Wats Galore: The Beauty of Bangkok In the Little Things

---

Beating the holiday travel rush by just a snippet, Michael and I anxiously climbed aboard our first of many, many flights, en route to Thailand! I immediately began to understand the first of many lessons on this trip: Once you go business class, you can never go back (“with the plebeians,” as we liked to say 😊). Somehow, we luckily managed to land roundtrip tickets abroad in first/business class without even using up that many miles. This certainly helped start our trip on the right foot. Enjoying the genius of Inglourious Basterds and the simultaneous bizarreness and poignancy of Up on our personalized TVs over endless champagne, wine, fine cheeses and juicy braised short ribs, the 8.5-hour flight over to Tokyo really wasn’t so bad!

The second Tokyo-Bangkok flight, however, would’ve been much improved if it were 5 hours shorter…

After a full day of traveling, we landed in Bangkok late at night (“two days” later than when we started) and were immediately impressed with Bangkok’s massive and modern new airport! We love this country already, ha! We grabbed a taxi to the famous (or infamous?) Khao San Road area in the heart of Bangkok’s Old City district, and checked into our home for the next three days. As soon as we pulled up to our road—which was not even on Khao San Road but simply near it—we had to meander through drunken Europeans carrying their Singhas and Changs from bar to bar, hippies in dreads body-swaying to loud house music pumping through the streets, and backpackers searching for the next best street food.

Welcome to Khao San Road, the gateway for backpacker heaven in Southeast Asia. It is a love-hate relationship with Khao San. You want to hate it because it is so touristy, so contrived, so loud; but, you kinda love it because you meet so many fun people, the guest houses are so cheap, everything is so convenient because everything is made for the foreign traveler, and you partially and secretly went to Thailand to buy cheap goods off the streets anyway. So here we were, midnight, with the party only starting on the streets, and all we wanted was a good shower and a solid bed. Being used to the non-partying mentality of Kaua'i, we had no problems going to bed immediately that first night, with the sweet lullaby of the downstairs bar’s live party music floating through our third floor window…

After a night of jet-lag non-sleep for Michael (though not for me!), we awoke early the next morning ready to explore! We decided to just walk— a lot. First, we quickly ran through the neighborhood of Rambuttri and Khao San. I always find it interesting to catch such “party districts” in the aftermath of the event or out of its peak hours…when it is not putting on a show and seems the most vulnerable, honest, and revealing. We walked by street vendors just starting to set up, storefront and guesthouse owners sweeping the previous night’s litter from their foyers, and locals grabbing their breakfasts of unrecognizable stews and fish before another day and night of serving tourists. We crossed some large intersections and roads, desperately trying to avoid being run over by the swarms of motorbikes and tuk-tuks, and found ourselves at the first of many temples on our journey, Wat Mahathat. Because it is located right next to, and thus likely overshadowed by, the Grand Palace— the most visited place in Bangkok— Wat Mahathat seems to be overlooked by most and does not seem to get many outside visitors. We only stumbled upon it, and are glad we did. Beautiful and sweet, it houses one of the higher education centers for monks, Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (yes, I spelled that correctly), and we were lucky enough to witness an active prayer session going on inside one of the buildings. It is built like many standard Thai temples, featuring long halls of endless rows of golden Buddhas and courtyards that have loudspeakers resonating Thai chants— presumably repeating prayers throughout the grounds for all to hear. We didn’t spend much time here, but enjoyed what we saw. We also got a taste for the quiet respect that is so dominant in Thai culture. This respect is also evident in the way they greet others using the wai, which involves placing your palms together in front of your head as if in prayer, and bowing your head slightly to the person you are greeting or thanking. We received these from everyone—the hotel receptionist, the bar waitresses, the street vendors— and did the same in return, and I must admit it creates an immediate and beautiful deference for the people around you.

We then continued our walk over a few more roads and found ourselves amongst a busy marketplace selling all types of trinkets and foods that we later learned is the popular Amulet Market of Bangkok. The Thai people are very superstitious, and thus purchase amulets to protect them or guide them in various manners. Most amulets are images of Buddha in one form or another, and elephants and other animals are also popular. There were amulets of all shapes and sizes, made of all types of materials like wood, brass, metal, stones, etc. One interesting thing we noted was that there is a huge section devoted strictly to amulets of penises. That’s right. Models of all sizes of gigantic, erect penises—some attached to a man, some just stand-alone—like lucky charms on a bracelet or a keychain. I caught a few Thai women sneak a smile as they watched us eyeing all the penises in awe. We later read about this and apparently, the Thai like to buy these to protect their sexual potency. Hey, whatever works.

