Wat Pho
Sawadee from beautiful Bangkok. OK, so perhaps 'beautiful' is a tad hyperbolic as the city is perhaps better described as, well, a little hectic...
So first impressions.....well it's the "same same but (quite) different" to Vietnam. Firstly, it is much easier to be a pedestrian here than in Saigon (or for that matter, anywhere in Vietnam). There are not so many motos for starters, and because of the abhorrent congestion on the roads and the motorists' relative compliance with road rules (plus plenty of traffic lights!), you can cross the road without fear of being turned into minced-meat. Secondly, I find I'm actually walking on the footpath here rather than along the middle of the road as the motorists' tend to park their vehicles on the side of the road rather than all over the footpath like in Hanoi. Thirdly, the hassle factor is pretty minimal here. Instead of getting 'woo-wooed' by moto/cyclo drivers and getting chased down the street by each and every single enthusiastic driver every 10-15metres, it only happens every couple of hundred metres here. And lastly, noone wears masks here to stop themselves from inhaling the filthy Bangkok air - i think only one tuk-tuk driver I've seen has worn a mask - and he was probably worried about SARS!
If you've never been to Bangkok before, here are some completely useless but somewhat rivetting facts for you (from Lonely planet):
*Bangkok is short for Bang Makok, meaning "Place of Olives". This seems to be somewhat of a misnomer as there are no olive trees here - though perhaps before the city became the whopping metropolis that it is today, olives could actually breathe in the smog-laden air, not to mention oppressive heat.
*In 1824, an English trader spotted an 'eight-legged creature with two heads' swimming in the Chao Phraya river in BKK. It turned out that this 'creature' was in fact a set of conjoined 13 yr old twins (hence the term Siamese twins). He took them touring the world for five years, showing them off at medical conferences across the US and Europe (a la Jim Rose's circus).
*Thai women scare their boyfriends/husbands off infidelity by the following threat "If you don't behave, I'm going to cut IT off and feed it to the ducks". Sometimes the ducks miss out and IT goes flying off into the sky attached to a helium balloon. Thailand happens to have more re-attachment surgery than any other nation.
*Petrol stations across BKK sell comfort-100 portable potties so commuters can relieve themselves when stuck in traffic. The average Thai spends 44 days per year stuck in traffic!!
So there you go....
Anyway, I arrived here Friday morning and after checking into my 170baht a night hotel (AUD$6.50), I set off to explore the city, first heading to Lak Meuang, the city pillar and shrine to BKK. The spirit who watches over the pillar is considered by the locals to be the city's guardian angel hence the place is constanty abuzz with Thais offering such goodies as severed pigs' heads with joss sticks sticking out of their foreheads! (charming). I was delighted to behold the performance of a lady of questionable gender assignment who looked a cross between Barbara Cartland and Vanessa Wagner - on a good day! It must have been the orange lippie and hot pink rouge, along with the orange and green sequinned number that was pulling the crowds cause it certainly wasn't 'her' voice - he/she did have a certain charisma about him/her though.
Next it was on to Wat Pho, the oldest and biggest wat (basically a home and school for monk training) in BKK. It is home to the largest reclining Buddha in Thailand. At 46m long it's quite impressive. At the Wat you can take classes in Buddhist philosophy, meditation, Thai medicine and massage. It's probably one of the few completely legit massage parlours in town!!!
I also visited Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) and then the Wat Phra Kaew (The Temple of the Emerald Buddha) - it shares the grounds with the Grand Palace. WPK was consecrated in 1782 when BKK first became the capital of Thailand. The wats here are a pretty colourful mixture of gilded stupas, coated in green and orange tiles (the Irish influence?) and the pillars are covered in mosaics. Everwhere you go you can also here the soft tintinnabulation of the bells hanging off the eaves of the rooves. Just as a matter of interest, I was informed that the 'emerald' buddha is actually made of some type of jade. The officials are pretty tight on the dress-code here. If you have bare shoulders or a skirt/pants shorter than your ankles, you are expected to hire some clothes to cover up. And shoes too! But this is only if you are a foreigner. I can, to an extent understand the notion of foreigner pricing (we are all relatively rich bastards after all), but if the covering-up thing is a matter of respectfulness, shouldn't it apply universally?? Ok, my gripe for the day....
