October 22

Bangkok: Rolling on the River

After 4 days in Bangkok, I am eager to move on.  My sense is that there is a lot more Thailand out there than this huge, bustling capital city.  As is true of many places, the real Thailand is especially hidden from view where there are large numbers of tourists; so much is structured for the farang - caucasian westerners like myself - a somewhat artificial Thailand exists separate and apart from the daily lives of residents.

I began my first full day in Bangkok at the Grand Palace (traditional home of the King) and adjacent way (temple), Wat Phra Kaew, both built after Bangkok became capital in the 18th century following the fall of the nation's historic capital, Ayutthaya, in a war with the Burmese.  Under a blistering sun (which bore down all my days here), I joined throngs of tourists from around the world in viewing the watt's extraordinary beauties.  The workmanship and fantastic design of the temple buildings was breathtaking, particularly the central chapel, where the famous Emerald Buddha sits.  No pictures are allowed of the magnificent chapel interior and Buddha, which sits on a multi-tiered dais that is itself an sumptuous piece of art.  The walls surrounding the Buddha are painted with scenes from the lives of Thailand's kings while the front wall depicts the life of Buddha.  I do not think I have seen a more beautiful interior space, including that of the Sistine Chapel.  The grounds offer many other delights to the eye, large and small.  The 19^th Century Grand Palace is also impressive, although the current King no longer lives there.  Guards stand at attention in front, much as they do at Buckingham Palace although it is a hell of a lot hotter in Bangkok.

This shot seems characteristic of all Thai temples, if perhaps grander . . .

The Grand Palace:

 The Temple grounds; the first is the entrance to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

 Bangkok is a massive place whose 8 million residents seem to be in constant motion, making for some epic traffic jams but, fortunately, it has a pretty good transit system of elevated rail, lots of buses and a river where water taxies and ferries are frequent.  For some reason, I elected to stay on the river in an old part of the City but not close to the “downtown” area nor well-served by transit alternatives.  Fortunately, taxies are cheap (although drivers can be unscrupulous) and “tuk-tuks” – open air three wheel taxis that are noisy (making the epynomous tuk tuk sound).

The contrast between Thailand and Vietnam was stark.  Much of the Bangkok area would be familiar to Americans with freeways, strip malls, big box stores and even a factory outlet center.  The standard of living in Thailand is significantly higher than in Vietnam, where even the major cities lack modern facilities and the streets are overrun with scooters, vendors and people working.  The airport in Hanoi is utilitarian at best; at the new gigantic airport in Bangkok, I encountered a first for me – fresh orchids in the immaculate men’s room.

Having perhaps over-relied on TripAdvisor, I seemed to have landed in backpacker land; the area near my hotel (near what is known as Khaeo Son Road) is a warren of small streets lined with tiny hostels and inns, bars, restaurants, massage parlors, street food vendors and an array of tourist goods.   A couple of sweaty hours wandering the area proved to be enough for me but it clearly is a place where the young and restless were happy to sleep, eat and party while planning their next trek.

The King of Thailand remains a revered figure in this country both de facto and de jure;  criticism of the King can lead to jail time.  Photographs and monuments to the King, and Queen, are everywhere on streets, buildings, and  almost all public places.  The Thai people seem to genuinely like the current king but he is in his 80’s and his playboy son enjoys far less respect.  Some Thais told me that they think the monarchy could fall if the son is named king on his father’s death, although they would accept the Prince’s son much as Prince William seems to have a lot of support relative to his father, Prince Charles.

After the Grand Palace I met up with Moo, a friend of a Thai friend in NYC (thanks, Ning!), who gave me a bit of a tour of Bangkok (or BKK as they all refer to it) before driving me back to my hotel.  The next day I was off to see the floating markets, where boats on canals serve an array of mouth-watering delights to visitors to an area of canals south of Bangkok.  Touristy but fun, with hundreds of boats with visitors vying with food boats for very limited space on the narrow canals.  You can see me on a bridge overlooking the action.

Later I took in a show at the Rose Garden (which no longer has many shows), which was an attempt to introduce various elements  of Thai culture from dance to music to a village wedding to muay thai (Thai boxing).  Kind of a hokie tourist thing with broad humor and an excruciating version of “It’s a Small World” played by musicians on traditional Thai instruments, which seemed perpetually out of tune to Western ears.  

My guide dropped me off downtown, where I had (of course) a massage at the Health Land massage emporium, which was as large as a hotel with scores of locals and some tourists waiting for an array of treatments.

On Sunday, Moo drove me Ayuttuya, the old capital located about 50 miles northwest of Bangkok and waited patiently while I visited a number of ancient wats there.  These are mostly ruins now, although there are still a number of active temples, accounting for the many orange-robed monks.  Under the sweltering sun, I wandered about the old wats, marveling at the ruins of what must have been an amazing number of beautiful temples, as some of these shots suggest.  Perhaps the iconic image of Ayuttuya is shown in the last one, the head of a Buddha, now lodged in the base of a tree surrounded by roots that have grown around it.

In this old wat, visitors purchased small pieces of gold leaf to place on a small buddha statue as a symbol of respect. 

This last shot shows the only piece of script and carving that I could find; the rest was stripped by the Burmese who cruelly wrecked the temples after capturing the capital.

After a pleasant, very Thai lunch at a riverside restaurant before heading back to Bangkok, Moo gave me a quick tour of the Sunday market, where seemingly all 8 million Bangkok residents were trying to park and buy goods.  It was really great to have someone who could explain how things work in this metropolis.

Chang Mail to be posted soon!