After thumbing through hundreds of knickknacks and penises but not buying anything, we sat down for our first real Thai meal!—so excited!! We walked into a cute café by the Amulet Market and ordered off pictures of dishes. We ended up with a scrumptious stew of calamari, fish and other vegetables; some noodles with chicken and veggies that resembled Pad Thai; some mini side salads, and (again, our first of many, many, many) delicious Thai iced teas, and all for about $3 USD (and this was kinda “fancy”).

Armed with a full stomach, we were ready to brave the crowds of the Grand Palace. As I was wearing a tank top and Michael was wearing shorts, they first had us don proper clothing before entering the grounds— a button-down shirt to cover my shoulders and what seemed like purple doctor’s scrubs for Michael to cover his knees. Having expected this, I had brought my own shawl, but I guess it wasn’t enough and so I still had to “rent” a shirt to go over my tank top.

It was at about this time of putting on more clothes that we realized how unbelievably hot and humid it was!! As most of the exploration of the Grand Palace grounds is outdoors, amongst large and thick crowds of people, we were sweating beyond belief and couldn’t believe this was the cool season! Seeing that most people went straight to the golden temples, we used our “bonus ticket” that came with admission to visit the Royal Coin Museum exhibit, which was air-conditioned (and because Michael has become a coin/currency enthusiast in recent years). While the collection was not extensive, it was still interesting to see the riches of the Thai kingdom and some of the various types of currencies that were used throughout the centuries. Thailand changes the look of their currency with each different King. Centuries ago, they literally used little mini pebbles with hardly an impressed stamp on it as money! Clearly, this was too easy to counterfeit (or to find in the dirt), so they finally had to change to some “real” money. After this exhibit, we made our way over to the temples.

Similar to the Forbidden City of Beijing, the Grand Palace is a conglomeration of unspeakably beautiful gold-plated and ruby/emerald/other-precious-stone-studded buildings and towers, where the King of Thailand and his entourage used to reside (the King no longer lives there; we will get to where he currently lives later). The Thais value their royal family and Kings very much, and it shows in the craftsmanship and riches used to exalt the royal family and for royal ceremonies (of which they are many, for seemingly every occasion or even non-occasion in life). The Palace buildings feature the statues of many mythological creatures and black (onyx?) elephants, Buddhas inside every temple, and multi-level winged rooftops. It’s quite impossible for me to describe, as there is so much detail, so I will just refer to the photos.

The most venerable thing within the Grand Palace grounds, though, is Wat Phra Kaew, or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It is touted as the most sacred temple in all of Thailand because it houses the—you guessed it—Emerald Buddha. Which is actually not made of emerald, but of jade—very beautiful nonetheless. The Buddha itself is quite small, and sits atop a tall tower, and wears different “outfits” of various gold and diamond-plated sheaths for different seasons. (He has a winter outfit, a summer outfit, and a rainy season outfit. When it’s time to change outfits, the King must be the one to change it and it is done on an auspicious day in large ceremonial fashion at the temple.) Entering the Temple of the Emerald Buddha is sacred, and following tradition, we sprinkled sacred water from flowers onto our head before entering, took off our shoes, and sat bowed to the Buddha that towered above us, being sure that the bottom of our feet were facing away from the Buddha. While the experience was made more authentic because we were not allowed to take photos inside and there was a tone of whispered respect amongst the visitors, it was peak tourist season, and therefore, extremely crowded. As such, it was almost too cramped to experience the full beauty of the temple. We did not spend as much time in there as I probably would’ve liked, but still enough to appreciate the detail and reverence of the place.

