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Published: February 10th 2007
Royal Palace
This is the view over the wallWhen I last wrote, I had just completed three days on a scuba liveaboard in the Similan Islands. When I got back to solid land, I took a bus from Khokkloi, a town in Southern Thailand where I asked my Scuba operators to drop me off, to Bangkok. The trip took 14 hours, but I slept through most of it, and I was able to write off most of the $12 fare to the cost of nightly accommodations. I arrived at 8:30 and checked in to my old friend, the Shanti Lodge, written about previously.
Whenever I return to a city I've visited before, it feels more homey and comfortable than it did the first time. I knew how to negotiate with the taxi drivers, I knew where the major landmarks were located on a map, and I knew enough of the language to get my point across.
Bangkok has three temples that are at the top of any "Wat to do in Bangkok" list: Wat Phra Kaew, Wat Pho and Wat Arun, all hugely important Buddhist temples.
The first is located in Bangkok's Grand Palace enclave, enclosed by a rectangular wall that has to be half a
Mendicant
I think this symbolized the yogi phase that Buddha went through, but I could be mistaken kilometer square. The compound shimmers in the midday sun with gold leaf everywhere; dazzling roofs and walls resplendent with glass tiles give the impression of a sequined evening gown in spotlights. Spiky stupas rising from the courtyards like orchids are adorned with pastel colored tiles fashioned from broken chinese porcelain, recycled from their last purpose as ballast on empty ships. Among these structures is Wat Pra Kaew, home to the famed Emerald Buddha, which is actually not made of emerald but some sort of Jade. It's small, just 75 cm (two and a half feet) and the most impressive thing about it is that it surveys it's followers from the vantage point of a veritable pyramid of gold. People come from all over Thailand to pay their respects to the statue, but I was a bit underwhelmed by the spiritual power of the little green man. However, several of the other buildings on the grounds of the Grand Palace makes it a sight not to be missed. There were literally dozens of devotional structures, including a gigantic gilded spire surrounded by an entourage of fantastical life-sized terra cotta figures, a solemn mendicant statue on a pedestal, intimidating 20 foot high
Demon Bodyguard
This creature is a fixture of Buddhist art, adopted, I believe, from Hindu. demons, Chinese wise men, and many other works too numerous for me to recount.
Next up was Wat Pho, which isn't so much a temple as it is a shelter to protect the monumental 46 meter long gilded reclining Buddha from the rain. For a little background, Buddha images appear in about a dozen major poses, each representing an important episode in the Buddha's life. The reclining images represent the Buddha on his death bed. If you are from the west, you'll be forgiven for thinking this a macabre choice. However, in Buddhist philosophy, this is not so much a memory of loss as it is an enticement, as it was only on his deathbed that the Buddha finished his journey to Nirvana, transcending the life and death cycle that we most of us are doomed to repeat. Only the photos can do this one justice.
When I left Wat Pho, a young Thai man saw me looking at a map and asked me if he could help me find anything. I asked him about the next temple I wanted to visit, Wat Arun. "It is very nice," he told me, "but it is closed today because it
Golden Chedi
Just one of many spires gracing the sky in the royal palace is Sunday." I was surprised, because the guide book didn't say anything about it closing on Sunday. But I couldn't shake him without being openly rude, so I let him continue. He then proceeded to outline an itinerary to visit three other temples in the city. At some point, a tuk tuk driver began hovering next to us with a peculiar, cockeyed grin. I thought the man was genuinely being helpful until, at the end, he stuck his silk shop in the middle of the list, said tuk tuks would do this route for 40 baht (about $1, way too cheap for Bangkok) and the man standing nearby eagerly volunteered. An obvious set-up. Angry that they had wasted ten minutes of my life, I walked off as the driver called out "30 baht... ok ok - 20 baht".
I'm glad I trusted my intuition. As I expected, Wat Arun was not closed. It is the most modest of the three temples, but features a dramatic 70 M high tower, decorated with the same pastel porcelain tiles I mentioned above.
The rest of my stay on Bangkok took on a rather more prosaic tone. I went to the dentist
- one of my molars had been bothering me, and I was terrified that it would burst out into agonizing pain when I was in some remote jungle, days from the nearest hospital. Though I was skeptical about getting medical care in a place whose medical standards were unknown to me, I read that Bangkok has the best medical facilities in South East Asia, and is increasingly a destination for "medical tourism," especially cosmetic dental procedures like whitening and resurfacing. I was going to make an appointment at a dental clinic near my hotel, but called it off when I learned that the checkup was free. I would never trust a dentist who lost money unless he drilled my teeth - serious conflict of interest. Instead, I went to the well-equipped Mission hospital, where a very professional Thai dentist examined my teeth and declared that he could find nothing wrong. To be certain, he told me, he would have to take an X-ray, but that, he warned apologetically, would cost an extra 100 baht, $2.50. After some soul searching, I decided that my peace of mind was worth 70% of the price of a Starbucks latte, so I gave him
Tower Base Detail
Spectacular gilding and demon figures supporting the tower. the go ahead. After examining it, he declared with certainty that my teeth were fine. I left the hospital relieved of $6 (I fully intend to submit the bill for reimbursement by my health insurance company), but my mind was vastly more relieved. I had been worried: a filling would have cost at least $10!
