The Black Temple

The Black Temple wasn't originally black, but was painted during the reign of King Rama III after the death of his beloved daughter. It's one of two black temples in the world, the other one being in Sri Lanka. I asked Joey about it. Besides its unique color, there's no real religious or historical significance to the Black Temple. It's just a cool sight to see.

King Rama III

The Black Temple is about five minutes down the street from the Golden Mount. As we got there, the wind had picked up and the sky was getting darker, but we still had time to look around. We're nearing monsoon season, and soon it'll rain every day.

The Black Temple

Unfortunately the Black Temple was closed for repairs, but we got to look around the grounds for a while. We were about to go inside another building (in the left on the photo) to look around, but we saw monks inside praying. As we were leaving, an elderly monk waved us in, and we entered and sat for a few minutes while they chanted their prayers.

the temple was undergoing repairs

I wish the main temple had been open, but it was gated off for now. It was getting darker and we headed back down the street for what Joey assured us was the best food in Bangkok. The place looked like a little hole in the wall. It was built into the side of the building with a garage door they rolled up when they were open. I don't know the name of the place, but Joey said that it translates roughly to "Ghost Door". They cook the food outside on the street and bring it in to serve you at your table inside. I guess it's pretty famous, there were framed newspaper clippings all over the walls, even English and Japanese newspapers had done stories on the restaurant!

Joey ordered for us. The restaurant is famous for its Pad Thai with eggs. We had bought bottles of fresh orange juice at the Black Temple, and we drank those with our meal. Just as we were sitting down to eat, the rain arrived. When it rains in Bangkok, it pours. Lucky for us, we had gotten inside just in time. It was a total downfall, but it didn't last too long, and the rains had stopped by the time we finished eating.

Just then, Joey got a message from one of the girls. A few of them wanted to meet us after all, but they weren't going to have phones with them. We thought we had plenty of time since we weren't planning on meeting anyone. We hadn't rushed, and it was five 'till six. We were in the complete wrong part of town, but we ran down to the canal and got on one of the river taxis. We were back in Siam, the central shopping area, in about ten minutes.

We still had to catch the Skytrain though, and between the river and the station we got caught in another monsoon rain. We ran, but got soaked anyway. The rains here are so weird, it's like a wall of water that comes down for ten to twenty minutes, then abruptly stops. It had been sunny all day too!

raining on the Skytrain

It was a few stops before we got to where we were supposed to meet them, and fortunately the rains had stopped again. We didn't have any trouble finding them, which is a miracle since none of the girls had working phones. The Skytrain stop we met them at is right on the Chao Phraya River. That's where we planned to catch a ferry for the Night Market.