Thai spirit houses

Walking along the streets of Bangkok or any other Thai town you can't help but notice small doll-like houses here and there. They can be seen in the compound of nearly every house, business office, restaurant or hotel. These are so called spirit shrines - the symbolic residences of the guardian spirits. The structures perch of wood or cement pillars and receive daily offerings of rice, fruit, flowers, candles and incense sticks.

Sometimes there is a collection of ceramic or plastic figurines inside the house representing the property's guardian spirits. Larger shrines may contain even bronze images of Brahma or Shiva.

Nature wonders of Koh Samui

Of course, the most important natural landmark of Koh Samui is the sea and the beaches. The beaches here are clean and sandy; the sea is calm and clean; sunrises and sunsets are colorful and picturesque.
The most popular beach of the island is Chaweng. This is a kind of tourist center of Ko Samui. The largest number of hotels, restaurants, shops and people you will find in this area.

The Grand Palace of Bangkok

The Bangkok’s most famous landmark is the Grand Palace. This complex offers a display of beautiful architecture, creativity and craftsmanship of Thailand. This is a former royal residence which today is used by the king only for certain ceremonial occasions.

The most interesting temples of Bangkok

Temples in Thailand are called wat. All wats have some similar characterictics: it is walled compound containing several buildings in traditional Thai style with seep swooping roofs and colourful interior murals. There are more than 300 wats around Bangkok but the most important and beautiful are these:
The temple of Reclining Buddha. This is the largest and oldest temple of Bangkok. Besides, it houses the largest image of the Buddha. The highly impressive gold plated Buddha is 46 m long and 15 m high illustrates the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. The feet and the eyes are engraved with mothe of pearl decoration and the feet also show the 108 auspicious characteristics of the true Buddha.

Deities of Koh Samui

Thailand is often called “The land of Smiles”. The biggest smile you’ll come across on Koh Samui isn’t that of a person but the statue of a deity the Maitreya Buddha. It’s hard to look at him and frown. He sits on his own lotus flower shaped island that just out into shallow temple lake. He’s a huge white figure at the end of a very ornate bridge that leads you right to his feet. The Maithreya Buddha is worshipped for wealth and happiness, the wealth depicted by the large bag he holds in his right hand while the happiness part is pretty much self-explanatory when you look at his huge grinning face.

Dinner at the Bayoke Sky hotel

If you want to see night Bangkok in all its glory - go for dinner at the highest hotel in Thailand "Bayoke Sky". For a sum of 780 baht (about $ 26) you will be offered a buffet at the 76 or 78 floor of this 88-story building. You can enjoy an amazing view of Bangkok from the window while having your dinner or you can go up (down) on the 77 floor, and see the full panoramic view of Bangkok.

Cats of Thailand

Walking along the streets of Bangkok, visiting its temples and enjoying on Koh Samui, I spotted many cats. All they were clean, well-fed and were not scared of people. Especially many cats there were around the temples. Seems that people in Thailand love cats and take good care of them. The cats were of different colours - black, red, white and mixed.