The Ancient City

I wrote up this nice blog yesterday about what was going on and my feelings and experiences with the BKK disturbances but it disappeared (I was obviously not on my Mac). I was too frustrated to rewrite it all. In a nutshell things are getting better here. Today I ventured out of the house and to a nearby park with 2 friends. The park is called the Ancient City. It's in the shape of Thailand and has replicas of significant buildings and ruins throughout Thailand. We rented bicycles and rode through the park visiting the replicas and learning a bit of Thai history and Buddhism. It was very interesting and the buildings were beautiful! The day was hot so we made frequent stops for cold water and ice cream.

It was great to see some of Thailand's most important structures. It was interesting to note that each building was influenced so deeply by religion. The symbolism in each aspect of the buildings, the carvings, the shapes, it all has hindu and/or Buddhist significance. The stupa, for starters...the square on the bottom is a square, like the Buddha folded his robes, in the shape of a square. On top of that is Buddha's bowl, upside down. On top of that is Buddha's staff. And there you have it...a Stupa!

It's so beautiful to see all the symbolism. I really love it.

So, it took us from 8:30 to 5 to see what we saw and we weren't even able to cover the whole park in that time. It was really amazing. And it was nice being outside, on a bike, in the hot sun rather than sitting on my couch, in front of the TV in the AC...well, ok, the AC would have been really nice.

Well, I've decided that I LOVE Thailand and that I can't wait to see the originals of the replicas I saw today. I feel so lucky to be here! Oh, I didn't even mention the purchases I made today. I bought the greatest little rocking elephant and a wooden elephant puppet with strings...so fun! And...a few Christmas gifts I won't mention. :-) Yes, I've already started my Christmas shopping.