Bejeweled Bangkok

There's so much that I've seen in Bangkok, so I decided I'll just make a series of thematic posts on what I've seen and done during my three-day side trip to the city over the past weekend.

This first post I dedicate entirely to the beautiful intricate designs adorning some of the palaces and temples in the city. For someone like me who is used to having a very earthen, simple style of interiors and architecture, this is really a jolt to the senses--but in a good way.

The photos that I will share with you here are taken from details of the Wat Pho (or the Temple of the Reclining Buddha) and some buildings of the Grand Palace. They had been first posted on Instagram.

Detailed patterns, paintings

 

I was just blown away by the amount of vibrant detail that has been painted on within and without these historical buildings. After hundreds of years of being exposed to Bangkok's sun and humidity (plus the wind coming from the nearby river), one would think that the colors would have faded and the paint would have peeled off. But no! Even when the rooms are in shadows their colors and pattern all come through. Salute to the artisans--the men and women--who first created these artwork at such an epic scale, as well as the army of people who must be involved in maintaining these murals and designs.


Bejeweled

These lovely patterns outside of the Grand Palaca and Wat Pho buildings really made my eyes pop. Just look at the detail! The elaborate shiny things! In the hot Bangkok sun, everything was glitterning and glimmering. Wow!

I tried to research on whether any of the patterns mean anything. but I haven't come up with anything yet. I did see this other blog posts which marvels at the amount of work that must have been put in the tiling of all these. The blog, DesignClaud, is much more knowledgeable about design, so his post is really a very nice read.

For me, I keep on asking how they made the tiles and where they got the glittering gems--and whether those gems are real. The palace complex and the temple is just super huge and I can't imagine how much of these gems had to be hauled in to create this wonderful masterpieces. 

Next post will be about the river ride experience and the sights.