Another day was spent crossing the city by bus to get a Laos visa in an hurry. I love learning to ride city buses, as it makes me feel less like a clueless tourist. To get all the way across Bangkok, it cost me about $0.20 and an hour and a half due to traffic. The trip back took at least as long. As I think I've said before, Bangkok traffic is hellish. Later that day, I visited MBK, a peculiar fusion of a modern Western mall and a Thai market. While the shops lining the wide internal promenades were fully western (I think there was a Levi and a Gap store, as well as a McDonalds, a Starbucks, and a good facsimile of a Sears), there was little room to walk the promenades as all the open space was occupied with Thai-style clothing
Gilded Mural
From the life of Buddha hawkers, tables overflowing with clothes. I couldn't find anything I wanted to carry around for four months though, so I just wandered for a while.
The means of conveyance to and from the mall was more interesting to me. I took the subway (yes, Bangkok has a couple of lines) and the elevated skytrain. Like the Delhi metro I rode in India, both are fully modern, fast, smooth and comfortable, but rather limited in scope. The Skytrain snakes above the roads and glass-clad buildings of the downtown areas of Bangkok and offers spectacular views and marvelous air conditioning.
By now, I had spent five days in Bangkok, and, while I could have spent more, I had many places yet to see, and, more importantly, a pressing issue was coming up: the default Thailand visa is only good for thirty days, only six of which remained for me. To renew it, all I needed to do was leave Thailand and enter another country, if only for a few minutes. From Bangkok, I had only a couple of reasonable choices: I could go to Cambodia, 5-6 hours east, or I could cross into Myanmar (aka Burma) to the West. Since
Fantastic Statue
Half man, half peacock. I was already slated to visit Cambodia later in my trip, I chose the latter. The nearest border crossing to the north was about 400 miles north at Mae Sot. From there, I could cross the border, but my passport would be held. I would be restricted to seeing the town of Myawadi, and would have to return to Thailand by 4:30 PM. What do you expect from one of the most oppressive governments in the world? Well, I reasoned, since I wasn't looking for an excursion into Burma, that sounded just fine. If in a hurry, one could get there from Bangkok in a day or two, but since I had six, I chose a meandering route, stopping at three import northern/central cities along the way.
Glad that was worked out. The next day, I took another painfully slow city bus to the Northeast bus station where I caught the next long distance bus to Ayutthya, the capital of Siam in the 17th century. It has some of the most impressive ruins in Thailand, a nation largely deficient in the ancient structures department. I got a lovely room on one of the rivers that surround the area, in
Crockery Tower
This is one of the flamboyant towers made from broken Chinese porcelain brought by traders. a beautiful, old, dark stained wood mansion with a restaurant on the water. The only problem is that the river I was on was apparently deep enough for shipping - so about every twenty minutes, noisy tug boats came by, well into the night. Never forget to bring your earplugs when traveling!
Ayutthya was was definitely a worthwhile stop, but what I was most impressed by was not the crumbling brick structures, but rather how advanced their state of decay was after just 300 years of disuse. Ayutthya isn't an unpleasant town, but it's pretty spread out. The best way to see it, I'd say, is by tuk tuk or rented bicycle, available at most guest houses for a mere 50 baht ($1.40).
Next up was
Lopburi, a lightly-touristed town with an excellent museum of Thailand's anthropology and history. The most impressive site of Lopburi was a triad of funerary towers which have become the home of a troupe of mischievous monkeys. Hang on tight to your camera, as monkeys have been know to grab stuff right out of peoples' hands (though, to be fair, I didn't see any of these guys doing it). The real highlight of
Lopburi was just how few tourists stop there. When a town isn't used to constant streams of tourists, you don't see so many locals whose livelihood depends on grabbing tourists. Thus, there was minimal pestering from taxi drivers, and the market was for locals - not tourists. The sweets are little more than gelatinous cubes, but the food is rich, interesting, and cheap. However, the hotel options are pretty dreary. Mine, the Asia-Lopburi Hotel, was no exception. I felt no pang of sadness as I strapped on my two backpacks and locked the door to the room, with stained walls and a bathroom light that flickered but never turned on.
One night in Lopburi, then on to my next stop -
Phitsanulok. It's a congenial if not a comely small city. Its greatest claim to fame is a temple possessed of a gilded Buddha said to be particularly powerful and beautiful. By now, I've met a fair share of Buddhas in my travels, and every one of them seems to be famous for something, and though I liked this guy, I couldn't say he was superior to many of the other Buddhas I've met in my travels. But he
was popular: on a Saturday, there were literally hundreds of people milling about the grounds, making offerings of incense and lotus buds and taking photos of the celebrated Buddha. The night market in Phitsanulok was more impressive - For dinner, I wandered around and picked up fried shrimp cakes, dried beef, some unidentified spicy curries, some fried dumplings, fresh squeezed orange juice and stuffed pancakes for dessert, all for $1.50!
I could have stayed for a couple more days just for the market, but my visa deadline was pressing, so the next day, I slung my pack on my back and hopped on a bus for the dark and mysterious border town of Mae Sot. Why, you ask? That, my dear readers, is a story for the next blog.
May the next time be sooner than the last!
I hope you are all well,
Dan
P.S. Sometimes, the photos get split into two pages - Don't miss the ones on the second page - there's a link at the bottom of the blog somewhere...
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Joyce Strom
non-member comment
Supurb Photos
Daniel, You have outdone National Geographics.Think about a book.