Wat Ratchanda and Wat Saket

I visited two more temples - Ratchanda and Saket (the Golden Mountain). Wat Ratchanda was under construction or having some remodelling done so there wasn't much to see, but there was this amulet market near the entrance. Big buddhas, small buddhas, necklaces, rings, bracelets (big bags full of ones like the one the monk had given me), coins, masks - any Buddhist (and non-Buddhist) relic you could possibly imagine was for sale here, regardless of whether you were decorating an entire temple or simply looking for a lucky charm or souvenir. As I was strolling the isles of the market I came upon two men (actually twin brothers) painting some traditional Thai masks. I gestured to ask if I could take a photo and the one brother quickly tapped the other to tell him to look at the camera. Unfortunately his brother was painting at the time and quickly told off his brother in Thai before realizing I was behind him - oops.

Wat Saket was really nice. Again a lot of stairs but they were really easy to climb - thin and deep (thank goodness cause my thighs were still burning from climbing Wat Arun). This time I bought the lotus flower with gold leaf, incense and candle and tried the ritual solo. At one point I was waiting in line to pay respects to one Buddha and I'm not sure if it was because I wasn't aggressive enough to take my turn or if it was because I wasn't taken seriously (as a white foreigner), but a few people budded ahead of me before I had my opportunity. It's a strange feeling because I'm not confident with what I'm doing in the temple - at this point I'm only following my interest to learn and start practicing Buddhism, with my best efforts not to offend anyone. Perhaps it was this lack of confidence that they took as a sign to go ahead of me?

In terms of a photo for Wat Saket I don't have anything that interesting so what I'm posting is a photo of this crazy big black bee. It's about 3 times the size of our little humble bumble bee.