Here is Thailand, Land of smile, beautiful country see many culture

BANGKOK (4) Wat Trimit, Wat Benchamabophit, Wat Suthat, Wat Sa ket

2011-08-09T15:31:00.000-07:00

Wat Traimit (Temple o fthe Folden Buddha)

At the end of Yaowarat Road, near Bangkok's Hualamphong Railway Station, is a temple situated on Traimit Road. This temple is known for its famous Golden Buddha, constructed during the Sukhothai period. The image, of solid gold, is there meters high and weighs five and half tons. The building holding this image is open to the public everyday from 9.00 A.M.-5.00 P.M.

Wat Benchamabophit (The Marble Temple)

The Marble Temple is on Si Ayuthaya Road near Chitralada palace. The temple is well-known because its main building was constructed during the rign of King Rama V.
The best time to visit this temple is early in the morning when Buddhist monks are chanting inside the chapel. The interior of the main building is magnificently decorated with cross beams of lacquer and gold. A large collection of Bronze Buddhas lines the walls of the spacious,inner courtyard. The main building is open to visitors until 5.00 P.M.

Wat Suthat (The Giant Swing)

Located on Bamrung Muang Road, this temple took 27 years to build. It is famous for the excellent murals in the main building from the reign of King RamaIII. The viharn should be seen for its collection of gilded Buddha images. The temple complex is open daily from 9.00 A.M.-5.00 P.M. In front of the temple is the famous Giant Swing. Many shops surrounding Wat Suthat stock a very comprehensive range of Buddhist ecclesiastic supplies.

Wat Sa Ket (The Golden Mount)

Wat Sa Ket of the Golden Mount, was begun during the reign of King Rama. The golden chedi houses relics of Lord Buddha, and affords visitors a panoramic view of Bangkok.

BANGKOK!!(3)

2011-08-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

The City Pillar Shrine (Lek Muang)

Located at the south east corner of Saman Luang, this a graceful, temple-like structure house "Lak Muang" a stone pillar placed there by King Rama I, the first monarch of the present Chakri dynasty, as the foundation stone of his new capital city of Bangkok. Lak Muang is believed by many to have the power of granting wishes.

Wat Pho

This world famous temple s located right next to the Grand Place, on the south side. It is one of Bangkok's oldest and largest temples. Wat Pho was built by King Rama I some 200 years ago and houses the gigantic gold-plated Reclining Buddha. This unique image is 46 meters in length and 15 meters high with beautifully inlaid mother-of pearl soles. Wat Pho is also regarded as the first center of public education and is sometimes called "Thailand's First University" The building housing the Reclining Buddha is open daily from 8.00 A.M. - 5.00 P.M.

Wat Arun (Tample of the Dawn)

Located on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River, Wat Arun can be reached either by Arun Amarin Road of by crossing the river by boat from Tha Tien Pier, near Wat Pho. The most attractive structure in this temple is the 79 meter-high pagoda or "Phra Prang". Wat Arun was restored during the brief Thonburi period to be the Royal Chapel of King Taksin. Despite its name "Temple of the Dawn", the most beautiful view of it is from the Bangkok side of the river at sunset.

BANGKOK!!(2)

2011-08-08T10:31:00.000-07:00

The National Museum Bangkok

Wighin walking distance of the Grand Palace, across the Pramane Ground, is one of the largest and most comprehensive museums in Southeast Asia. The National Museum houses over one thousand artifacts ranging from neolithic times to the present Bangkok period. The complex, also begun in 1782, consists of several old but beautiful buildings of colourful Thai architectural design. The Museum is open every day, except Mondays and Fridays, from 9.00 A.M. - 4.00 P.M. Guided tour are provided in the mornings as follows.

The National Theater

Thailand's National Theater is on Na phra Lan Road next to the National Museum. Thai Classical dramas and other types of international Museum. Thai Classical dramas and other types of international arts are periodically staged here. Current program can be checked by telephoning the theater on weekdays between 8.00 A.M. and 4.30 P.M. Special exhibition shows of Thai classical dancing and music are held on the last Friday of each month at 5.00 p.m.

