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Legend has it that a green jasper Buddha image, measuring
only 75cm, was discovered in Chiang Rai in 1436. It was later
stolen by the Laotian king and taken back to his capital,
Vientiane, and was only returned to Thailand after the successful
completion of King Taksin's Laotian Campaigns, in 1778. The
Emerald Buddha, as it has become known, is a potent symbol
to the Thai people of their strength and independence. Its
return was heralded as the beginning of a new era; one that
began with the birth of a wondrous new capital on the Eastern
banks of the Chao Phraya River - Bangkok.
At the heart of what is today a vast and modern metropolis
is the original city, known as Rattanakosin Island. Using
bricks and materials salvaged from the ruins of Siam's former
capital, Ayuthaya (destroyed by the Burmese in 1767), King
Rama I, first king of the Chakri Dynasty, began construction
of his new city in 1782. The king wished to rival, if not
surpass, the glories of Ayuthaya, and, to this end, he began
with the building of Wat Phra Keo - one of the most magnificent
temples in Southeast Asia - even before beginning work upon
his own Grand Palace. The temple's sole purpose - to house
and honour the sacred Emerald Buddha.
 Rattanakosin
Island has many wonderful buildings, several of which can
be attributed to the first king of the Chakri Dynasty. Yet
his successors were also lavish in their construction plans
for the area and, today, from the vantage point atop the Golden
Mount - at the Northeast corner of Rattanakosin - it is possible
to see almost all that the Kings of Siam gifted to their city.
The Golden Mount itself - a manmade hill topped by a golden
chedi - was, until the 50s, the tallest construction in Bangkok.
It was the aspiration of Rama III to build the country's largest
chedi, but - due to poor land quality - it was not possible.
After Rama III death, Rama IV completed construction of the
chedi, alas not to his brother's original grand plan.
Wat Pho, at the rear of the Grand Palace complex, dates back
to the 16th century and is Bangkok's oldest and largest temple,
and home to the 46 metre long, 15 metre high, gold-plated
Reclining Buddha - the largest of its type in the world. Wat
Pho has now become world-famous as a training school for Thai
massage. Thais consider massage a spiritual experience as
well as a physical one, which is why, in 1832, King Rama lll,
had all that was known of the 400-year-old traditional massage
technique carved into stone tablets and had these stones set
into the walls of the temple. Wat Pho is also the resting
place for the ashes of King Rama I, who endeavoured to re-create
the grandeur of Siam's former capital, and left the world
with the marvels of Rattanakosin.
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