Does this temple have air conditioning?

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February 26th

After being delayed by six hours, we finally arrived in Bangkok as the clock was closing on midnight, local time. Thai Airways’ motto is “Smooth as Silk” but it was pretty rough going. We hopped into a cab after a bit of negotiating and decided upon a place to stay en route. We wanted to stay on the Khao San road as we had heard so much from so many.


We decided on the Sawasdee Banglumpoo after looking at a standard room and strolled a bit of the famous road before crashing.

February 27th

Waking up in our princess bed (very elegant mosquito net, must get one for the cottage!) was a great start to the day. Over breakfast, we realized we’d gained an hour, which no one mentioned on the plane, but the Thais don’t bat an eye if you order the spiciest curry at 8am.


We ate down an alleyway on our way to our first stop, on the advice of an international teacher we met in the Philippines: “Eat at all the roadside stands - Thailand is the only place you can do that without dying!” Interestingly, he also said that when he goes back to America he and his wife get viciously ill. Looking forward to that…


Who set the rules regarding the order of eating anyway? I’ll have a green curry for breakfast, spaghetti for lunch and falafels for dinner.


We were the only tourists in our makeshift café, which was a refreshing change from Khao San Rd. I had a lovely view of the protruding Democracy Monument, built in 1939 to mark the change to constitutional monarchy. It’s an impressive monument, but I’m not convinced… insulting the Royal Family in an off-hand comment can earn you a life sentence in jail, and one ex-Prime Minister owns the Manchester City football club.


They might not do democracy that well (does anyone?) but wow can the Thais do temples. We climbed the 320 steps up an artificial hill to the summit of the Golden Mount for a panoramic view of the Old City. Initially, the building was a crematorium for ‘common’ people, and we found a forgotten pathway that led to ancient burial grounds in the maze.


Along Soi Ban Baat (Monk’s Bowl Village) we walked awkwardly down an extremely narrow alleyway, stepping over families who were hammering alms bowls out of eight strips of metal (which represent the eight stages of enlightenment). These alms bowls are now mostly made in factories, but in this one area, Monks can get them handmade. We read that the bowls, which are filled with food offerings by devout Buddhists, are a Monk’s sole possession except obviously for his glasses.


We stumbled across the Corrections Museum, a strange jail with surprisingly life-like visions inside the cells. In each one there was a life-sized, paper-machéd Thai person enduring various stages of Correction (torture). Our favourites were: a bamboo ball with nails sticking inside it that officers kicked around with the prisoner inside it, and the giant fishhook that goes under your chin and gets lifted up until you’re corrected.


At Wat Suthat we sat quietly admiring a 26-ft. serene looking Buddha. The whole place must have been built around it, as George did some quick calculations to establish it wouldn’t fit out the door (and probably couldn’t be lifted). There were beautiful murals on the ceiling, and one Thai man hanging on to some scaffolding making improvements with the tiniest of paintbrushes and the smallest of palettes.


Watching him work reminded me of what my dad says: “It sure is a small world - but you wouldn’t want to paint it.”


Coming out of that calm and beautiful place we were accosted by a man who said the Amulet Market was closed as it was a Buddhist holiday, and we needed to go right away down to see the procession at the water. He’d thrown us in a tuk-tuk before we’d had a chance to protest. By the time we’d puttered down to the pier, we realized that there was no rush, and certainly no procession. Oh well, the Amulet Market could wait as after some extended haggling we were on a canal tour.


The long wooden boat had what seemed like a V-6 engine attached to a cut-open Coke can on a pole. Our driver frequently threw 90% of his body out of the boat to make the sharp turns. Along the way, we grabbed the famed river view of Wat Arun, named for the Indian god of dawn. The canals are lined with beautiful monasteries and rickety slums, with docks that lurch dangerously into the brown water. We spied on some traditional Thai sword fighting, and stopped to marvel at a colony of strange fish that leapt out of the water for scraps of bread.


Not even out on the water were we free from the vendors, though, as our driver would periodically pull up along other boats laden with goods and locals trying to make some Bhat. No one seems to sympathize with our inability to purchase bulky souvenirs, as everything has to be schlepped around on our backs.


On our way to Wat Pho George did buy a straw hat for 20Bhat, but I sat on it and he reckons it’s ruined.


We did visit the Lucky Shrine, which is a local temple that few tourists find (not enough luck to go around). We met a strange man who made dire economic forecasts and warned us not to move out of Canada. He had thick round glasses and snapped at me when he sensed I was starting not to pay full attention.


At Wat Pho, Bangkok’s oldest and largest temple, we made acquaintance with the Reclining Buddha. He’s 151-ft. long, and although he looks like he’s taking a nap, this position actually represents his arrival at Nirvana (the state of all-knowing awareness). His huge feet are inlaid with hundreds of mother-of-pearl images. On the way out, we caught an angry-looking monk smoking a cheeky cigarette IN the temple. At least go outside, mate, you know?


In the next hall, we tiptoed in and watched what appeared to be an ordination. There were many monks in saffron robes sitting in formation looking bored, one dressed in white, concentrating intensely and looking nervous, and one very old monk doing some rhythmic chanting.


All in all, it was quite hypnotic. We left at sunset to take pictures of the compound in its best light.

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Photos

Corrections Museum
Very realistic

Cheese!
Cheers