Wat Phra Kaeo is apparently the private temple complex of the king of Thailand. I guess like San Marco in Venice? Anyway, it's one of the few temples that doesn't have a community of monks living right there. It's quite amazing (which hopefully came through in the pictures in the above post - Part I.)
Anyway Wat Phra Kaeo is the home of the Emerald Buddha. This is the heart of Thailand - the most sacred image of Buddha in the kingdom. It is nor really made of emerald (that would be too amazing!) but is made of jade. It was hidden under a thick coat of plaster for a long time, then discovered by a monk when the nose peeled just a bit. It's sitting in a very impressive hall at the top of a VERY tall golden mountain so it's a little hard to see. And photos are definitely NOT allowed, so sorry, no Emerald Buddha pictures.
But this place has a amazing series of wall paintings illustrating the Thai version of the Ramayana - it's called the Ramakian. There are really beautiful. They made me want to go buy a copy of the Ramayana just to understand what happens in this massive story. I found three interesting-looking versions at the Kinokuniya at the SF Paragon mall in Bangkok. It's all about the translation, so I'm still considering each and trying to decide if any of the three would really grab and keep my attention. In the meantime, the wall paintings are fantastic, and if I can find a book just of the wall paintings with some basic text that might be enough for me!
Here are some of my favorites....but there are literally hundreds (and I took probably at least 100 pictures of these paintings, so I've got lots....)
I really really like this one - the tower shows three faces (like carvings in Angkor Wat) and I think that's Rama shooting there. If I even find out, I'll let you know!
I really want to know what's going on here!
As you can see - lots of monsters (or monster-sized creatures), holy men, armies, divinities, humans - it's got it all I think!
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