November 26 Wednesday Bangkok: Erawan Shrine/Thao Maha Brahma Hindu shrine, Wat Trai Mit Witthayaram Worawihan with 5,500kg pure gold Buddha, National Museum; 6:30PM Flight from Bangkok Swarna Bhumi to Krabi Rented a car at Krabi Airport and drove to apt by 9:30 PM

STAY: The Ozone Krabi Condotel

Erawan Shrine (Thao Maha Phrom/Brahma Shrine)

The Erawan Shrine (Thao Maha Phrom Shrine) in Bangkok is a famous Hindu shrine dedicated to Brahma, the four-faced god of creation, known as Phra Phrom in Thailand, built to ward off bad luck for the Erawan Hotel. Mahabrahma is the ruler of the Brahma realm in Buddhist cosmology.

The Erawan Shrine was built in 1956 as part of the government-owned Erawan Hotel to eliminate the bad karma which was believed to have been caused by laying the foundation on the wrong date.

The hotel's construction was delayed by a series of mishaps, including cost overruns, injuries to laborers, and the loss of a shipload of Italian marble intended for the building. Furthermore, the Ratchaprasong intersection had once been used to put criminals on public display.

An astrologer advised building the shrine to counter the negative influences and it worked.

In 1987, the hotel was demolished and the site used for the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok Hotel

It's a bustling, golden altar at a busy intersection, popular with locals and tourists for making wishes, offering flowers/incense, and witnessing Thai classical dance performances, often by dancers hired by devotees for prayers, blending Hindu reverence with Buddhist practices.

This is one of Bangkok’s most powerful spiritual spots, often seen as a place to focus on wish fulfillment.

*Front Face:** This face represents career and success. Prayers here are for achieving your professional goals, getting promoted, and overcoming any career challenges you might be facing. * **Right Face:** This face symbolizes relationships and harmony. Prayers here are for strengthening your family bonds, improving your friendships, and finding love.

**Back Face:** This face is associated with wealth and prosperity. People pray for financial stability, business success, and all the blessings that come with it.

**Left Face:** This face represents health and protection. Prayers here are for good health, safety, and protection from any harm or misfortune.

Offerings...couple dolls

Golden elephants are also offered

We then went to a temple housing 5500 kg solid gold Buddha. The side shrine is free to enter, there is a small entry fee for the Gold Buddh shrine and museum

Wat Trai Mit Witthayaram Worawihan

Wat Traimit's 5500 kg Golden Buddha (Phra Phuttha Maha Suwanna Patimakon:) a tale of hidden treasure, centuries of disguise, and accidental discovery:

It is the world's largest solid gold sculpture and, by intrinsic gold value, the most valuable object of religion. the massive, solid gold statue was covered in plaster for hundreds of years to hide its immense value from invaders, only to be revealed in 1955 when it was accidentally dropped during a move, cracking the stucco and uncovering the priceless gold within, making it one of the world's most significant Buddhist relics.

It is crafted in the Sukhothai style of the 13th–14th centuries, the statue was probably moved from Sukhothai to Ayutthaya, about 1403. In 1767, before the destruction of Ayutthaya kingdom by Burmese invaders the statue was covered with a thick layer of stucco, which was painted and inlaid with bits of coloured glass . The statue remained among the ruins of Ayutthaya without attracting attention.

During the reign of King Rama III (1824–1851), the statue — still entirely covered in stucco — was installed as the principal Buddha image in the main hall of Wat Chotanaram (also known as Wat Phraya Krai) in Bangkok. This image, together with other large Buddha images of similar style, were brought from the northern centers of Sukhothai and Si Satchanalai to Bangkok in the early Rattanakosin period, at a time when thousands of Buddha images were being relocated to the capital and installed in its monasteries. fell into disrepair and was closed, the statue was moved to its present location at the nearby Wat Traimit in 1935. At the time, Wat Traimit was a pagoda of minor significance (like hundreds of other Buddhist temples that exist in Bangkok). Since the temple didn't have a building big enough to house the statue, it was kept for 20 years under a simple tin roof. The true identity of this statue had been forgotten for almost 200 years.

In 1954, a new Viharn building was built at the temple to house the statue. It was moved to its new location on 25 May 1955; in an attempt to lift the statue from its pedestal, the ropes broke and the statue fell hard on the ground. some of the plaster coating chipped off, the gold surface underneath was seen.

All the plaster was then carefully removed, it was found that the gold statue consisted of ten parts that fit smoothly together. A key was also found encased in plaster at its base, which can be used to disassemble the statue, allowing for easier transportation.

The golden statue was discovered very close to the commemoration of the twenty-fifth Buddhist Era (2500 years since Gautama Buddha's passing) so the Thai news media was full of reports and many Buddhists regarded the occurrence as miraculous.

We went to the Side shrine first

This is another image,

Then we bought the tickets and climbed the main stairs

Indra on Airavat relief here at the head of the stairway

Bell tower

5500KG SOLID GOLD BUDDHA

Souvenir shop

good quality stuff at reasonable prices

MUSEUM

Model explaining casting process of Buddha image

Lovely miniatures showing Gold Buddha's history...

Chinese immigration story museum with life size dioramas...

Miniatures...each facet of immigration and integration portrayed so well in such beauty and detail..

Banking, postal service

We would have loved to explore the China town area and see Wat Mangkon Kamalawat [750m walk from Wat Trai Mit] and Wat Leng Noei Yi etc, regretfully we skipped due to paucity of time!

We went on to the National museum and raced through he beautiful halls [we had a flight to catch to Krabi in the evening]

National Museum

National Museum Bangkok, Mon, Tues closed, 9-4, 200 Baht for foreigners

Centuries-old Siamese treasures, weapons & royal antiques displayed in 18th-century palace halls. Exhibits from various fields: weapons, jewelry, art objects, furniture, funeral carriages, musical instruments and so on

Every exhibit is top notch and the curating is excellent. Very good explanations on boards nearby

Below is the Buddhaisawan Chapel, a beautiful, ornate building from 1787 housing the revered Phra Buddha Sihing image, featuring some of Bangkok's oldest murals depicting Buddha's life, and serving as a significant example of early Rattanakosin art