The National Arts Gallery

This is on Chao Fa Road opposite the National theater. It exhibits traditional and contemporary works of art by Thai artists. The gallery is open to the public on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 9.00 A.M. - 4.00 P.M.

Sanam Luang and The Statue of The Goddess of the Earth

This huge public ground in front of the grand palace used to be the place where the Weekend Market, now moved to Suan Chatuchak on Phahonyothin Road, was held. Special activities or ceremonies such as the Royal Plounghing Ceremony in May and the New Year Festival also take place here.
At the nothern part of Sanam Luang, opposite the Royal Hotel, is a small statue placed in small whites Chulalongkorn's reign (1868 -1910) to provide public drinking water.

BANGKOK!!(1)

2011-08-07T06:25:00.000-07:00

TOUR IN BANGKOK (1)

The Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo.
   This city landmark should be the first place on any visitor's itinerary. It is a huge compound on Na Phra Lan Road near Pramane Ground, is surrounded by high white walls and occupies an area of about a square mile. The palace, begun in 1782, consists of several buildings with highly decorated architectural details. The Royal chaped, Wat Phra Kaeo, which is in the same compound, Houses the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred Buddha image in Thailand. Photography inside the building housing the Emerald Buddha is forbidden.
   The complex is open daily from 8.30- 11.30 a.m. and 1.00-3.30 p.m.
   Proper dress is essential.

Royal Thai Decorations and Coin Pavilion.
This pavilion displays exotically designed coins and other monetary exchage units used in Thailand since the early 11th Century A.D. It is located within the Grand Palace compound on the right hand side before entering the palace's inner gate. In the same building, adjacent to the coin collection, is a display room for Royal regalia, decorations and medals. Most of the items seen were used in former Royal courts, Some are made of gold and are elaborately patterned.
The pavilion is open every day from 9.00 A.M. - 3.30 P.M.

Phra Thi Nang Vimanmek (The Celestial Residence)
Vimanmek Palace is located behind Bangkok's National Assembly and is the world's largest building made entirely of golden teak. The three-story wooden palace has 81 rooms, halls and ante-rooms, excluding terraces and verandahs.
Vimanmek is now open to the public every day from 9.30 A.M. - 4.00 P.M.

Thai-Fruits

2011-08-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

THAI-FRUITS
Thailand has plenty kinds of fruits throughout the year. Most of them are so cheap. You could easily see all of them in Bangkok; in fruit shops, on stall or even in the basket of the hawkers.
There may be some kinds of them that are in your favour.

DURIAN "TURIAN"

The fear some spikes of the huge durain fruit yeild soft, yellow segments with a strong smell. Durian sellers will pry open fruit with special wedge. Eat only yellow meat and discard seeds. (Season: Apirl to June)

MONGOSTEEN "MANG-KHUD"

Purple on the outside and syrupy sweet clovers of pure white flesh inside. To eat, gently crack the purple skin making sure sap does not stain clothing asitis permanent!. Eat strainght from the shell and discard seeds of the larger clovers. (Season: June to November)

RAMBUTAN "NGO"

Gentle pressure of thumb and fore finger will easily pry the skin open to reveal the creamy white meat. Discard hard seed after eating the flesh. (Season: June to October)

LANGSAT "LANGSARD"

The pale brown "langsard" has a thin though skin that must be peedled off. It has rather large stones but its flesh is usually sweet. Avoid biting into the stone as it extremely bitter. (Season: June to September)

SAPODILLA "LAMOOD"

The "lamood" is eaten in the same manner as the mango. Embedded in its luscious pulp are large balck seeds. (Season: March to July)

TANGERINE "SOM"

With thin green peel the "som" is packed with vitamin C and sunchine Remove skin before eating. (Season: Allyear around)

