Wat Arun

“Wat” means “temple”. “Arun” means “dawn” and the first temple we visited was Wat Arun, which is one of the most recognizable in Thailand. It’s the picture that goes on the postcard, or on the guidebook, or the money, kind of like the Lincoln Memorial is for us. People see it and immediately know what it is.

The tallest, most central tower represents the Maroo Mountain, which in Buddist lore is the center of the universe. It has 8 surrounding towers that represent the directions, and the protection cast in each direction.

The temple is huge, both vertically and horizontally. Once you get up close to it, there’s an “ah-ha” moment, because you realize that the intricate mosaics that cover it from one end to the other, installed when it was built in the mid-18th Century, are in fact pieces of broken dishes.

Apparently in those pre-UPS days, breakage was significant when china was shipped from China. It had to be, for them to get enough broken dishes to make all the flowers and ornamentation you see on it, but the monks get props for creative reuse of otherwise wasted materials. It is gorgeous.

It’s also very, very tall, and there are steps that go up. Of course, we climbed it.

You can’t help but notice that the 18th Century building code was a bit lax in many respects. Like the height of steps, which were easily 14 inches – twice the normal. They also went up at what seemed like about an 89 ½ degree angle. Fortunately, someone had put a handrail in as an afterthought.

Probably to keep the tourists from splattering onto the ground. That’s really hard to get around when you’re talking vacation destinations to someone.