns in front - so I was unsure what it was before I got closer and read the name of the temple.

Two massive and colourful spiders were at the bottom of the steps...

Then another viewpoint.

Then a Chinese Shrine - Chao Por Koh Chang Shrine - a lovely place to visit at the top of the hill and everybody beeped their horns as they drove past.

Then time for a coffee - the driver chose Little Sunshine Boutique Beach Resort & Spa and what a lovely spot it was - a shame that the coffee machine did not work.

We then got out for the mini-bus and waited, with a coffee from the Cafe Amazon around the corner.

The driver was a little fast but we understood when we arrived at the ferry and they were already beeping the horn for leaving...

Then onto another mini-bus to take us home - stopping again at Rastplaz - the noodles were better than the fried rice we had for breakfast on the first journey.

Back to the airport where we took the taxi home - we will visit Koh Chang again.