After several hours at the Grand Palace, we walked over to Wat Pho, another temple grounds a block away. This Wat is most famous for its Temple of the Reclining Buddha, which was indeed quite magnificent to behold. It lies about 50 feet tall and over 150 feet long, and is a giant gold-plated Buddha lying down on its side, smiling slightly, as if relaxing. It is said that the image of a reclining Buddha represents the moment when it has achieved supreme nirvana. This Buddha looked pretty happy to me, so perhaps it is so. Other than this Temple, Wat Pho also houses thousands of other Buddha images and ornate prangs (tower-like structures with wide round foundations that resemble giant bells from afar), and is one of the oldest temples in Thailand.

Awesomely, it is also home to a renowned Thai massage school and is reputed to be the birthplace of Thai massage! After walking so much and being in the blinding heat all day, we did not hesitate to sign up for our first hour-long Thai massage! Suffice it to say that it would not be our last. While it was the most expensive one we paid for in all of Thailand (about $10.50 USD!), it was well worth it and we definitely heard some bones crack! Thai massage involves heavy utilization of specific pressure points and gets very physical, with the masseuse lifting your legs and arms and contorting them in all sorts of ways, swinging your body around their own to give you a back twist, and literally climbing all over you. While I would not claim to be a master of massages by any means, I have experienced Swedish and Chinese massages, and even the more unique Hawaiian Lomi Lomi massage, and I have to say that Thai Massage ranks up top! If you know me and my massages, you know that I only like a massage to be really hard. None of the soft touchy stuff; I like a massage to really get in there and loosen things up. Well, even I was about to tell these Thai masseuses to please press more softly!—it was great! It’s like getting beat up and feeling fabulous afterward. 😊 If you are ever at Wat Pho, do not make the mistake of rushing pass it that you do not allow yourself at least an hour of massage at the school in the back!

Revived by our massage (or perhaps made sleepier??), we braved our first shot on the famous tuk-tuks. Now, it is important to understand that tuk-tuk rides are basically death-defying rollercoaster rides that, if you’re lucky, happen to transport you from one location to another, which is why they get away with claiming to be a taxi. It is a little open-air cart with a weak metal frame, a two-seater bench in the back and a driver up front, and a loud sputtering motor that runs it. It is also important to understand that traffic lanes in Thailand— or at least in Bangkok, but also in other parts of the country to an extent— are a joke. I’m not sure why they exist, because they simply do not matter; cars, buses, motorbikes, tuk-tuks, and pedestrians alike all just go when and where they please. If there is even 3 feet of open space between you and oncoming traffic in the next “lane,” those 3 feet immediately become a passing lane— even if that gigantic bus is rumbling toward you at rampant speeds. And because tuk-tuks and motorbikes are smaller than a regular car, you can probably fit about 3-wide in one lane, but a tuk-tuk driver will tell you he can fit at least 10 wide. Whether you are in a hurry or not, a tuk-tuk ride will weave you in and out of the city’s twists and turns so fast that you won’t know what happened until you’re back on your feet on solid ground, which is why it is like a rollercoaster.

It also happens to be the most common, economical, and fun way to go short distances around Bangkok!

Our first ride was short for starters and our driver was a lot of fun, if not a bit crazy (but I think one must be crazy to be a tuk-tuk driver to begin with). We got where we needed to go in one piece (kinda…he sort of took us down some wrong streets, but we made it back alright)!

After this very busy first day in Bangkok, Michael napped in the comfort of our hotel while I perused and shopped the street vendors of Khao San Road, which were just coming alive in the evening. Then, after devouring a giant plate of street-cart-Pad-Thai (for less than 50 cents) as appetizers, we made our way to a run-down, highly acclaimed hole-in-the-wall eatery that served “Middle Eastern Thai” food. Intrigued, we ended up ordering the spiciest roti-wrapped chicken of my life, to the point where I simply could not eat it, and then was served mutton when I’m fairly sure I ordered beef. Ah, but the Thai iced tea (second one of the day) was soooo good!

Tired but feeling obligated to go out in this city of bustling nightlife, we found our way to a low-key bar with few other tourists and several tables of locals. People watching, we quickly learned the Thai way to drink: forget the beer bottles or individual cocktails, just bring the whole handle! Apparently, it is customary to order entire bottles of liquor (the Thai favorite seems to be Whiskey of all levels), Vegas-style, except clearly not $1,000/bottle like in Vegas. You get your liquor bottle in a metal pail, which also comes with small bottles of Coke or tonic mixers, and ice cubes. Despite what I would regard as an off ratio of mixer to liquor, they do not seem to order more mixers, because the drinks are mostly just all whiskey. Bottle after bottle, we saw a table of six take down what seemed like more drinks than I have had in all four years of living on Kaua'i!— and it wasn’t even a bachelor party or anything, just some friends getting together to chat. We would later learn that alcohol is the Thais’ “drug of choice.” No wonder they can throw Full Moon parties like nobody else!