MANGO "MA-MUANG"

The mango is probably the most popular and typical of Thai fruits. Cut it in the middle lengthwise and scoop out its delicious orange pulp with a spoon. Generally skins are discarded before eating. (Season: March to June)

POMELO "SOM-O"
An Outsized grape-fruit, often with delicate pink segments. Can be eaten straight, but this like to add a pinch of salt. (Season: All year round)

LONGAN "LAMYAI"

The longan fruits in abundance in the northern province. Its thin shell cracks easily. The longan is a definite must. (Season: July to September)

JACKFRUIT "KA-NUN"

An enormous fruit which yields small succulent segments. Sweet and tasty, the jack fruit is often eaten chilled. Now commonly used as an ice-cream flavoring. (Season: August to September)

PINEAPPLE "SAPAROT"

Peeled, the succulence of the Thai pineapple is irresistible. Refreshing and rich in vitamin C. the "Saparot" does not add very many calories to your meal! (Season: April to July)

ROSEAPPLE "CHOM-POO"

Shaped like a miniature pear, the "chompoo" has a pink waxy surface and a porous white interior. Both are edible, Although this fruit has a subtle sweetness of its own, it is usually preferred with sugar and salt. (Season: January to March)

CUSTARD-APPLE "NOI-NA"

With a ting squeeze and a spoon at hand, the "noi-na's" flesh is yours for the taking. There's a slight problem in separating seeds from flesh while seating, but its worth it. (Season: June to December)

BANANA "KLUEY"

Have a many type of "BANANA" in Thailand. "Kluey Khai" is a type of banana that is delicate and easily bruised. (Season: All year round)

THAI-SWEETS

2011-08-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

THAI-SWEETS

Thai desserts, Egg, mung bean, rice flour, glutinous rice, lotus seeds, palm sugar, cassava roots and coconuts are common ingredients of Thai sweets. The Thais prefer their desserts to have fragrance. Accordingly, they soak jasmine and other aromatic flower in water and use resultant scented water to make a syrup. Bland seeds or beans are cooked in the syrup to make liquid sweets. Aromatic candles are often burned next to cakes or cookies in closed containers to impart scents, or desserts are placed next to fragrant flowers overnight. Cookies are sometimes garnished with slivers of gold leaf.

LIST OF THAI SWEETS

FAK THONG SANG KHA YA (squash custard)

THONG YIB (sweet egg-petals)

THONG YOT(sweet egg-drops)

FOI THONG(sweet egg shred)

LOT CHONG NAM KA THI (rice drops in sweet coconut sauce)

KHA NOM MO KAENG (EGG sweet plate)

Painting-Thailand

2011-08-04T07:36:00.000-07:00

Painting Thailand

Traditional Thai painting is confined mostly to mural paintings of a temple or a palace. It has a characteristic of its own; so different from those of the Indian and the Chinese which with other cultures form the basis of the cultural life of the various peoples in Indo-China like the classical Greek and Roman did for the rest of Europe. No definite and satisfactory explanation of the origin of Thai painting has as yet been found, though there are suggestions. The life of Buddha, the Buddhist Jataka tales and episodes from the Ramayana mainly the subjects of traditional Thai painting.
It is a conventionalized art, and is very characteristic because the gesture, dress, ornaments of the characters depicted in the painting are one and the same as those worn by the characters in the Thai classical theatrical performance. Like in the theatrical performance, so in the paintings it is necessary for one to know the meaning of the subject to appreciate fully the artistic value of the painting. But this is a general remark that one may apply to any other art.

