It's a stunning sight, and the image shines with an amazing brilliance. We'd only just arrived in Thailand, and taken the train straight into the city. The stifling heat was overwhelming, then the traffic noise, before we entered this hushed temple, with people quietly paying their respects to the Buddha represented by this amazing image. At the time of our visit we were the only non-Thais there. It's rare, beautiful, and doesn't tarnish, no wonder gold is so important.
Pure gold is softer than lead - so it has to be alloyed with other metals.
This makes it possible to produce a range of colours. White gold which looks almost like silver. Rose gold which has the rich sheen of copper. Yellow gold where the alloy is kept as close in colour as possible to pure gold, although as the amount of gold in the mixture becomes less, there is a slight change of colour. The proportion of gold in the mix is described either as parts of gold per 1000, or by carat, where 24 carat is pure gold.