Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn) has been on the Chao Phraya riverbank for a long, long time.

One of the easiest ways to get to the many wats (buddhist temples) lining the banks of the Chao Phraya River is to catch a water taxi powered by their distinctive long tailed engines. Usually the engine is just a car motor with a propeller welded to the end of the drive shaft.

Wat Pho was my favorite of all that we visited in Bangkok.

Buddhist monks were always coming and going from the wats for their daily prayers.

Unlike the western churches that we're used to, the buddhist wats in Bangkok are brilliantly painted, with red, green and yellow tiled roofs like this one.

The corners of each roof are adorned with these pointy projections aimed at the sky.

Within the walls of Wat Pho we found this weathered statue and ornately decorated steeples towering above.

The spires of the buildings within Wat Pho project skyward like antennae (click here for a close up view of the the spires).

I need to read up a little more on buddhism to find out what this fellow is!

All the buildings are intricately encrusted with gold leaf and mosaics of colored mirrors that cause them gleam in the afternoon sun (click here for a close up view of the the wats).

The Vihara of the Reclining Buddha or Phra Buddhasaiyas (Viharn Phranorn) housed at Wat Pho is one of my favorite things we saw in Bangkok. This image of the Buddha is over 150 feet long and 50 feet tall and is entirely covered in gold leaf (click here for a close up view of the the Buddha).

It is customary to drop coins in the metal pots lining the wall beside the Reclining Buddha. The room is filled with a constant metallic tinkling sound as people walking through the hall drop their coins in the containers.

Spotlights shining on the gold covered Buddha made it glow radiantly.

The feet of the Reclining Buddha are inlaid with mother of pearl in a Thai-Chinese style, and depict 108 auspicious signs of Indian and Chinese influences.

Imagine standing at the 50 yard line of a football field and having a Buddha extend all the way to the end zone (click here for a close up view of the the Buddha).

The grounds surrounding Wat Pho are well maintained with fastidiously pruned shrubs.

I should have looked more closely to see how they got the flower to stay in the mouth of this statue.

Here's another shot from the grounds of Wat Pho (click here for a close up view of this photo).

Wat Pho even has a small koi pond.

This fellow was feeding small bits of meat to the turtle in the pond with a bamboo stick while his little son watched curiously.

Many of the columns of the buildings at Wat Pho are covered with floral scenes on ceramic tiles.

This is a photo of the information map for Wat Pho.

This desert rose flower caught my eye, though in the background maybe you could imagine hearing Sting's song of the same name (thanks to Sukanya for the info on the desert rose flower).

At night the wats around Bangkok are brightly lit so that they take on an otherworldly glow.