Sharing is caring!

My flight arrived in Bangkok after one a.m. By the time customs was cleared, baggage was claimed, and a taxi hailed it was past two a.m. We still had a half hour drive into Bangkok. I shared a taxi with a Bangkok veteran. He said Bangkok is a city you can get whatever you want anytime you want. Efforts to photograph for a Thailand temple photo essay would have to wait.

Hua Lumpong Temple out my window at my hotel

Related: How to get to Khao Yai National Park

I was looking for sleep at this point after 18 hours in the air and a three hour layover. My cab pulled into my hotel, and I was asleep within thirty minutes. Thailand and half the world away would have to wait until tomorrow.

Waking up to a wat

I woke up excited to be in Asia and Thailand for my first time. I pulled open the curtain in my hotel room and the top picture is what I was greeted with. Wat a view. An urban concrete jungle with crazy four lane highways going this way and that with a beautiful ornate temple, or wat, in the middle.

This is a common view in Bangkok. The town is a raging metropolis with horrendous traffic, smog, and buildings upon buildings. Interspersed in the madness are over 400 Buddhist Temples. Each one is more amazing than the next with bright colors of red and gold, intricate detail, and golden statues of Buddha inside.

Taxi tour of the city

My taxi driver from the night before offered to take me around the next day. I accepted because it is always nice having a guide the first time you are in a country, especially when it only costs $7.00. He picked me up around 11:00 a.m. the next day, and we spent a lot of the day cruising around Bangkok stuck in traffic seeing incredible temples.

Bangkok street restaurant with my cab driver off to see some temples

Wat Hua Lumpong

When I did the obligatory Eurail pass through Europe after college I saw hundreds of churches. I was churched out after one month. I never grew tired of the Thailand temples or wats as they are called in Thai. After looking at this photo essay you will see why.

Thailand temple photo essay

Golden Buddha inside Wat Traimit

The intricate design found at Wat Arun

This lucky guy gets to call these amazing structures his work place

Wat Phra Kaeo or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha – Part of the Grand Palace Complex

Sadly I don’t remember

From the Grand Palace complex

Wat Po and the reclining Buddha

Thailand temple photo essay – Wat Po from the outside

Adventure on!

The goal of Traveling Ted is to inspire people to outdoor adventure travel and then provide tips on where and how to go. If you liked this post then sign up for the email newsletter. Notifications are sent out once or twice a month with what is new with Traveling Ted’s adventures. There is no spam and email information will not be shared. Other e-follow options include Facebook (click on the like box to the right) or twitter (click on the pretty bird on the rainbow above).