Wat more could you ask for - Narrative

The pictures accompanying this blog entry were taken on several occasions while we hosted sightseeing tours with various folks. Everyone wants to visit the ultimate Bangkok site: the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew (the Temple of the Emerald Buddha) so we went there several times. I never tire of seeing their exquisite beauty. I remember the hesitancy I felt the first time we returned to it. After traveling to Thailand three years ago, we visited Japan and China in subsequent years—would I now find that the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha were a beautiful memory muted by the other gorgeous sites we had more recently seen in Japan and China? I needn’t have feared. The sites were even more beautiful than I recalled. The Grand Palace site is actually a series of many wats including the most famous one, Wat Phra Kaew. The Grand Palace itself is no longer the residence of the King and you can only view it from the outside. You can’t possibly take in all the many buildings the first time you come here. It takes several visits to begin to absorb it all. Also, it is fiercely hot and humid. Usually, you can take refuge in some air-conditioned spot close by. But this site is huge, and requires a lot of walking. On average, you can expect to last a maximum of an hour to an hour and a half before you totally wilt. The first 29 pictures were taken at the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew. Note the artist/restorer working on the murals. Many restorers are always renovating the murals and parts of the buildings. The last few of the 29 are views of the outside of the Grand Palace. Here’s a hint to those of you thinking of visiting Bangkok. Each time we have been to this site, taxi drivers, tuk-tuk drivers, friendly people, and people in official looking uniforms have tried to dissuade us from entering. They tell various stories: this is the wrong entrance, the real entrance is around the corner; the site is closed until the afternoon; foreigners are not allowed into the site since there is a ceremony taking place there, etc. We can’t figure out what’s going on—we just ignore these people, proceed to the main entrance and buy our admission ticket. You can tell it is the main entrance by looking for the Haagen Dasz store sign across the street.

When you finish viewing the site, you are directed to leave by way of an exit next to the Grand Palace. At this exit, grab a cab and direct the driver around the corner to Wat Pho, the site of the giant reclining Buddha. It is about 3 minutes away, but I defy you to walk it after you have spent over an hour in the tropical sun. The next 9 photos were taken at Wat Pho. One picture shows a line of people next to round bowls. For 20 baht (50 cents donation) you can obtain 120 one baht pieces to toss into each bowl. After completing this task, you can make a wish. Also note the beautiful pictures showing some inlaid mother of pearl. You’ve probably guessed that this inlaid mother of pearl is on the soles of the Buddha’s feet. Wat Pho also houses a very famous Thai massage school on its grounds. After so much sightseeing, you may be ready to indulge in a massage. Tourists pay about 360 baht (about $9) for a 40 minute massage by a student. Pricey by Kho San Road standards where many tourists get a massage (250 baht--$6.50--for an hour).

The final shots are those taken at Wat Benchamabophit, made of white carrara marble. The story is that King Chulalongkorn, the King who is credited with steering the country into the modern age and preserving Thailand’s independence from colonialism, visited Europe and decided to build a Wat with a European look to it. The result is this beautiful marble Wat which also houses over 50 Buddha statutes on its grounds, two of which are rare masterpieces. The Wat is located adjacent to the grounds of the Chitralada Palace, which is the residence of the King when he is in Bangkok. The day that we visited here, all traffic was stopped to wait until a motorcade went by from the palace. We hoped we would get a glimpse of the King but we only saw some generals in Mercedes Benz which quickly sped by.

These are the final pictures until we relocate to Chiang Mai. This trip is currently scheduled for November 21 barring any other unforeseen circumstances, if you catch my drift. Eleanor

Wat more could you ask for - Grand Palace

Wat more could you ask for--Grand Palace

Takiab & Hua Hin Narrative

Our Thai language course was completed. Urana had a two week semester break from her job as a teacher. We decided to try another beach not far from Bangkok. Hua Hin is about a 3 hour bus ride from Bangkok, in the opposite direction (southwest) from Pattaya. It became famous because the King built a palace on the beach so he could get away from Bangkok. He lives there a lot of the time. Hua Hin has a huge night market and many upscale resorts and spas. We found a reasonably priced place on the outskirts of Hua Hin in a beach call Kho Takiab, which turned out to be perfect. We had a beautiful beach with a great view of Kho Takiab mountain, a fishing village below and a fabulous restaurant right at our finger tips. There was horseback riding available on the beach and boat rides to the offshore island, called Lion Island. Finally, there was the Big Buddha which was located on the other side of the mountain. From this side, you can see a view of the Hua Hin beach with its luxury hotels. We preferred our Takiab hideaway. All in all, a perfect beach bums' getaway. Our friend, Pink, drove down from Bangkok with a visitor from LA. She invited us to spend the afternoon at her sister's condo located further north on yet another seluded beach. She also shared her secret of an excellent restaurant in Hua Hin right near the famous night market and brought us to a health food store where Eleanor was able to buy some delicious snacks. Jules

Takiab & Hua Hin

Takiab & Hua Hin

Wat's in a name narrative

Note:
Technically speaking the City Pillar site and the Golden Mount are not Wats like the third site Wat Suthat. They do not have a cadre of monks that live there nor a large central temple. However there are many Buddha statues and the Thai people worship at these sites also. What they do share in common with regular Wats are their beauty and serenity. JAM

