Bangkok Reunions

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There can’t be many people so happy to see Thailand. We landed back at the airport and had decided to treat ourselves to a couple of nights in a nice hotel in a different district, firstly to make it easier to collect our bags which we had left in Thailand (Bangkok Self Storage by the way, great service) and also to let us have a look around some more of the city. We settled into the Moroccan suite at the Baan Saladaeng Boutique Hotel, lovely little place run by a Dutch ex pat, located in a little side street in the Silom area. For those who know Bangkok, this district houses a lot of businesses as well as the notorious Thanon Phat Pong, but more about that later.

The following day, after an hour in the hideous Bangkok traffic to retrieve our belongings, we set out to explore the Silom area and found it to be a normal vibrant city district. It had a good mix of street markets and stalls and large modern shopping malls, interspersed with glass high rises containing the fevered brows of Thai office workers, we can just about remember that feeling!! That evening, after a great piece of spotting from Lisa, Chris was able to enjoy a pint of Dublin’s finest while checking out the English papers, nice. Then it was off to see what the fuss is all about. We strolled along the road and turned into Patpong 1 and was greeted with a socking great night market rather than what we had been expecting. Lisa perked up at this point. Sure enough, a stroll down the street showed plenty of bars with semi-naked, dead eyed ladies (or lady-alikes) gyrating on a mirrored stage trying to attract the attention of old Western men or young stags but mainly the bars were fairly empty. We (Chris mainly) were also offered plenty of opportunities to pop through darkened doorways to view a ‘ping pong’ show but being much more of a Cricket couple we declined that particular sporting pleasure, wonder if it varies much from the Olympic version though ;-) At this point the evening really perked up, for one of us anyway, as a stall was spotted sporting a huge turquoise Jimmy Choo handbag (of course it’s real). Well, the second ugliest Ladyboy in Thailand knew she had a fish on the hook when Lisa started purring and caressing it. A starting price of 3200 Baht was quickly reduced to 1200 at which point the walk away techniques got it down to 1000 and then a last show of disinterest earned a ‘final final’ price of 800 Baht (about £14, how much more real do you want?). At which point Chris reminded Lisa that we still had a number of countries to visit and reminded her that he had on more than one occasion ended carrying both rucksacks. This appeared to work as we walked away leaving ULB2 crestfallen but as Lisa woke up the following day and stated that she spent all night dreaming about a turquoise handbag, and as we have at least 7 more days in Bangkok, I suspect it will not be the last visit to that stall.

The following morning we ended our luxury break and returned to the Khao San Road, well Soi Ram Buttri actually, to prepare for our long awaited reunion with Matt. We booked back into a double deluxe room at the Sawasdee Hotel (at £8 per night you can guess how deluxe it really was), off loaded our Cambodia laundry on some poor unsuspecting service and reacquainted ourselves with the good old KSR.

Friday 26th March was a day we had both looked forward to for a very long time as we would, at last, be reunited with our baby. Yep Matt came to visit. We headed off to the airport to meet his early flight and waited, keeping in mind last time we did this in Australia in 2003 he turned up looking so bad that we almost denied knowing him, he finally trooped of his Mumbai flight looking, well very, very pale but otherwise healthy. It was brilliant to see him after all this time. We got a taxi back to the hotel and Matt was up for exploring straight away so we headed over to finally see the Grand Palace and, well, it was very grand. If there is one must-see sight that no visit to Bangkok would be complete without, it's the dazzling, spectacular Grand Palace, undoubtedly the city's most famous landmark. It was built in 1782 - and for 150 years the home of the Thai King, the Royal court and the administrative seat of Government. It wows visitors with its beautiful architecture and intricate detail and even though both the King and Government have moved the complex remains the spiritual heart of the Thai Kingdom.

We wandered around the beautiful buildings including Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha), which contains the small, very famous, and greatly revered Emerald Buddha that dates back to the 14th century. The robes on the Buddha are changed with the seasons by HM The King of Thailand, and forms an important ritual in the Buddhist calendar. The Inner Court is where the King's royal consorts and daughters lived and was like a small city entirely populated by women and boys under the age of puberty. Even though no royalty currently reside in the Inner Court, it is still completely closed off to the public. Despite the proximity of the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, there's a distinct contrast in style between the very Thai Temple and the more European inspired design of the Grand Palace (the roof being the main exception). All of the rooms are stunningly decorated including the Boromabiman Hall and Amarinda Hall, the original residence of King Rama I and the Hall of Justice. Nowadays, the Grand Palace and its impressive interior is used for important ceremonial occasions like coronations. It also contains the antique throne, used before the Western style one presently in use. As you wander towards the exit you see the the Dusit Hall, rated as perhaps the finest architectural building in this type in the world , and knowing nothing about it we can’t really argue. Yep, we had been looking forward to this visit and it really lived up to expectations.

