First off, Floating market :) i've always seen pictures of this place and being there in the boat, in the market was AAAAAHHH i felt like i was riding a national geographic roller coaster ride. Everyone was in a boat, even stores on a boat. It was literally a floating market. You have people selling fruits, clothes, bags, accessories, and even grilled food! how yummy is that. i was enjoying the chaos, the bump to bump of our boat to another, the water, the noise, other tourists enjoying, people trying to bargain. I wish i could grasp the feeling but I was having a good time just looking. But we reached a corner where they were making stalls beside the river, it was so quiet so fixed...it wasnt really appealing to me. Even one of the passengers in our boat said "its better when its noisy." My boat ride ended with me having a bbq :)
Originally after the floating market, we were supposed to be in the Grand Palace. Instead we got a side trip at the elephant village. It was nice seeing a herd of elephants walking around me. i felt like i was a fan of elephants, i mean i only see them in books and tv so to see them face to face is like "yipeee!" My mom bought a basket of bananas to feed this gentle beasts but she kept shouting terrified and excited haha when it was my turn i got a little rattled too but i got the hang of it. There snout is really slimy. Fun!
Another side trip was the handicrafts factory. I know we have this in the Philippines but i never got to see it. Walking around seeing the artist do their thing, cant help but smile. They were so damn good in what they do. Such art and what mans hands can do. but i got bored easily there.
The grand finale, the Grand Palace :) Oh what beauty of architecture and culture. Thanks to our tour guide, Christie i got a quick background of the place but i didn't listen that much because i couldn't understand her well. The gold paint, the details the colors, the temples, the statues, the respect, the prestige. wow. the most beautiful temple among all was the temple of the emerald buddha. so sparkly, royal. i sat there and just marveled at the place.
As i sat there, i thought of Jesus. slowly i realized that in the 3 stops it was all about Him. The difference between the chaotic floating market, and the soon-to-float commercialized floating market made me see more the beauty in a mess. We are a mess but He still finds us beautiful despite all the shit that we've been into. Holding the rough dry skin of the elephant was a reminder that He is God, how great He is to have in mind to create such creature. Ang galing eh. The hands of a handicrafts man creating this image from a block of wood with such imagination, this was a man what more God's creation? Looking around the temple of the emerald buddha made me want to cry...all of this gold, the effort of preservation, the respect, honor and love the people had for a non-living god compared to what man did to Jesus when he was here, they spit, hit, made fun of Him, and killed him. What did buddha do to deserve this treatment? what did Jesus do to deserve this from man?
It was a tour of the unseen, a tour of display of what God really wants me to see.