The hilarity of the scene was topped off by a live Thai band setting up at the bar— we were so excited to witness a young hip Thai band, anxious to find out what kind of music was commonplace here, when the first lyrics that come out of the lead singer’s mouth were those of… “Hero,” by Mariah Carey. Yes, that “Hero” of Bar Mitzvah memories and VH1 countdowns.

This was promptly followed by a rendition of 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Going On?” (which we eventually heard—no joke—at every bar in every city of Thailand!! They apparently all love this 90s American song!), and finally by Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” (which we also heard in every bar in every city of Thailand, usually preceded by “What’s Going On?”—I kid you not). We had a great time singing along, but hearing no Thai alternative rock like I wanted to, we were ready to fight our way back through Khao San Road to go to bed.

I want to say all the above somehow happened before midnight on our first day in Bangkok.

Sleeping in a bit more on Christmas morning, we arose to another beautiful day and walked over to the riverside along Bangkok’s Chao Praya River. Other than the insignificant and unlit Christmas tree in our hotel lobby, nothing would have told us it was Christmas that day. We spoke to a tour operator near the river and she asked us if we had a nice Christmas…I told her we did not and are not doing anything special (I mean, other than being in Thailand) and asked if she did anything or if there was any fanfare in the city that we should see that day. She smiled wryly and said that Christmas does not really exist there, as I expected: “only for tourists.” So, we went about our day, often forgetting in the scorching heat that it was indeed Christmas in much of the western world, but still had a great day!

The Chao Praya River is a huge thoroughfare, carrying both commercial barges and small tourist long-tail boats. It is almost as busy as a Bangkok intersection! We joined a long-tail boat river tour for the next hour and a half along with four other tourists, and floated through some of the western canals that branch off the river, going through the “Bangkok Floating Market,” which consists of vendors in their own rowboats floating up to you, trying to sell much of the same novelties and souvenirs as the vendors on Khao San Road, and passing by several rustic Thai water villages. The water villages are quite interesting— the houses are built on stilts above the river, with their front doors facing the riverside as opposed to the land behind them, indicating that they entered from the river side and used the river as their main mode of transportation more than the land. In fact, we saw a man in a little rowboat, delivering the morning vegetables or something similar, from house to house, just rowing right up to them. We read somewhere that it was only in recent decades that Bangkok constructed land bridges to cross the Chao Praya to get from one side to the other; until then, everyone just commuted via boats and it was very much a canal town. We saw power poles and street signs mounted in the canals, as if this were their main road.

The long-tail boat finally dropped us off on the other side of the river, at Wat Arun, another famous and iconic temple along Bangkok’s skyline. Wat Arun looks different than the temples we had visited the first day, because it seems to follow more of a Khmer style (for those that are familiar, like the style of Angkor Wat and supposedly represents the same mythological mountain that Angkor Wat does, as well), and features one central prang tower surrounded by four smaller prangs. The towers are also not gold-plated or studded by semiprecious stones, but rather, are decorated by small bits of porcelain and seashell, so that it resembles a mosaic with concrete grout in between the pieces. Wat Arun was fun because you can climb up some very narrow steps up to two higher levels of the central prang and walk around the tower, affording panoramic views of the eastern bank of the Chao Praya, with the Grand Palace and Wat Pho in the distance, rising through the mist (or smog).

After Wat Arun, we walked around the neighborhood of the temple and found ourselves in a non-touristy, upper-class community with nice cars and well-dressed locals. We sat down for lunch in a classy restaurant, where everyone around us seemed to be dining in Chinese dim-sum style— they even had Lazy Susans for the large tables, which I did not see anywhere else in Thailand. I later learned that the most successful businessmen and upper class tiers of Thai society are often the Chinese who have been there for a long time. It would make sense, then, that these folks in this fancy neighborhood were likely Chinese Thai, and having their dim sum brunch. We enjoyed a very nice meal that invariably included some delicious noodles and curries, and Thai iced teas.

