Touring Bangkok

06/08/09

Finally a day to sleep in. Wake up call at 7:00 am, and a huge breakfast buffet, the beginning of a long list of meals for the day.

Bangkok is a large dynamic modern city marbled with the ancient ways and temples and palaces. It qualifies into the "teeming": class, with activity going on round the clock at a level that make New York look almost quaint. Traffic is murder, but fortunately for us, the distances aren’t that great. Despite the increasing pressures of modern life, the Thai people still have the same happy spirit they always have had.

We meet with our guide Mai and driver, and head of for the grand tour of palaces and temples. First stop Wat Tian Fah (who’s on first?), a Chinese temple in of all places, Chinatown. It is an active daily prayer kind of place, where people burn joss sticks, make offerings to their ancestors, and pray to win the lottery.

Next stop Wat Po (What’s on second?), the home of the famous 60 meter reclining Buddah. Quite an impressive piece, but very difficult to get the scale right since it’s framed by large columns and hordes of tourists.

Wat Phra Kawe, (I don’t know who’s on third) is the temple of the emerald (actually jadeite, but who’s counting) Buddha. Temple etiquette requires removal of the shoes, and no pointing feet at the Buddah. Other than that, it’s pretty simple. Off with the shoes, in one door and out the other, collect your shoes, and on to the Grand Palace.

The Grand Palace is of course Grand, from the days when being a king meant something. I won’t try to describe it, it’s too complex. Hopefully the pictures will give an idea of the intensity of colors and styles that have accumulated over the centuries. Unfortunately for the monarchy, the people have decided to cut off the king’s concubine supply, to keep the royal numbers down to a manageable one. Poor king can only have one wife now, somewhat cramping his style. Upkeep is expensive, and you have to give credit to the kind and happy nature of the Thai people that they didn’t make use the French solution to the problem.

Lunch fits in here somewhere, and we took a boat across the river to the restaurant. A delicious basic Thai meal, eaten overlooking the river.

Rained out. We sat by the river waiting for a boat to go up river to the canal area, but the heavy rains started. While waiting, we browsed the antique market, and I found an map/print store that sold antique local prints. It has an excellent collection of local maps made by famous mapmakers from the 1500’s that is quite impressive. The rain didn’t stop, so back to the hotel to refresh.

The dinner cruise. What can you say, it’s a dinner cruise. Up the river on an restaurant boat, eating and viewing the night skyline with it temples and palaces, and just relaxing with the flow. The rain conveniently stopped, and while a bit humid, the weather ‘s nice.