Stepping out of the plane on to another continent, some differences were immediately obvious as we entered the Asian culture. We were able to take a day to tour Bangkok in order to gain a better understanding of the culture into which we are immersing.
|
Asian greeting of a bow-even Ronald greets customers properly! 🙂 |
|
|
Thailand flag- looking out over the city from on top of a temple- @57 million live in Thailand
Thai markets all over – smells of incense, smog and seafood…
…. selling pretty much anything you can imagine from fresh or dried seafood, fruits, religious medallions, nic-nacs, even used dentures!
| Thai cultural dancing |
|
|
| Handmade decorations of Rice! |
|
|
|
Karoake at a Thai Restaurant where “uncle” Nakorn (Lynette’s friends uncle) took us- he welcomed us in to his condo while we were in Bangkok and took us around the city for a day! We sang “Leaving on a Jet Plane” and “Amazing Grace!” |
|
|
View from our canal boat
|
|
Entrance to the Arun Royal Temple at Wat Arun
|
|
95% claim to be Buddhist, so all over the city you will see TEMPLES, BUDDHAS, and MONKS
|
Monks taking a meal break in the temple courts- all men are expected to be a monk at some point (even just for a few weeks) during one of their lives The ultimate goal for any Buddhist is to reach Nirvana which actually means “Extinction”. Nirvana is the ultimate state of peace that some sources say takes nearly 6,900,000 rebirths to achieve. |
| Monks are not allowed to be touched by a woman or even handed something directly from a woman (it must be passed through another man) |
|
|
|
Steph and I were standing under this sign on the canal boat for a few minutes before we even noticed it- oops! 🙂 |
|
|
For more info on
Buddhism, check out Chad’s blog:
http://chadmast.theworldrace.org/index.asp?filename=buddhism
|
Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho |
|
|
| Paintings telling stories line the wall of the “Reclining Buddha” temple |
|
|
| Temple bells rung with prayers |
|
|
It broke my heart to see people all over the city bowing down to the golden images- they do things in sets of 3 (3 bows, 3 incense sticks, etc.). In one of the temples, I watched parents rub off some of the gold from an image with a “special” piece of paper to rub the gold on their child’s face before all 3 bowing to the image. They are images- sprayed golden- IMAGES! no life in them! Yet the people worship them with such conviction and devotion. But they are IMAGES- made of medal- not able to hear or see or respond or do anything whatsoever for the worshipers!! There is absolutely NO life in them, yet images of these little & big buddas are everywhere!!!
God- the Creator of heaven and earth- is a Jealous God and makes that very clear in Scripture! Check out these passages on idol worship: Isaiah 44, Jeremiah 10, and Exodus 20!
Psalm 115:4-8
“Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.
They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.
They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.
Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.”