Jules and I have already seen some of the major attractions in Bangkok so we decided to take a look at some of the other ones described in the guidebooks. The first is the Bangkok City Pillar Shrine. It is directly across the road from the most spectacular sight in Bangkok, the Royal Palace and Shrine of the Emerald Buddha. Consequently, it tends to be ignored. But it is very revered by Thai people. Its scale is manageable unlike its huge neighbor across the road. It is quite beautiful as the first three pictures show. It is carefully maintained by artisans, as are most of the other sites we visited. The next picture shows Thai people wrapping cloths around a small chedi--we have seen this done at other places--our friends who are Buddhist will need to explain its significance to us. Further down the path there was a stage where dancers performed. These were the youngest and oldest dancers that we have seen and I imagine that this is where the 60 year old dancers wind down their careers. The City Pillars contain the City's horoscope. King Rama IV tied the city horoscope to his birth horoscope so that the country and people would be under royal protection. The interior walls are painted on. It seems amazing but I checked it--it is not wallpaper--how did they manage to make it so perfect and symmetric? The five statutes are the guardian spirits protecting the city and the country. One for peace, one for happiness and prosperity, two who are attendants of the God of the dead, and finally, a guardian spirit responsible for all incidents on earth. This Shrine is very peaceful and lovely. Many Thai people were there paying their respects.
The next place we visited was the Golden Mount which sits on top of a winding stone staircase. At the foot of the Mount a young woman offered caged sparrows to be set free at the top of the Mount. I dutifully carried the cage to the top and set them free along with all my worries. The picture also shows wild orchids plants growing on a host tree. At the top of the Mount the view was fabulous. On the roof we could walk around the giant chedi and view Bangkok from all sides. Near the entrance of the Mount there is a small community called Ban Baat. The crafts people here make traditional bowls for monks. The tradition is for monks to go out early in the morning everyday with their bowls and the local people fill them with food which is what they eat for the day. We have seen this ourselves. Very often more food is donated than the bowl can hold so some extra bowls are carried by other people who work at the temple. They are made of 8 pieces of iron which are joined using a kind of solder and heated in a wood fire. They beat the iron bowels after firing in order to make them smooth--it takes 2 days to make a bowl. They have a lovely ring when struck. We saw several people involved in various parts of the process. We bought a small one.
Our guide book mentioned a famous vegan restaurant not far away so we decided to eat lunch there. It turned out to be a small hole in the wall restaurant--aren't they usually the best? This one was wonderful and it even offered something that I could eat.
Our final destination was Wat Suthat. Thailand's largest and earliest cast bronze Buddha image is inside this Wat. It is huge. All of these Wats-big and small-have one thing in common. There is a sense of peace inside. You leave the traffic and congestion and enter a place of calm and quiet. It was a lovely way to spend a day.

Wat's in a name

Wat's in a name

Oct 3, 2006 - 30 Photos

The New and the Old--Side by Side

Last week, Jules and I went to Siam Paragon and Central World for the first time. We were there to attend a free rock concert at Central World but we could never find it!! We wandered around for an hour at Central World which has huge Sections A-E and seven floors. It is brand new and parts are still under construction. We approached many security people and other official types and no one had heard of it--we even had the newspaper ad--finally, everyone decided it was being held the next day on the seventh floor in the D section.
We had enough and went down to the skyway which takes you to the other huge shopping complex--Siam Center and Siam Paragon. We looked down and saw a Wat (Buddhist temple) in the middle between these gargantuan shopping centers. Evidently they built around the Wat. We left the skyway and walked to the Wat. There were very young teenage monks there preparing for a festival. They were draping huge orange and white cloths around the Wat. The adult monks were in the Wat chanting. It was such a contrast between the ancient, unchanging, calm Buddhist way of life and the frantic, hedonistic, trendy, in the minute, accelerated "modern" way of life. It epitomized the contrast between old and new Bangkok.
We then made our way out of the Wat compound to the street in order to walk over to Siam Paragon. On the way, there were food vendors everywhere--of course--Bangkok feeds its 10 million people by having food vendors everywhere--I am not exaggerating--I mean every inch of empty space on the sidewalk is covered with food carts and stalls of every kind imagineable and some unimagineable. Jules stopped and got what he described as a super cup of Thai iced coffee--in a plastic bag with a straw, of course.
Then we proceeded to Siam Paragon. Siam Paragon is the biggest shopping center in the world for Rodeo Drive type stores. Name every hightone designer and jewelry store you can think of and they are all there: Escada, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, Armani, Cartier, Bulgari, Mikimoto, on and on and on. It also contains an IMAX theater, a whole bunch of regular movie theaters and an aquarium. We had gone to Siam Paragon before but hadn't got past the first floor food world which has about 100 stalls and restaurants of every kind of food you can think of--mostly Thai, Japanese, and Chinese, but also American and Italian. Every department store in Bangkok, no matter how small, has a food court. Even our modest Pata department store, right across Pinklao Road from our condo, has a food court. At each food court there are at least 75% of the vendors serving a full plate of plain steamed rice for 10 baht (about 25 cents), so I can always eat something. The Siam Paragon food court is beyond "choices"--try "overwhelming display." Did I mention that it seems no one in Bangkok cooks--literally, no one has a kitchen stove--maybe a rice cooker and an electric wok, or other electric appliance. Why cook, when the world is doing it for you, outside your door, everywhere. Squeamish about eating on the street--no problem, go into any store and go to their food court or many restaurants of all sizes. Or visit their supermarket--sitting next to every food court is a super market. Siam Paragon's is a super deluxe gourmet super market. We stopped there to buy Dr. Bragg's unfermented soy sauce. We were also looking for some good oatmeal--my allergy diet is a challenge, as always. Just like Costco, samples are everywhere. All the fancy stores mentioned were on the mezzanine, we have yet to go into the main part of the mall.
The central paradox is that it looks like people in Bangkok don't cook much because many of the kitchens like ours and others in the building and in many peoples homes are minimal and there all these restaurants and food vendors, so why are people shopping in the supermarkets that are attached to every serious 'department' store and mall.
This whole sojourn took about two and a half hours and we had run out of steam. So we headed upstairs and took the bus home. Another Bangkok adventure. Jules has already emailed the pictures that go with this entry.