Four Nights in Bangkok: IV

We woke when the hostel's pool was scheduled to open for the day, to catch another dip before check-out. The hostelkeepers so kindly stored our backpacks for the afternoon, and we headed off for our final (for this trip, at least) Bangkok adventures.After lunch, we walked east to the Golden Mount, a huge, gold, bell-shaped monument atop an artificial hill. King Rama III had originally tried to construct a giant chedi here in the early 1800's, but the structure was built on soft soil (Bangkok being essentially swampland) and it collapsed. Rama IV used a lumber-and-mud combo to create a fake mound first, then placed the chedi on the mound, nice and sturdy. 318 steps to the top!At the top of the stairs, by the base of the golden chedi, was a room with several shrines and this fortune-telling station. Visitors kneel to pray, then shake the red cylinders of sticks back and forth until one stick falls out (no playing Pick-up Stix). Each stick is numbered, and each hopeful individual draws a paper from whichever compartment corresponds with the number on his or her first stick to drop. If the fortune is desirable, ringing each bell on the way down the steps will supposedly ensure the forecast comes to pass. Making our way from the Golden Mount to Wat Suthat, we gulped water to replenish our sweaty selves, and passed by a Thai hardware store!And Buddha shop.
Wat Suthat was beautiful and serene, except for an occaisional announcement from a megaphoned monk. This bronze Buddha was housed in a large hall, walls and columns covered in detailed paintings depicting the history of Bangkok and past lives of the Buddha.
Interestingly, the statues scattered around the temple grounds were Chinese; the various pagodas, animals, and sentries were brought to Bangkok as ballast aboard rice ships.Wat Suthat is also known as the Temple of the Giant Swing...but not so much anymore. Outside the temple grounds is in fact an extraordinarily tall red wooden frame (I'd guess about 4 stories tall...wish I'd taken a photo, but at this moment I believe I was occupied by the deliciously icy slurpie I got from 7-Eleven), stationed right in the middle of a busy roundabout. The frame is all that's left of the giant swing, which was built at the beginning of the 1800's to be used in ceremonies thanking Shiva for the rice harvest. Well, things got a little out-of-control with the swing ("ceremonies" involved people trying to catch money being thrown from the crowd while riding the swing in teams), and due to so many injuries and deaths, the swing became but an archway in the early 1900's.
We walked some less-traveled streets back toward the river, and found a great market with flowers, produce, curries, and critters...
Then waited for the ferry to take us just a bit south back to Bamglamphu.

After a fantastic dinner (this was a peanut curry salad with pineapple, peas, etc.), we spent the last of our baht on Khao San Road, reclaimed our backpacks, and shuttled back to the airport for our 2 a.m. flight. We saw the sunrise in Beijing, then departed for Japan, where the sun set on our train ride from Tokyo to Shizuoka.