Learning Thai

We visited a wat (Buddhist temple) today, Wat Asokaram- located only a short drive from our house in our province of Samut Prakan. We really enjoyed walking the temple grounds. It's very close to the Gulf of Thailand so we walked through a jungle/swamp area full of monk's houses and strange animals- it turned out to be quite a nature fieldtrip for the girls- huge spiders, 2 1/2 feet long lizards, strange fish/frog creatures that had fins but scooted on their bellies through the mud (can anyone identify?? They moved too fast for a picture), and tiny fabulously colored crabs. It was fun to see the monks' homes too- little shacks on stilts in the mud/water surrounded by jungle vines and trees. They had all their orange robes and towels hanging out to dry. There wasn't much to see when we made it to the Gulf- mainly old tires and lots of mud- Claire was like, "where's the sand and water??"
We took the path back through the swamp area and visited the temple and chedi. Claire said looking at the large Buddha in the temple made her sad because she wanted people to know God. We enjoyed a noodle lunch and a songtaew ride back and then with the kids falling apart (Claire with a knee scrape that was a big time injury to her) and Eliza falling asleep, took a taxi the rest of the way home.

Claire looking at the Buddha and monk statues.

Chedi Thutangka ("a dome shaped monument used to house Buddhist relics or to commemorate significant facts of Buddhism"- this one is said to hold relics of the Buddha)

Wihan Sutti Thamrangsri

Tom and girls in the "jungle"- luckily there was a raised pathway to walk on and keep us out of the mud and away from giant lizzards! It was full of slithery and scarey noises!

A row of Buddhas in front of one of the monk's homes.

Entryway to another monk's house.

Beautiful woods- there was a huge amazing yellow spider in the foreground of this picture that I couldn't get the camera to focus on.

These tiny crabs were a rainbow of colors. I loved this bright blue one.

- Candice