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Published: April 27th 2006
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Reclining Buddha
These are the perks of Devine Ascension Then this country is in alot of trouble, over the last few days I have seen numerous giant (giant for real real not for play play) gold / bronze statues of buddha looking incredibly rich and satisfyed, sometimes kicking it back and reclining surrounded by seas of smaller Buddha (Is Buddha the plural of Buddha?) and an even bigger ocean of donation boxes. One has to ask oneself how so much money is pumped into religion when so many people in the country are starving? but then all you have to think about is the Samoan church service where all the donations from each family are read out in front of the congregation to realise its a similar situation everywhere. Plus as a tourist wanting a taste of what the culture in Thailand is like aside from being taken to gem stores, (we found out why yesterday - its because the gem stores give the taxi drivers gas coupons) a giant statue housed in an ornate temple with brilliant paintings on the walls serves its purpose, plus I enjoy a good spectacle. The religious rituals performed are also very interesting complete with incese, flowers, gold leaves - far more exciting then
Which Wat?
Here I am heading up the stairs towards the Bat Cave your typical anglican congregation.
Although we were far more clued up on the do's and dont's opf temple hopping then some of our western peers due to a visit to the Jim Thomson house the day before. Jim Thomson was an american architect who came to settle in Thailand and eventually save the then declining Silk Trade, he was very well respected by the Thai people and made a vast contribution to their society. In the 60's he went missing and nobody has any idea what happened to him although there were many a conspiracy theory. His house which is made of teak and adheres to traditional Thai architecture is now a museum and an expensive gift shop and cafe. On the tour of this house we picked up that the raised ground in the middle of the door way was to stop evil spirits running along the floor and therefore you should not stand on it - particuarly if it is a doorway in a temple, and you should sit with your feet pointing away from a buddha, or anyone for that matter - the Thai find it disrespectful if you point your feet towards them. So imagine
I Never Caught it's Name...
Tan, The Elephant Handler, The Elephant and I my horror when I see some tourists standing on the raised part of the doorway, posing for a photo in the Wat Pho complex! I promptly told them it was bad luck - they returned my warning with a dissaproving look. However had they pointed their feet at the buddha - which we saw a few other people do - they would have been kicked out by the buddha minders who resemble mexican drug dealers. You dont want to mess with Buddha.
Yesterday took us out of Bangkok city and into the countryside. The usual rigmarole applied as with any travel - a more charming taxi driver begged us to let him take us to a gem store (it was nice of him to ask first) before trying to make us a deal in which he would take us to Ayuthaya instead of going by train. Ric and Tan insisted that we go by train and told him to instead just take us to the train station like we asked which made him a little moody, and upon reaching the train station we found that we had missed all the trains before 2pm and that we would have to
Make A Wish
The Finches that we set free pre free setting. take a taxi. hmm. A negotiation was made with a tourist centre and one of their drivers would take us the non scenic but far more airconditioned route out of the city. Ayuthaya sported ruined temples that are the remains of a burmese attack on the former capital of Thailand, one of them had a bat cave. Complete with the monks, greenery and dogs, these religious sites had a far more serene feel then the ones in the city of Bangkok - probably because it was a far more open space, and although it did not have THE reclining buddha, it boasted an outdoor one of its own and a couple of imprssive big gold ones.
Now we come to my favourite part of the Ayuthaya trip - the Elephants - I think I have been holding out my whole time in Thailand for that precise moment I was literally bursting to ride an elephant (odd behaviour for a vegetarian but what are you going to do?) So up Tan and I got on the platform and climbed on, believe it or not this was easier for me than getting on and off the canal boats. the Elephant set off on a path around some more ruins whilst Ric the ever avid photographer / camera man ran ahead of us to get some footage. Slow and ambling was a nice change from white knuckle taxis and the parisole attached to the seat provided sufficent shade. The only part that made me nervous was when we went into the water but the elephant knew what it was doing. Following the ride we repaid the favour in the form of bananas albiet less than first anticipated as a particuarly foward elephant got to the basket first, and then set off back to the taxi having made a new friend.
The rest of the day consisted of more temples (at the next one we set off some finches for good luck) and a dosy trip back to Bangkok. We then ventured out to the night markets where we were offered many goods including teenage girls doing "Ping Pong shows" needless to say I became very good at saying "no".
Tomorrow we get on a plane for London and back to Jerseys and Jeans. To anyone who has got this far I apologise for any spelling mistakes, this computer lacks the convenience of a word processor.
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Villakulak
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Some people buy shoes, some people buy yachts, some people buy the favour of the gods. Who can say religious consumerisim?