Bangkok, Thailand Visit with Dave and Ben

Why have only one Buddha when you can have a hundred!

Monks worshiping at Wat Pho Buddha Temple

Another Buddha at Wat Pho

Horned building (for keeping away evil spirits)

Bangkok longtail boat - the motors keep getting bigger - this one looks like a truck motor!

Couple engaging Thai dancers to support their prayers at Erewan Shrine

Dave rolling the stone in the statue's mouth for good luck

Massive reclining Buddha at Wat Pho

Dave and Ben riding the river ferry - efficient means of transportation in a busy city!

View of Central World - a seven story shopping mall downtown Bangkok

Bangkok, Thailand

Visit with Dave and Ben

March 10 to 13 2016

They say that Bangkok is the most visited city in the world. You can understand that better when you tour the sites. People are there from many countries, but there are also lots of local tourists. To visit an important temple will bring you good luck, or health, or prosperity. It is like a pilgrimage. At each one (and there are many), Buddhists will be lighting incense sticks, chanting, praying and bringing gifts to the monks to get a blessing. There is so much to see that is unfamiliar to us in Canada.

Rob and I flew to Bangkok from Phuket on Thurs, March 10. There is an elevated train line from the airport into the heart of the city. From there we could walk to our hotel. Within walking distance there were 6 shopping centres and the streets lined with markets also. It was hard to walk along with our luggage through the people and tables. For not too much money we had rooms in a good location with pool and air conditioning. In the evening the modern buildings were lit with video commercials and other lights. On the weekend there was a music festival with a variety of bands outdoors across from the hotel.

Dave and Ben arrived 7:30 am Fri after leaving Ottawa after work Wed and driving to Montreal to catch the first leg of their flight via Qatar. They did a good job touring for 2 days while fighting off the jet lag. There are "sky trains" around the city but they don't go into the historic area. For that we switched to a ferry boat travelling along the river. The transport itself was fun. On Sun we figured out that we could take a canal boat from near the hotel to within walking distance off some of the major sites. It was a fast, wet ride. Later in the day we took a motorized "tuk tuk" back to the boat. Ben wanted to keep his eyes shut the way the driver dodged through traffic.

Fri we visited Wat Pho, the word "wat" meaning temple. I had expected a building like a church but it is usually more like a small community with many buildings. The monks live in some quarters, and various kings have built different worship areas over the centuries. Thailand was Hindu at some point in its past until one king converted. The temples were just reused so retain some architectural features from each religion. They all have many statues of Buddha. In Wat Pho the main statue is of a reclining Buddha covered in gold leaf that fills a whole building. There is a massage school on the premises. (Thai message is popular with tourists and much cheaper than at home.)

We visited a number of smaller wats while walking around. But the large one we toured Sat was Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace. It is several city blocks long and wide and took a few hours with an audio guide. The famous Buddha here is small but made of emerald. Much of the art work on the walls depicts the stories of the kings' exploits and the teachings of the Buddha. There are huge concrete statues of famous people, made in China and used as ships' ballast on a trading vessel. The whole place is extravagant in its artistry. There is even a scale model of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Later in the day, we took the river boat to Chinatown. Mostly we walked through the web of tiny alleyways and crowded markets.

On Sun am we visited Jim Thompson House. Although not Thai, he did much to preserve the art and culture of the country. He worked for the CIA in Bangkok in WW2, and then started a silk industry selling Thai silk to high end US companies. With the profits he collected many valuable antiques and works of art. The Thais believe broken Buddhas or any art that is cracked is bad luck so prices were cheap for things that needed repairing. With his mysterious disappearance in 1967, his home and contents were donated as a museum. (Locals would say he got the bad luck. No children, a divorce, and a murdered sister.)

Of course, we made sure we tried lots of Thai food, both from restaurants and from street vendors. A buffet breakfast at the hotel let us try most of the specialties. Sunday we flew back to Phuket. After a cab ride to Ao Chalong, it was into the dinghy and out to Maggie. We were happy to see them right where we left them.