Wat is that?

Wat is the Thai word for "temple".  Yesterday we went to the well known and popular Doi Suthep Wat.  I think the temples are beautiful here.   Doi Suthep is painted completely gold, so in the bright of the day it shines as bright as the sun!  There must be a couple hundred steps to get up  to it, we didn't count them, but there is an elevator if you don't want to walk.  As always you take your shoes off before you enter and it is nice to bring an offering.  We bought a lotus flower, incense, and a candle.  People were walking around the temple with their offerings 3 times before lighting their incense and candle, so I walked Ruby through the process. She was very impatient and didn't understand any of it.  So as usual, being the 4 year old that she is she asked,  "Why?"......."why?"......"why?........  When Ruby discovered the orange temple cat as we walked our 3 times around, she could not resist to pick this very relaxed cat up and wake it from  its deep slumber. " It was just so cute and looked like he wanted to be picked up!"  Finally we made it around 3 times and went to light our candles and incense.  Of course, Ruby did not understand how we could just  leave the candles lit, she had to blow them  out!

Coming down the steps were much easier.  Tourists from  around the world, cameras around their neck, shuffled in and out of the temple; up and down the stairs.  Ruby is often a tourist attraction here with her platinum  blonde hair and fair skin.  Thai's love children and a blonde child is unique to them.  They can not resist coming up to Ruby, squeezing her cheeks or belly or touching the top of her head, or taking a photo of her.  Usually it is an Asian tourist (Thai, Chinese, or Japanese) that want to take a photo of her.  It starts to annoy me to see my child being bombarded by these strangers - much like me, as a tourist being bombarded by the tuk-tuk drivers when several swarm  me, saying "tuk-tuk ride, Madam?  Where you wan to go?".  When Ruby is approached by foreign photographers I've started to respond by saying, "50 baht...50 baht".  Ruby is catching on.....yesterday when two Thai's came up to her and touched her cheeks and started taking pictures, I said it, " 50 baht! 50 baht!" and soon Ruby was saying it.  Much cuter when she says it - "50 baht!" , she yelled out.  These guys started to laugh and they pulled out two 20 baht notes to give her.  Then she stood there and smiled willingly for the photographers!