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Published: January 20th 2008
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Reclining Bhudda
Wat Pho, Bangkok On Friday we got up fairly early, the plan being to visit the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. Wanting to get there by boat we took the long way around to get a river boat up towards the palace. There are lots of boats on the Chao Phraya river - the river ferries we took, longboats, cross river ferries and smaller individual boats. Many of Bangkok's sights can be seen as you cruise up the river as well as numerous other temples and the ramshackle homes of people who live and work on the banks.
As we got off the ferry and walked towards the Grand Palace a Thai man told us that the palace was in a different direction. We realised half an hour later that he had been lying as we checked the map and saw that we were now at the opposite end of the palace complex to the entrance. Luckily that is where Wat Pho is so we went there first.
Wat Pho is the oldest temple in Bangkok and home to a 45m long reclining Buddha. The Buddha is an amazing sight and is absolutely huge. The temple complex has many buildings and
Chedi
Wat Pho, Bangkok chedis (spires) spread over its grounds and, as our first experience of a Thai temple, it was nice to just wander around in the shade for a while.
Along the back of the reclining Buddha are 108 bowls and, for a small donation, you can take a pot of coins and put one coin in each bowl. This is for good luck and a long life. I'm not sure how much luck Allee will have as she got to the last bowl and realised that she still had 4 coins left.
After Wat Pho we walked back around the walls of the palace to the entrance, losing count of the number of men telling us that it was closed in the hope of getting us on a tuk-tuk tour of jewellery shops.
The Grand Palace is where the King used to live and is still used for ceremonial purposes. It is also home to Thailand's most sacred image, the Emerald Buddha.
The Emerald Buddha is actually carved from jade and was discovered 600 years ago. No cameras are allowed in the temple which houses the Buddha and, as with all other temples, shoes must be
Wat Phra Kaeo
Grand Palace, Bangkok removed before entering and feet should never point towards the Buddha. In fact, you should never point at a Buddha with any part of the body but the feet seem to be a particular no-no. This is based on the belief that the head, as the highest point of the body, is most sacred and the feet, the lowest part, least sacred.
As with Wat Pho, there were many interesting buildings and statues here,including a huge gold chedi which glinted in the sun. As we tried to leave the palace everybody was held up by guards and the road cleared. Curious, we hung around to see what was happening. Half an hour of baking sun later the Crown Prince was driven past and into the palace. In Thailand the royal family are revered and any disrespect towards them is likely to lead to some time spent in a Thai jail.
As we walked around I bought a coconut with a hole in the top and a straw thinking it might be quite thirst quenching. It was very sweet and sickly and just made me thirstier.
Yesterday we went to the Chatuchak weekend market. It is enormous
Ant's pineapple meal
Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok with something like 10,000 stalls. We still managed to see some of them 3 times as we got lost. It's hard to have a sense of direction in the maze that is Chatuchak.
Things were so nice in the market and so cheap that we probably bought far too much for the first week of the trip, including clothes, lamps and bowls. On Friday I was telling Allee that all trans-sexuals have the same accent. This is based on watching Jerry Springer. Allee disagreed and said that I was doing an American accent and non-American trans-sexuals would talk differently. It just so happened that in Chatuchak we were served by a young Thai man who was very camp and could quite possibly have already been what I like to call 'partially trans-sexualised'. His English was ok, and what accent did he have? The Jerry Springer trans-sexual accent! Theory proved I'd say.
The Muay Thai last night was amazing. Much better than either of us had expected. It's not the place to see huge men knocking each other out but it is full of grit and determination. As the fighters enter the ring music starts and they perform a
Thai Boxing
Lumpini Stadium, Bangkok ritual, honouring their coach and the spirit of the ring. The music continues throughout the fight, sounding similar to the music of a snake charmer. The fighters are not dissimilar to the charmed snake, rhythmically winding their way towards their opponent before launching a fast, vicious attack.
Neither man is ever prepared to give up and by the end of the fight both are often barely able to stand through a combination of effort and the punches, kicks, knees and elbows they have received. We had ringside seats,wincing at the heavier blows, cheering knees and knock-downs. Going to the men's toilet involved walking through the fighter's changing area and seeing them prepare, physically and mentally, for the fight ahead.
During the fight the Thai crowd were almost as entertaining as the ring action. The fighter's corner were on their toes, feeling every blow, cheering every success. The gambling Thai spectators got more and more agitated as the fights went on, betting and betting until the final bell.
The last fight we saw was the most brutal, with lots of blood and swollen faces. The Thai crowd must have had a lot off money on the fighter in blue and were getting louder and louder. They were just behind the red corner who goaded them each time red landed a hit. The atmosphere was electric, to the point that we feared a riot. When red won the stadium fell silent. We worried what would happen next but, a few minutes later, everyone was shouting and cheering once again.
Today we are relaxing ahead of moving on to Kanchanburi tomorrow. We've booked ahead into a place on the banks of the River Kwai and look forward to seeing all of the history in the area.
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