Advertisement
Published: December 19th 2010
Bangkok. Just the name evokes exotic images of the Far East. It does have many beautiful and historic temples and a spectacular palace but it also has interesting small shrines and lots of shopping.
We flew from Luang Prabang. We could have taken a bus through Laos into Thailand, but that would have meant at least 24 hours of travel. While we would have enjoyed seeing the Lao countryside and villages roll by, we know our backsides well enough to know that is about 16 hours too much. Since we could get plane tickets for under $200 each, we splurged. The flight to Bangkok was uneventful and we landed early. Then we messed up (just a little.) We went to the wrong immigration point and mistakenly thought we had to apply for a visa which required a photo. Out photos were locked in our luggage so we paid 200B ($7) each to get photos made, and then we found out that Americans don’t need a visa. Sigh. We were kicking ourselves for failing to follow the signs, especially because this was our third entry into the country in less than a month.
Once we figured that out, Immigration was
easy. We cleared customs then took the train into town. That also was easy and within 30 minutes we were stepping into the neighborhood that we had decided to make our home base, Siam Square. We wandered a bit to orient ourselves then headed down a random side street (called a soi) looking for hotels. A very nice security guard told us all the hotels were on one street and that was the next one over. We thanked him and headed there. There were at least seven hotels on that street. We checked them all then selected one and checked in. We spent the next 30 minutes chilling (literally, it’s hot in Bangkok) in the A/C of our room.
After the cool weather of Laos, Bangkok is rather miserable. It is hot (90F+) and humid so we are soaked with sweat most of the day. Eating lunch in a restaurant with A/C became a favorite way to cool off.
Then we had shopping to do. We are very near several huge malls so we picked one and went inside. It has over a hundred shops on each floor and has seven floors. First up was lunch. We found
Wat Phra Kaew
Beth is in the foreground.what we thought was a sushi bar but it was actually a hotpot bar. There was a conveyor belt that snaked through the restaurant with a large variety of ingredients you could put in one’s private hotpot of broth. I was thinking it was like fondue when I remembered a very similar meal we had in Switzerland many years ago. There it was called Chinese Fondue. So we sat at the counter eating hotpot and sushi (yum!) and ice cream for dessert. Then we went shopping for toothpaste and similar essentials.
Next we headed to the part of town with custom tailors to find a suit for John for the cruise in June. We were soon accosted by a tout who took us to two different places. We then checked out three others before going back to the first. We negotiated the price down a bit but still felt like we paid too much when he too quickly accepted our offer and threw three shirts and four ties. I also bought a suit and got a better deal. I still hate negotiating; I always feel like I paid too much.
Then, back at the mall, we each got
Elephant Statue
Statue at Wat Phra Kaew a haircut and I finally got the head massage I saw John get in China three months ago.
The next day we saw the tourist highlights of Bangkok. We left the hotel by 7:30am hoping to avoid both crowds and heat. We looked for breakfast but could not find anything. Even the places around the mall (including Starbucks) were closed. So we soldiered on and hoped we would find something.
We took the train to the river and then the public boat up the river to the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. We still had not had breakfast so we bought a pineapple. After wolfing that down, we bought toast. It was thick like Texas toast and toasted over charcoal. One had butter and sugar and the other had what looked like jam. John got butter and I got jam but it was not jam, it was chili paste. One bite was too much so I threw it away and went back to buy a butter one.
Our first tourist stop was Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace. WPK is where the Emerald Buddha from Chiang Rai now lives. We had seen the replica in Chiang
Schoolchildren and Palace Guard
Children pose for a picture with a palace guard who has no say in the matter. Rai but the original was dressed in gold “clothing.” There are three sets of “clothes” for the three seasons: winter, summer and rainy. Now it is wearing its winter clothes. The King presides over the ceremony where the clothes are changed three times a year. It is high up on a very ornate gold alter in a strikingly beautiful temple.
There were several other stupas around the Wat and they were all beautifully decorated. We especially liked the paintings along the galleries showing scenes from the life of Buddha. What strikes me over and over is the similarities between Buddha and Jesus. We saw one Buddha that looked to have holes in its hands.
Next we went to the Grand Palace. It was very grand but the main building was closed to the public. They have palace guards standing stock still just like at Buckingham Palace in London. And, just like in London, tourists stand next to the guards to get their picture taken. Some brazenly get up on the platform with them. While we were there, there was a simple changing of the guard where the on-coming guards marched out in formation and relieved the off-going guards.
As we watched, the off-going guard inspected the on-coming guard’s uniform, made a few adjustments, tweaked his hat then went to join the formation.
After touring the Palace Grounds we stopped for a cold drink in a restaurant with a fan blowing and attempted to cool off before heading to the next sight. We were headed to Lak Mueng (City Pillar Shrine) when a man started offering us tourist advice. First, he told us that Lak Mueng was closed and then started making suggestions on other places to see. Then he told us to take a tuk-tuk but only one with a yellow license plate because it was a “government tuk-tuk.” Coincidentally, one with a yellow license plate pulled up. Our alarm bells had been going off the entire time and this cinched it so we extricated ourselves and walked across the street to Lak Mueng which was not closed.
After Lak Mueng we went to Wat Pho, home of the enormous
Reclining Buddha. Just outside we bought more pineapple for lunch and quickly ate it then went inside via a back gate. There was no ticket seller on duty so we could have gotten in for free but
we were honest and bought tickets after we had toured everything. The Reclining Buddha was even bigger than I imagined, half a football field in length and about 45 feet high at the tallest point. It is gold plated and the soles of its feet are decorated in Mother of Pearl.
