He pointed the way he was going and pointed me in the other direction, around the corner. I had been walking with him for a mile or more. We never spoke all that time, he didn't speak english and we walked at a brisk pace in silence. Me stopping to take pictures then running to catch up.

I started out around 8 this morning on my way to see the Reclining Buddha . Cian is leaving tomorrow to go to the south of Thailand to some islands, so I am on my own today as he is taking care of last minute arrangements for his travels and doing some packing.

I caught the water taxie in the canal and rode for about 40 or so minutes. I had to change boats once. This is the Thai way to travel and, once again I am the only non Thai on board.

Every once in a while they would slow the boat down and lower the top in order to get under a bridge. There are canvas type sides on the boats that you push down to hop off the canal taxi, and pull up as you travel to keep the water off of you. See them in the pictures, they are blue.

Once off the taxi, I was lost again. I began to walk and ask. No one could speak english to direct me. My map is in english so they cannot read it. I go the direction I think I should, using my compass.

A young Thai guy comes across the street walking very fast . "Do you speak english," he smiles, shakes his head and says something in Thai. I walk along and show him my map. He doesn't know what it says (the map is in english), but then recognizes the drawing of the temple on it.

He motions to himself and the temple and motions for me to follow him. He is going there himself. We walk in silence and he wai's each altar we pass, never stopping. (A Thai I talked to last night told me to Wai a buddhist alter is to ask for good luck).

I take some pictures but pass many up, I don't want to lose him. After awhile, we come to a corner and he signals he will go one way and I should go the other. I motion with my camera and he lets me take his picture. Then he pulls out a camera and takes mine.

The Wat (temple) is just as I turn the corner. At most temples you just remove your shoes and leave them outside. Here they give you a canvas bag to put your shoes in and you carry them with you through the temple . Then, you return the bag when you leave the temple and put your shoes back on.

I roam around the grounds (20 acres) before going in the temple. You have to take your shoes off before entering any temple. Most of the ones I have been to, you just leave your shoes outside. In this temple, though, they give you a bag to put your shoes in and you carry then with you through the temple and then return the bag when you leave the temple and put your shoes back on.

"Wat Pho is named after a monastery in India, where Buddha is believed to have lived. It is one of the largest and oldest Wats in Bangkok, with over 1,000 Buddha images. Also,one of the largest single Buddha images of 160 ft in length is here.

Wat Pho , or Wat Phra Chetuphon as it is generally known to the Thais, is mainly famous for the huge Reclining Buddha statue it houses. At 20 acres large, it is the largest Wat in Bangkok, and is technically the oldest too, as it was built around 200 years before Bangkok became Thailand's capital . However, today the Wat today bears virtually no resemblance to that originally constructed, as it was almost entirely rebuilt by Rama I when the capital was moved to Bangkok. It holds the dual honors of having both Thailand's largest reclining Buddha image and the most number of Buddha images in Thailand.

The highly impressive gold plated reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high, and is designed to illustrate the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. The feet and the eyes are engraved with mother-of-pearl decoration, and the feet also show the 108 auspicious characteristics of the true Buddha."

This reclining buddha is so large I could not get it all in one picture. If I can find one on the web, I will post it.

Ladies cannot touch monks. If handing something to a monk they must either give it to a man to hand to the monk, or place it on the ground for the monk to pick up .

There are pots along the wall near the end of the tour of the temple. People buy 20 baht worth of coins in a bag and walk along the wall and place one in each pot. It is a long row of pots. I don't know how many, maybe a hundred. I don't know what the significance of this is.

After leaving The reclining buddha, I go to the pier and get some Phad Thai to eat. It has become one of my favorites here.

Then I catch the river taxi. This is the first time I have been on the river. Always before it has been on the canal.

Once off the river taxi, I go to the sky train to get back to the hostel. Thailand has such good mass transit at reasonable costs.

Cian is about finished with his packing when I get back in the early afternoon. He needs to find a few things from the street markets for his trip . We go looking and he finds all he needs. My backpack is full, so I cannot buy, only look. He will travel south to the Thailand beaches tonight. I will head further north in Thailand tomorrow morning. It has been fun hanging with Cian and I hope his travels are good. He asks for the link to my blog so we can keep in touch.

(Note:) I take lots of pictures. This may be a once in a lifetime experience for me, and seeing all these amazing sights I want to remember everything, so just keep shooting.
I upload them to the blog for you to see, but also, in case something happens to my camera, I will still have them. I realize in some posts there are a lot of pictures. I hope it is not too many to bore you. Remember, you can use the slideshow button to look at them.