Shrines and Caesarea

On Friday Hugh and I left Australia for a few weeks in Europe via Bangkok. As it happens I have never been to Thailand so I was keen to see the city of Bangkok for a day. I wanted to visit the Emerald Buddha temple in the Grand Palace complex so after admiring the elephant shrine surrounded by offerings in the front of our hotel, we jumped into a little tuc intending to go straight there nice and early. Our driver had other ideas though and managed to convince us against our will to go into shops in order to get him fuel coupons before leaving us at the Golden Budha temple. It was a very nice temple but not the one we wanted so we were a little firmer with the next driver who in the end did drop us at the Palace complex although he tried to tell us it was closed until the afternoon. The Lonely Planet guide no doubt warns you about this sort of thing but I foolishly didn't buy one. That will teach me.

Of course it was open and quite crowded by then and although a bit numb from all the noise and exhaust fumes, I went in to see the Emerald Buddha alone as Hugh was wearing shorts and not allowed in. He is not as keen as me on temples anyway and was happy to sit and bird watch. I found quite a small green Buddha housed in an incredibly elaborate structure surrounded by other very ornate and sparkly temples. Quite amazing and over the top. After this, we took a boat cruise along the river and saw the large reclining Buddha temple which was very impressive.

In the afternoon I decided to seek out some more shrines around the hotel by myself as Hugh was over temples by now for some reason and I stumbled across a lovely shrine to Ganesh, my favourite God. Although I'm an atheist, I think there is something very appealing about Ganesh. I bought some incense, a yellow candle and a lovely yellow garland to place on his shrine which was much nicer in my opinion than the neighbouring shrine to Lord Trimuti which is more famous. The shrines, like the nearby four-headed Brahma shrine, are situated in front of very modern buildings and the contrast is very startling.

After enduring another long flight we arrived in Tel Aviv for Hugh's workshop. After settling in, we wandered around the town of Zichron-Ya'acov which was established by Jewish settlers in the late 19th Century and had a lovely lunch of roasted peppers, a yummy sort of rye bread and a wonderful soft cheese called Labane'. Quite delicious. Luckily for my ancient Roman obsession, Salit had organised a wonderful tour of Caesarea, a nearby Roman town. The Romans sure knew where to build, as it is right on the sea and is a very extensive site with a nearby aqueduct, nice mosiacs and an amphitheatre. Hugh and I are pictured having fun on an ancient Roman communal toilet. Just the place to forget about my jet-lag! I am very happy to be back in the Mediterranean, my spiritual homeland. We had a wonderful dinner with lovely Israeli wine and great company. Ah, it's a hard life.