Next we took the ferry across the river to Wat Arun. It is a 100 foot tall stupa decorated mostly with broken pottery embedded in cement like a mosaic. We climbed up very steep steps to the top level of the stupa and had a great view of the city. We then took the ferry back and wandered up the street looking for a restaurant with A/C.
We found one near to where we got off the boat in the morning. I had curry and John had Pad Thai and we both enjoyed the A/C. We then took a bus back to our hotel and got off at the right spot. We were very proud of ourselves for, once again, successfully navigating a foreign city’s mass transit without getting lost.
After a short break chilling in our hotel room we walked down the main drag to
Erawan Shrine. It is Hindu, not Buddhist, but people were doing the exact same things there as they were doing at Buddhist temples: praying and making offerings of incense, candles, flowers and, unique to this shrine, wooden elephant statues. The air was filled with incense and there was Thai dancing going on to thank the gods for prayers answered. It was my favorite place all day.
Next we went back to the tailors where we had a fitting then we went to a movie in an air conditioned theater. It was very much like an American theater with a few minor differences. Unlike the multiplexes we are used to, there was only one theater and it was large enough to seat about 400 people. The seats were luxuriously soft, the tickets were only 100B ($3.50) each, they had assigned seats and, after the previews but before the movie started, we all rose while they played a tribute to the King. We saw the latest Narnia movie and it was in English with Thai subtitles.
On Thursday we took a canal boat to a temple called the Golden Mount. Canal boats are like buses but they run along the
canal. I had hoped it would be a good way to see the town but they had tarps up along the gunwales to keep the passengers dry so there was nothing to see. As we waited for the boat, I started talking with a European woman who lives in Bangkok. She was using the canal boat to commute to work and was helpful in telling us the fare and getting us off at the right stop.
It took awhile to orient ourselves and while we were looking at the map a man walked up and started the same spiel as the tuk-tuk driver from yesterday. He started by telling us the Golden Mount was closed in the morning so we should go to the standing Buddha. He asked to see our map and saw the notes from the con man the day before and we let him assume we had already fallen for the scam so he left us alone.
We figured out the way to the Golden Mount and found it easily. It is a wat that is in the shape of a hill and is 100m high so we climbed the stairs and got another nice
John and the Shoe Guy
He was actually a good leather worker and put down the leather vest he was making to repair John's shoe. view of the city. Then we headed down and walked about 2 km along a pretty tree-lined avenue to the Equestrian Statue of King Rama V. King Rama V is beloved by Thai’s and revered as the father of the country for his success at modernizing (westernizing) the country. He was the one depicted in the Broadway musical “The King and I.” People bring Buddhist offerings to this statue to get good luck in business. We took some pictures then took a taxi to Khao San Street.
Khao San Street is the industrial strength tourist quarter and I was really glad we decided to stay in the Siam section of town rather than there. All of the streets were lined with vendors (mostly clothes) and there were travel agencies and tailors galore. On a back alley John found a leather worker to stitch up his shoes for the third time. Then we set out to find the Tourist Information office. We were looking at a map when another man walked up and asked where we were going. I told him and (surprise, surprise) he said it was closed and recommended we take a tuk-tuk to one far away. We
got the same scam at a tailor shop that offered us directions but at least we got to stand inside in the A/C. We did find it and it was just 50 yards from where we were first looking at the map but the sign was blocked by a picture of the king. To be fair, I should note here that only the tuk-tuk drivers tried to con us; every one else seemed to be honest.
On Friday we walked one street over from our hotel to the Jim Thompson House. Jim Thompson was an American born in 1906. He was an architect in New York then worked for the predecessor to the CIA during WWII. The CIA sent him to Thailand and he fell in love with the culture and the people. He built a large business promoting and selling Thai silk. He also was an avid collector of SE Asian art. Quite the Renaissance man. In 1967 while on holiday in Malaysia he went for a walk and never came back. Despite massive searches, no trace was ever found.
The JTH was built by JT by assembling a collection of six Thai teak wood houses around
a beautiful garden resulting in a home that was appropriate for the environment, based on Thai architecture but suited to western tastes. He then filled it with a wonderful collection of Thai and SE Asian art. When he disappeared, his heir set up a foundation that made this home a museum. We really enjoyed the tour and the quiet space it provided in the heart of the bustling city.
We had a long lunch in a nearby Indian restaurant then wandered the street vendors where I bought a necklace for my formal outfits for the cruise. The seller asked for B350 initially but I bargained the price down to B150 ($5). We tried to buy a belt for John but they would not come down enough in price. In the afternoon we picked up our clothes from the tailor and mailed them (via FedEx) to a friend in London. She is kind enough to hold them until we get there in June.
Thus ends our trip to East Asia. As I write this we are safely in New Delhi, India. We had gotten use to the eastern part of Asia but now we are learning about the western
King Rama V
Equestrian statue of King Rama V, grandfather of the current king. part and, believe me, there are differences. Stay tuned.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.16s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.074s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
anonymous
non-member comment
the Hindu elephants
Hi you two! Can't wait to hear how you do in India! Re the elephants - Hindu temples usually specialize in one diety, I expect you will be seeing several different ones now - the elephant god is Ganesh(a) who governs prosperity, increase, benevolence. jai ganesha! (praise to Ganesh!)