A quick note if you think about visiting, a couple of times when walking to the Palace we were told that it was closed, this is a scam designed to get you into a tuk-tuk which will then take you to less impressive sights in the city for an appropriate fee of course. And also, as befits one of the holiest places in Thailand, a strict dress code applies. Men must wear long trousers and shirts with sleeves. Women must be similarly modestly dressed. No see-through clothes, bare shoulders, etc. You can rent clothes at the entrance but they won’t look good in the photos!!

A quick walk around the corner leads you to one of the other must sees, Wat Pho, or the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. It is the oldest and largest Buddhist temple in Bangkok and home to more Buddha images than any other Bangkok temple but the real wow is that it shelters the largest Buddha in Thailand. The temple was built as a restoration of an earlier temple on the same site, Wat Phodharam, with work beginning in 1788. It was restored and extended in the reign of King Rama III (1824-51), and restored again in 1982. Its other claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of traditional Thai massage. Even prior to the temple's founding, the site was a centre of education for traditional Thai medicine, and statues were created showing yoga positions. During the Rama III restoration plaques inscribed with medical texts were placed around the temple, while in 1962 a school for traditional medicine and massage was established. For such an historical place it is quite a small compound and the northern walled compound is where most time limited tourists (like us) head for, it’s where the reclining Buddha and massage school are found. As you enter this fairly modest building it takes a few seconds before you realise what you are looking at, the sheer scale of the Buddha is amazing. The Phra Buddhasaiyas, created as part of Rama III's restoration, is 46 meters long and 15 meters high and his body is covered in gold plating. You walk around the bottom of the statue and you are greeted with the most amazing feet. The soles are intricately decorated with 108 different scenes in beautiful mother-of-pearl inlay. Wow.

The third must see in the area requires a quick boat crossing of the Chao Phraya River to Wat Arun, also called "the Temple of the Dawn". It's the star of many a "visit Thailand" poster and perhaps even better known as a symbol of Bangkok than the Grand Palace. When you get there the first thing you see is the huge central prang. The towering prang, with its four smaller siblings, was started by Rama II in the early part of the 19th century, and completed by his successor Rama III. The temple in which the prang sits is actually much older and dates from the time when Ayuthaya was still the capital. As Matt obviously needed to appreciate the lengths that travellers go to to get a view we had to climb the numerous and very steep steps of the prang, but you are rewarded with a close up of a design that is a unique blend of Thai and Khmer but also its intricate decoration. Over the brick core, a layer of plaster was applied and then decorated with bits of Chinese porcelain and glazed ceramic tiles. Using porcelain from China isn't as extravagant as it might sound apparently. In the early days of Bangkok, Chinese trading ships calling on the Siamese capital used tons of porcelain as ballast. The temple is just an early example of the Thai approach to "recycling." From the top of the central prang you can see not only the wonderful four smaller prangs which symbolize the four winds but some great views of Bangkok and the river.

There is actually a lot more to explore in the temple but as we had conveniently forgotten that Matt had come from temperatures of about 3 degrees and humidity of 0 to 30 degrees and 90% humidity, he was naturally starting to flag a bit (oh and a 14hr flight thrown in). We took the short hop on the river back to our backpacker haven and let him get a bit of rest for his 1st night out in Asia.

That evening we had another reunion, we had been in contact with Mark and Mark, the two young men from London that we keep bumping into all around the world, and found out that Matt’s first night was their last night in Bangkok before their long trip back to blighty, coincidences eh - amazing. So off we trotted for a couple of cold beers, some good food and some great company. Well, after a couple turned into copious amounts and the boys promised to look after Matt on his first night ( I think there was even mention of making a man of him !!) we decided that this was one party we weren’t going to miss. Turned out to be a great night, the highlights being a drunken Matt taken for 100 Baht by a 10 year old Thai girl who whooped his bum in a ‘Thumb War’ and then a couple of the lads deciding that deep fried scorpion was better than a Kebab as a late night snack. Uuurgh. All in all, a cracking evening and a fitting goodbye to two fine young men who have become good friends and not a bad welcome to Asia for Matt either.

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Photos

Reunited
My baby's here (not sure who the other fella is though)

Peaceful Protest
The Red shirts fill the streets of Bangkok

Poor Fish
The fish spa is working overtime with these two

Jade Buddha
or the Temple around it anyway

Gurning
who's the good looking fella in the middle?

Big Buddha
If you were this big you'd lay down as well

Dancing Demons
Wat Aruns decoration

Farewell to Friends
Hopefully another reunion pending

Snack
How many pints of Chang does it take before you eat a bug?

Fangs
for the memories !!!

Intricate Feet
with a lot of sole

Quite a Climb
but even worse coming down