Fully satisfied with our Wat-tour of Bangkok, we were ready to explore something other than temples. We took a long tuk-tuk ride (perhaps our craziest one of the entire trip, as this one covered quite a bit of distance to get us back to the other side of the river and up into the Dusit dstrict, and involved getting on the highway in a mini tuk-tuk) in search of Dusit Park, a nice tree-lined area of Bangkok that is seldom crowded. We were spit out right in front of a beautiful, European-style building, the Abhisek Dusit Throne Hall museum, which turned out to be one of the free tickets we received from purchasing our ticket to the Grand Palace yesterday! Again, we were not allowed to enter the museum in the shorts we were wearing, but this time, rather than “renting” the clothes and getting our deposit back after we return the clothes, as we did at all the other wats, they made us purchase them! (So, we now have these long, thick, canvas-like wrap skirts that we felt compelled to keep because we paid for it and because it is a good memory souvenir, and thus had to always stuff into our already-stuffed packs for the rest of the trip.) Donned in our lovely green ankle-length wraps, we were two of only a handful of visitors present at the museum, which turned out to be a beautiful collection of ridiculously wealthy adornments and ornaments for the King and Queen. Most of the collections featured pieces designed and used specifically for the 2006 60th anniversary celebration of the King’s accession to the throne, so the pieces are all very new. Having reigned since 1946, King Bhumibol Adulyadej is the world’s longest-reigning current head of state and Thailand’s longest-reigning monarch, making him extremely revered. Apparently, the 60th anniversary celebrations were momentous, to say the least, and featured huge processions, fireworks, and every gold and diamond-plated object you could think of— which are now all on display here at the museum. The howdahs (seats designed to sit on top of elephants) were fashioned in gold and rubies; water glasses were rimmed with gold and emeralds; I think even the menus for the big dinner that night featured gold writing. It was quite fascinating, but also a bit peculiar to observe such new riches in an otherwise fairly poor country in the scheme of the world— all this wealth used for one day’s celebration for a representational monarchy, and then housed in a gigantic mansion in a rich part of town that few people go to see— all seems a bit wasteful and inefficient…It just makes one think, but I certainly do not want to say that in the presence of Thais, who, by and large, regard their King and the royal family with such admiration and love that they simply would never think that. And, though I may never fully understand it, I can certainly respect such devotion.

In any case, after leaving the Throne Hall, we wanted to rest in Dusit Park, which we read to be very nice and relaxing, with nice fountains and wide patches of green grass. A misguided glance at a map told us it was on the other side of the very massive Dusit Zoo that was next to us, so we began walking around the zoo to get to the other side. This may not sound like a big deal, and it’s not, but just for the record, it’s a very, very large zoo, with multiple entrances on all sides of it. It takes quite awhile to walk the length of one side, especially in this heat. After finally getting to the other side, where we thought Dusit Park was surrounded by a tall wall and a moat, we began walking through what looked like the one entrance (though it felt odd, because why would a public park be so exclusive?). We start strolling in, following a car that had just driven through the gates, when a uniformed Thai guard puts out a hand to stop us. Not knowing English, he simply shakes his head no, waving his finger at us. We try to ask for his help on a map, but to no avail. In about one second, we realize that we are at the footsteps of the very exclusive Chitralada Palace— the current residence of the King and Queen, and which is by no means open to the public, let alone foreigners! Whoops. Retracing our steps along the moat, we realize there are armed soldiers along the moat and surrounding walls, so we stride pass them nicely along the tree-lined walkways and make a turn to where we now thought the Park was.

