Five Nights in Bangkok, Thailand

After fleeing the rains of Southern Thailand, we found ourselves on another sleeper train- this time, the 12 hour stretch between Surat Thani, and Bangkok. We had a major splurge and got a private sleeper for two, comfort the likes of which we hadn't seen yet in a guesthouse, let alone on a train. Kind of.

Beware the trains of Thailand

We arrived in Bangkok early the next morning well-rested and ready to do some sight-seeing. We were greeted by a brilliant blue sky, hot weather, and bright sunshine.

Based on stories we had heard, we were braced to dislike Bangkok. The hawkers, the prostitutes, the general seediness of the place- not our style. Actually, though, we found it to be a great place for convenience, unbelievable fruit shakes, fun souveneirs, and beautiful wats. We had a hassle-free cab ride to our guesthouse near the Kho San Road backpacker haven, New Siam I, and set out to explore some of the well known sights of the city: Wat Phra Kaew, Wat Pho, the Amulet Market, and the Jim Thompson House.

Wat Phra Kaew was our first stop. Lonely Planet dubs it "an architectural wonder and home to the venerable Emerald Buddha. Adjoining the temple is the former residence of the monarch, the Grand Palace. The grounds were consecrated in 1782 and today is a pilgrimmage destination for devout Buddhists and nationalists." The Emerald Buddha has an interesting history. Despite its small size, it holds a prominent and venerated position in Thai Buddhism. Actually composed entirely of jasper quartz and jade (not emerald), it was just another Buddha statue until the plaster protecting it was cracked in a fall in 15th-century Chiang Rai, revealing its luminescent green interior. The Buddha was stolen by Lao invaders in the mid-16th century, only to be retreived and taken back to Thonburi and later Bangkok when Thailand's King Taksin waged war against Laos in later years. We actually saw a temple (now empty) that had been built to house the Emerald Buddha in Luang Prabang, Laos when we were there. Seems like insofar as Lao-Thai history is concerned, the poor Laotians usually got the short end of the stick.

Despite the interesting history, it is a bit difficult to understand the hype of this diminutive statue when compared with the larger, grander sculptures.

Here are some pictures of Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace:

Megan with newfound favorite animal, Thai elephants

Megan and Catt at the Grand Palace

Devotees burning incense at Wat Phra Kaew and applying gold leaf to Buddha images

Extensive murals of the Ramakian, the Thai version of the epic Ramayana, grace the interior walls of the compound. They were being restored when we visited. Here are some photos:

After Wat Phra Keow and the Grand Palace, we headed to Wat Pho to check out the highly impressive, massive, gold-plated reclining Buddha housed there. The grounds of Wat Pho contain over 1,000 Buddha images, many from the former Thai capitals of Ayuthaya and Sukothai. There were also some great sculptures of Buddhas doing different yogaic poses used for instruction for the monks in the wat for their self-practice. Here are some pictures of Wat Pho:

the reclining Buddha at Wat Pho

Buddhist Yoga Sculpture:

After Wat Pho, we headed over to check out the famous teakwood home of Jim Thompson, the American known for bringing Thai silk to the rest of the world. He has an incredibly interesting life, and an architecturally fascinating home as a hybrid of Western and Eastern structural and design concepts. He disappeared without a trace (no one knows how he died) in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia- which we visited in August- in 1967. Here is a quick bio from the website for the house, www.jimthompsonhouse.com:

Jim Thompson was born in Greenville, Delaware in 1906. He attended public schools in Wilmington, went on to boarding school at St. Paul's and attended Princeton University, the family university, from 1924 to 1928.

Although Thompson had a keen interest in art, he chose to become an architect and went on to study architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a practicing architect in New York City until 1940.

During the Second World War, Thompson was assigned to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a move which offered him an opportunity to see more of the world.

However the war ended abruptly as Thompson and the other OSS men were en route to Bangkok. A few weeks later, he assumed the duties of OSS station chief. In late 1946, he received orders to return to the States to receive his military discharge.

Thompson was confident that with peace restored and the expansion of air travel, there would be a significant increase in leisure travel to the Far East. Upon their arrival in the capital, these travelers would need acceptable accommodation.