Gilbert and George (My new trip mascots - named after the utterly camp pop-artists who pose in the background or sometimes foreground of all their works), my bright green tree-frog companions had to be smuggled in as there were no clothes small enough to fit them.
I finished the day up strolling along the backpacker ghetto of Thanon Khao San. It's a pretty lively street packed with budget hotels, cafes, and shops/stalls selling silver jewellery, pirated clothing, CDs (expensive at US$2.50 each!!), handicrafts, tattoo parlours etc. It's also home to plenty of backpackers who have decided to reveal their inner feral now they have hit SE Asia. Great spot for people-watching.
On Saturday I tuk-tukked up to Dusit to visit the Vimanmek Teak Mansion. It is set on the grounds of the Chitlada Palace (home of the present King and Queen of Thailand - very popular folks according to my taxi driver from yesterday and it is quite obvious they are revered if you look around at the whopping big posters all over town. He is also well liked because he spends time incognito visiting all the folks in the remote villages around the country) and is the largest golden teak building in the world. It used to be the residence of Rama V (King of Thailand, 1868-1910, also very popular), but is now a gigantic museum. The grounds of the mansion are home to a collection of museums exhibiting Royal memorabilia, antiques, lacquerware and Ratanakosin (19th century-present) artworks. It manages to be quite charming in spite of its ostentacity. Here as in about 50% of the places I have visited since I've been here, the museum attendants seem to like to use the museum floor to cut their finger and toenails on (As far as I know, nails lack any sort of natural resin that may be useful to floor polishing)! The present King's son, Vijaralongkorn (?) attended the King's school in Parramatta and also went to the Australian Defence Force Academy in Duntroon (Canberra)! On the grounds of the teak mansion is the Royal Elephant Museum - the elephants now live in hiding at the Chitlada Palace but the museum contains plenty of tusks and a blubber like chunk of who-knows-what sitting in formaldehyde.
While in the area I also visited Wat Benchamabophit (home to 53 Buddha images) and the Dusit Zoo (Gilbert & George's idea). It has a pretty good primate display and also has meerkats and alopeciac emu-like creatures called 'rheas' that don't do much but lie on the lovely dirt floor of their enclosure and gasp for air - not the best zoo!
Next I headed up to Chatuchak Weekend market - home to 8000+ stalls and a couple hundred thousand visitors. Among your ordinary everyday things like clothes, ceramics and food, you can buy green tree snakes, opium pipes, amulets, baby stingrays, fluorescent baby chickens, balding roosters and impossibly cute marmosets (half rodent half monkey). You could also buy about a dozen different types of insects including cockroaches, rhinocerous beetles and locusts - for eating! Mmmmm
Sunday morning was spent doing a walk through Chinatown and Pahuart (Indian quarter) of Bangkok and sussing out all the markets. Though quite interesting, you'd nee plenty of stamina to spend more than a few hours there as it is choked with people and with the heat, sights and smells, can be a little overwhelming. While here I visited the Wat Mankon Kamalawat (Dragon Lotus Temple), the largest temple in Chinatown - and full of people praying for their ancestors, waving joss sticks, and offering gifts of cakes, flowers, fruits and fizzy drinks!
In the afternoon I visited Wat Mahathat and the National Museum, the largest in SE Asia and full of examples of Thai art, musical instruments, ceramics, royal regalia, textiles and weaponry
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As for the food.....well so far it's been pretty standard fare though much of the food is laced with "mouse-shit peppers" (that's their name!!) which are VERY hot....
I was going go head to Cambodia on the bus tonight but have decided to head out to the border sometime today and get up at the crack of dawn to make the early speedboat to Sihanoukville (south coast, beaches!!!) tomorrow morning. It's a bit of a messy journey as it involves a taxi, bus, bus, walking, taxi, speed boat and moto. And if I miss the 8am boat I'm stuck in the seedy border town of Koh Kong. So fingers crossed the transport works out!
Will write again soon - from Cambodia!!!
Ciao B x
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