OUR LIFE ON THE RIVER

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September 10, 2010

Army, our butler, knocked on our door at 7:30 for our wake up call. Our day was to officially begin at 8:30. I took a shower; Jerry took his after breakfast as you know there is no way we could both get ready in an hour. At 8:30 am, Army gave us a brief tour of Wat Samakee, the real purpose of this visit was to make merit with the Monks. The Cruise line makes a donation to the Monks for the use of their pier. We were expected (not required) but certainly expected to make a cash donation. We did and were then blessed by the chief monk. The Buddhist religion while nothing like catholism in its teaching is very much like catholism in its hiarchey. Each temple has a Chief Monk, (priest), the district has a chief monk (Bishop), each province has a chief monk (Archbishop) and there is a chief monk of Thailand (Cardinal) then the over all chief monk (Pope).

After making merit with the monk, we got back on board for our light continental breakfast as we cruised toward Ayutthaya. They have no idea what the definition of light is. We had so much fruit, Papaya (Jerry hates, I love), Watermelon (I hate, Jerry loves), pineapple and honeydew. To accompany this there was toast, croissants, chocolate croissants, three types of pastry, and chocolate chip muffins. As if that wasn’t enough they asked if we needed anything else, bacon, eggs, etc. Pastries and fruit was more than enough.

After breakfast we just relaxed and watched the river go by, there was no sightseeing until 2 when we arrived at Ayutthaya. I continued to blog, Jerry just smoked and watch the river go by.

At 1, it was lunch time. A light Italian luncheon, you already have guessed I am sure that there was nothing light about it. A three course lunch is not light. We started with a twist on caprese salad, tomatoes, mozzarella, balsamic over a bed of arugula, topped with sliced chicken. The next course was Cod wrapped in prosciutto, over sautéed greens and potatoes wedges (kind of Italian, but I am not sure any Italians would have agreed), but it was delicious. This was followed by dessert. It was a good thing our guide was showing up at 2, we could walk lunch off.

After lunch we moored at Wat Pananchoeng, where our guide was to meet us and our tour of Ayutthaya was to begin. We expected our guide from yesterday, but she had some type of family emergency and was unable to join us today. Q would be our guide for the remainder of our cruise. While Q was very friendly and very knowledgeable, she has 2 degrees one in Thai history and communication the other in history; I did get a slight feeling as if we were being talked down to. Now, this could be my over sensitive Pisces nature or the language barrier. She spoke excellent English, but even so it takes a great deal of concentration to listen and fill in all of the missing words and get through the accent.

The tour started with Wat Pananchoeng, now I cannot even begin to explain all the different Wats and temples and the significance of each. There are far to many, and this had to be the 10th one we have seen, so suffice it to say, it was a Buddhist temple with a large sitting (very large) Buddha. What was different about this one was that the worshippers purchased cloth, prayed then through the cloth to men standing on the Buddha’s lap. These men then took the cloth and dressed the Buddha. The material was taken off at the end of each day, so the process could begin again the next morning.

After the Wat, we were transferred by van to the elephant park. There are only about 1500 elephants left in the wilds of Thailand, they have done a pretty could job of destroying their forests and instead of replanting trees, the plant corn, so they can produce ethanol, for there cars. They are really almost more hung up on their cars than Americans. At the elephant park we got to experience ancient Siam travel on the back of an elephant. What ever I said about acceptance of being gay earlier I need to amend here. While heterosexual couples or two women were allowed to ride the elephant together, tow men in no way were allowed to do so, no matter what their size. So Jerry and I each got our own elephant and off we went to do a ruin tour by elephant for about 20 minutes. While I enjoyed the experience, riding an elephant is not like riding a horse. There is a lot of being jostled from side to side and your legs have to spread pretty far apart. My foot was lashed by the elephants ear the entire ride. He or she was very cute and the guide purchased food for us to feed as we rode. At the end the elephants (and yes this is very very sad and I am sure there is bad karma here) are trained to extend their trunks so you can tip the driver. Now I would gladly tip the elephant, which by feeding I think I did, but I am not sure I need to tip the guy who gets paid to ride the elephant with me. It seems it would be like tipping the operator of Space Mountain at Disneyland.

Before I leave the elephants, I have to say that I wanted to knock some people of their elephants. Me on top of an elephant is not an attractive sight, at least the elephant is bigger than me, but again every Thai man that went buy made the happy Buddha reference when seeing me. I know it is just a cultural thing and they do not mean any offense by it. I am trying to take this for what it is, but it is just really difficult for me to not want to get angry, which is totally not acceptable in Thailand. So I have just bit my tongue and tired to ignore it the best I can. This really has not been overly successful, since a day later I am blogging about it here. So my tip for those of you, who like me, are not small, and this really only applies to men, just be prepared for unsolicited pats on the stomach, smiles and thumbs up and more attention to your size than you probably want.

We left the elephants and headed for what is left of the temple and palace of Ayutthaya. This was one of the several kingdoms of Siam before the country was united under one king. Ayutthaya was the sight of the first united Kingdom of Siam, and was destroyed by the Burmese in 1767, just a few years prior to our declaration of independence from England. So Modern Thailand is about the same age as the United States. But Siam of course goes back centuries earlier.

When the Burmese invaded Ayutthaya, they burned it to the ground and killed almost everyone. The interesting thing is while this is in the Thai history books, the fact they the Thai’s did the same thing to Laos and Cambodia, is not in Thai history books, only the history books of Laos and Cambodia. So the Thai’s are not merely revisionist when it comes to their history, the blatantly leave out the parts that make them look bad.

A tour of the ancient temple and palace is basically looking at rock formations. The only structures that are really left are the three main pagodas of the temple area. There is nothing left of the palace, except in the minds of those that lived or survived at that time. Most pictures that show the palace and temple are based upon the memories of the few survivors of the Burmese attack. We did spend about 45 minutes walking around as it is a large area. There is now a modern temple with houses a large Buddha image.

After the palace we got back in the van and headed to Pang Pa In and Wat Niwet Thammaprawat, where we would rejoin the Manohra Song. As always are butler was waiting with fresh lemon grass towels and cold water. We then had several hours to relax and shower. This evening we purchased a bottle of Thai wine. It was a white wine of some variety not exactly sure what varietal. It was very good and we enjoyed the wine as we watched a big storm roll in. At about 7:30 just as evening canapés were served (spring roles and other items I don’t know what they were called) it began to pour and we watched a big lighting show. It lasted about 90 minutes then it was gone. For a country that gets the monsoons every year, they really don’t deal well with rain. They ride their bikes with umbrellas.

We also had a martini before dinner; they really need to learn how to make a martini, always to much vermouth. Dinner was served promptly at 8. For the first course we were each served a whole Thai lobster with red chili sauce. Very tasty, even if you do have to work for the meat. Next was a spicy prawn soup, with snow fish and squid. This was followed by rice, spicy stir fried beef, chicken in red curry sauce and Kale with oyster sauce and garlic. I normally do not like cooked greens, but the Kale was in fact edible. Dessert was a Thai dumpling with water chestnuts in side, served in a warm coconut milk syrup. It was all very good, but so much food.

After dinner Jerry smoked and talked with Army, I relaxed on the couch, ok I fell asleep. Again by 9:30 we were fast a sleep in our state room.

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