Few hotels in Bangkok could then even be considered of international standard. Only one had an ideal location -- the old Oriental, a former palace overlooking the Chao Phraya River that flowed through the capital.

It was a meeting place for travelers and a social center for the foreign community. Charlie Chaplin, Noel Coward and Somerset Maugham were just a few of its famous patrons. Excited by the prospects presented, Thompson became actively involved in the reorganization of the Oriental Hotel.

By this time, Thompson had developed a certain fondness for the country and its people. He began to seriously contemplate settling down and going into business in Thailand. He foresaw a promising future for the country and wanted to be a part of this process. He decided that upon leaving the service, he would return and take up residence in Thailand permanently.

Soon after his return to Bangkok, Thompson turned his attention to Thai silk.

With his natural flair for design and color, and driven by his single-minded dedication to reviving the craft, Thompson soon gained worldwide recognition for his success in rebuilding the industry, for generating international demand for Thai silk and for contributing to the growth of the silk industry.

During the Easter weekend in 1967, Thompson disappeared while on holiday with friends in Cameron Highlands, a northern Malaysian resort. An extensive and extended search failed to reveal any clues about his disappearance.

The house itself has not really been changed since Thompson occupied it 40 years ago. It consists of a complex of six traditional Thai-style houses, all teak structures that were purchased from several owners and brought to the present location from various parts of Thailand to be integrated into one home for Thompson. The tour was very interesting- our guide pointed out funny details, like the frog-shaped chamber pot hidden in one of the bedrooms, and the elevated doorframes to "keep out ghosts" from certain rooms. It was not allowed to take pictures inside the house, but here are some we snapped from the surrounding gardens:

Evenings in Bangkok we would stroll around shopping for necessary items like fisherman pants, funky tee-shirts and dirt-cheap jewelry. Here are some random shots:

Catt going for the chop in Bangkok. Hellooo, monkhood!

The infamous Khao San Road, perhaps the biggest backpackers' haunt in all of Asia

The Thai King is everywhere... and every Monday, the entire country wears yellow polo shirts to celebrate his birthday. No kidding.

[i]Massage chair at the VIP movie theater in Bangkok. Unreal.

Our favorite thing about Bangkok was definitely the food. Each night you could easily wander the streets and get delicious, freshly cooked-up pad thai chicken for 70 cents, mango and sticky rice for 50 cents, lemon and mint shakes for 50 cents, freshly squeezed bottles of OJ for 30 cents, and green coconut curry with rice for $1. The Thais are a culinary people, and the pride they have for their food is obvious. And we are just fine with that, especially after shovelling down plate after plate of uninspiring nasi goreng and bakmi goreng in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Perhaps second to the food were the movie theaters. As a splurge activity (and because we had been waiting to see a pirated version on one of the many bus rides we took in Malaysia, but that day never came,) we decided to go see Bourne Supremacy at a posh "VIP" movie theater. We thought this meant A/C and reclining seats. Apparently it also meant a complimentary "welcome drink" in a lounge that trumps Lima Lounge and ESL in DC, a 15 minute massage by a weirdly accurate chair (see Catt's pic above) a private, enclosed leather "love seat" that reclines to a bed for usage during the film, and gourmet popcorn. The experience cost 2 or 3 bucks more than a typical ticket in the USA. The best part was having to stand for the Thai anthem at the beginning of the feature. And everyone thinks Americans are patriotic?!

Funny things about Bangkok: the "nana" couples. A "nana" couple is a couple that is ethnically blended- one older (and usually kind of unattractive/"can't put your finger on it" creepy) Western dude, with a younger, tiny little Thai woman. They are everywhere in Bangkok, to the point that it actually becomes strange to see an older Western man with an older Western woman. Also for some reason there is a strangely high number of young Korean tourists. Catt was able to spy on everything they said. Usually it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Lastly, the activity that every backpacker seems to go for is the dreaded hair extension look- no pun intended. Tourists of all ages can easily be seen roaming the alleyways of BKK with crazily coulored, frayed tresses sticking out in every which way. This look, coupled with sunglasses at night is really a winner. One night while sharing a jug of beer we had a competition to see if there were more Koreans, nana couples, or ridiculous looking faux-rasta tourists. I think the tourists won by a hair

Anyway, all in all we had a ball in Bangkok. Next up, Kanchanaburi...