Thai-Architecture

2011-08-04T02:35:00.000-07:00

Thai Architecture

Examples of Thai classical architectural art may be found in the various buildings and structures of the Thai temples commonly called 'Wat' in Thai and also of the Royal palace buildings. Both are fundamental in style and maybe divided in to two principal types. The one is a building rectangular in plan and contains only one large hall. The roof is sloping, usually three, tiers, while the other type of building is usually confined to the King's palace called 'Prasad' ('storied building' in Sanskit) somewhat like a Greek cross in plan and composed of a cubical hall with four porches of less projecting on each side. Typical of Thai architectural structures, the Prasad has many roofs superimposed one over the other, surmounted as its finial either by a small Sikhara (called in Thai 'Phra Prang') or by a high pyramidal superstructure with its four sides formed in a concave line culminating in a final spire. In fact the pyramidal superstructure looks like the Thai royal crown. The superstructure with the exception of the Sikhara was constructed with timber, and unique in its kind is the roof with its terracotta glazed coloured tiles. Under a tropical sunlight the polychromic roof with its gilded gables and other decorations give out a beautiful and harmonized artistic effect.

The use of timber as roofing meterial for Wats and palaces, the use of the coloured terra-cotta glazed tiles for the covering of the roof, the harmonious polychromic effect of the whole building and the universal outline of the Thai architectural structure into a concave pyramidal cure suggest some influence of the Chinese.

The other prevalent Thai architectural structures are the Phra Prang and the Phra Cedi to be found usually within the precincts of the Wat. They are constructed for the purpose of enshrining the relics of the Lord Buddha or some other relics. They are therefore a form of stupa. The Phra Prang is a brick structure in the form of the Sikhara. No doubt it is a direct descendant of the Khmer corner tower like the one at Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Contrary to the stupa the Phra Prang is square in plan and this betrays the fact that originally it served Hinduism and not Budhism. In fact the predominant religion of old Cambodia was Hinduism and only later it became Buddhism. It is to be presumed that the character of art was already fixed by traditional forms, the Phra Prang therefore served in a later time as a Buddhist mounment.

As to the Phra Cedi, it is distinctly Thai. Its structure still retains its form of stupa but richer in architectural masses and mouldings and surmounted by a graceful finial like spire.

A BRIEF SURVEY OF CULTURAL

2011-08-03T12:50:00.000-07:00

Thailand is in Indo-China. She has as her nieghbour Burma in the West, and Franch Indo-China in the east and on her northern frontier. Down south through the Malay Peninsula she borders on the Malayan Union. Prior to the appearance of the Thai as a political unit, Central Thailand in the Menam (Chao Phya) valley was known archaeologically as the Dvaravati Kingdom peopled by a Mon-speaking race. Later on the Khmer, a race linguistically akin to the Mon, overran Dvaravati and established the Khmer Empire, Down south in the Malay Peninsula and contemporaneously with the Khmer was part of the Srivijaya Empire. These three peoples, the Mon of Dvaravati, the Khmer of the Khmer Empire, and the Malays of Srivijaya left important marks of their highly hinduized civilization in what is now Thailand.

Now for a cursory glimpse of the Thai. Originally the Thai were an off shoot of the Thai race whose homeland was in historical time in Southern China. Since Many hundred years before the Christian Era many of the Thai people, owing to circumstances and vicissitudes. migrated from their old homeland finding their ways grandually in a southward direction into Indo-China. Some of them settled down in the mountainous district of Chiangsen in the north of Thailand and formed themselves into many free small principalities. Parts of these Thais together with other streams of this Thai race migrated further south, mingled and settled down in the north of the alluvial plain of the Menam valley in Central Thailand. They again formed themselves into many small principalities, this time not independently but under the suzerainty of the Khmer Empire with its headquarter in Central Thailand at Lophaburi (Lavapuri). In the 13th century of the Christian Era they succeeded in establishing themselves as a unified Thai Kingdom of Sukhothai. A century later arose upon the last remnants of the now declining Khmer Empire in the lower portion of the Menam valley, another Thai Kingdom of Ayuthia (Ayudhya). Its first dynastic kings came from U-thong, a district to the north west of Bangkok. Eventually these two kingdoms Sukhothai and Ayuthia and later Chiangsen and other parts of Thailand were amalgamated into one unified kingdkom of Thailand.