Apparently, we were not meant to lie in a park that day. After circling around the damn zoo for what felt like a long time, we were back where we started, by the Throne Hall, and apparently the Park was right there all along! However, after we crossed a few more death-defying intersections and still couldn’t find exactly what it was, we gave up (my suspicions are that we walked through it already, not realizing it was adjacent to the Throne Hall’s grounds, and didn’t realize that it was the Park because it wasn’t as big as we had envisioned). Instead, we came across a large building that looked like an exhibit hall, with a bunch of people who appeared to be shopping inside! I was able to drag Michael inside, where he found himself to the be only Caucasian amongst hundreds of wealthy Thai citizens, perusing through tables and aisles full of Thai clothing, silks, tapestries, bags, wood carvings, jewelry, embroideries, etc etc etc. We had stumbled upon a giant tradeshow! The tradeshow featured traditional Thai products, sponsored by the Queen’s Support Foundation, which we had read all about in the Throne Hall museum and whose mission is to continue and sustain cultural handiwork and crafts of traditional Thai tribes and peoples. Oh, how I wanted to buy a giant wooden carving of elephants, or a massive roll of silk, or a hand-carved teak chair!! But alas, I was not in the mood to arrange for pricey shipping back to Hawai'i nor was I really prepared to spend some real money in Thailand, and all of this cost “real money” (though of course, still far less expensive than it would cost to buy in the States). So, we just browsed and pawed through everything, and eventually found ourselves outside by the food vendors, eating a snack of roasted duck and noodles, before making our way back to the hotel, where we proceeded to enjoy our second, hour-long Thai massage of the trip (becoming a daily routine already!).

Our last night in Bangkok was spent drinking Thai-brewed Chang and Tiger beers at a nearby bar, listening to the local live musician sing Jason Mraz and Eric Clapton, chatting with the Irish newlyweds next to us, eating and sweating from the very spicy beef and rice dish I accidentally ordered, and, oddly, because our bar was next to the Bangkok Chabad House (I swear this was not why we chose to go there), we watched for hours as endless Israelis—there are a lot in Thailand, apparently—walked in and out of the building. Finally, a flood of Jews came out, and we realized that in forgetting the days of the week while traveling, we had unknowingly come upon Shabbat already, and services had just ended in the Bangkok Chabad House.

So, whether you want to say sawadee kah, as they do in Thailand, or aloha, or shalom (or shaloha if you live in Kaua'i), we bid adieu and farewell to Bangkok, to which we came with little expectations and left with fun memories and better-aligned shoulders.

(Of course, we have a lot more photos than we show here...wait for my Flickr or Facebook albums once those are loaded for more comprehensive pictures)

---

Photos

Good morning Bangkok
Khao San Road by daylight, a totally different scene by day than night

Oh My Buddha, as our Thai guide liked to say...
Rows of beautiful golden Buddhas at Wat Mahathat

Grand Palace
Entering the Grand Palace temple grounds in our hot new clothes

Purple Pants
Michael's fashionable purple pants he was required to wear

Golden Girl
Karen in front of a gold-plated prang in the Grand Palace

Gold Gold Gold
semi-precious stone and gold lines all these gleaming temples

Grand Palace Grounds
A higher view of all the buildings

Angkor Wat...in Bangkok?
A very detailed mini sculpture of Angkor Wat sits at the Grand Palace in Bangkok!

Arrghh
Mythological creatures line and hold up the temples

Temple of the Emerald Buddha
Seen from outside, the Emerald Buddha towers over everyone and wears his winter outfit

My, You Have Big Toes!
The Temple of the Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho (giant Buddha)

Wise Men
Wanting to be as wise as this one, Michael grows out his hair AND beard

Wat Pho prangs
Amongst detailed pagodas and prangs at Wat Pho

Tuk Tuk!!
Our first tuk-tuk ride through Bangkok with our hilarious driver

Long Live the King
Gigantic murals and pictures of the King and Queen are placed all over the city, on all medians and intersections and roads

Party Time
Khao San Road by night

Delivery Man
A Thai man makes his morning deliveries by rowboat on one of Bangkok's canals

Flooded Powerlines?
These powerlines and street signs were planted right into the river for the water villages/canal towns

Love my TV
Old shacks with giant new satellites along the river!

Wat Arun
Karen at Wat Arun

Rising High
At the central prang at Wat Arun

Panoramic Views
Views of the smaller prang and Chao Praya River from atop Wat Arun

Bangkok River View
Views of Wat Pho across a very busy and congested Chao Praya River

Monk town
Monks walk to temple on a pretty street near Wat Arun

Throne Hall
We were not allowed any photos of the elaborate gold ornaments and accessories inside the Throne Hall, so this was all we got