Exploring Bangkok

After a slow Monday Tuesday was a full out, lets explore the city day!

Well actually, it was a little more sedate but we did the culture bits and tried to understand more of the Thais life style. So Meryl decide that a visit to a major site for Buddists was on the cards. But to do this we once again had to explore the local railway system. Yesterday we Arrived back at our final destination and were walking down the steps to the road, following a large crowd of people when everyone stopped. Just like that! It turned out that the national anthem was playing. It looks like at 6 pm when the sun sets and all flags are lowered, the an them is played. One can imagine the result in England. We are told in every guidebook that the Thais love the monarchy so one must behave reverentially towards them…..or else!

So today's venture was to the Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho, followed closely by the Grand Palace. To get to Wat Pho the easiest route is by boat along the river.These shuttle buses rush up and down the length of Bangkok, full of ordinary Thais travelling back and forth to work, as well as school children. Not sure what they were doing but they were inescapable dressed in a standard issue uniform of blue skirt and white blouse or brown shorts, socks and shoes and coloured top. Each stop is signalled by the stern man, a youngish lad usually, blowing his whistle and then leaping on to the landing platform to tie up the boat, and given the battered tyres that protect the stage and boat, somewhat precarious.

On arrival at Wat Pho we saw at close hand the Buddha, covered in gold leaf, about 30 meters long and in a large room heavily decorated with paintings.Many wall paintings seem to tell stories or even parables or morality tales.What is striking are the look on the faces of many of the men who seem to be grimacing or making some sort of fierce look.

The whole site was staggeringly decorated with many 'cheda' (they look like upturned funnels). It is very difficult to understand why there are so many but I did overhear one of the Thais guides say that each was made to commemorate, maybe a past monarch who had them built.

After we had had our fill of the Buddha we wandered around to the grand Palace by, at the same time, trying to avoid the blandishments of TukTuk drivers looking for fares as well as the many other sellers of 'tourist' delights. I find this oppressive but perhaps it also happens at home but maybe less often… or maybe we just avoid such tourist traps now. The Grand Palace was different, and ex royal palace it was, by Thais standards expensive but the charge of 350 baht was only for 'foreigners'; Thais got in free!! And you HAD to dress properly. This meant I had to 'borrow' a long pair of pants to cover my knees (given that you have seen them you know why!). Here the wealth on show was truly amazing. The Emerald Buddha was a gold gilt lined building where no photographs were allowed and one had to sit in silence. No shows either. The range of other buildings were really shrines where richness abounded.

What makes all of this a little problematic was that the monarch does not live there any more. Now it's more or less a place for tourism that no doubt helps bring in valuable foreign currency. We visited the throne room where the throne is shaped like a boat; you could keep your shoes on but no hats.

Finally tired of the sights we returned to the river to pass through a street market and onto a very crowded boat before returning to the hotel. Tiger prawns and Kobe beef for dinner as our last slap up meal before we hit the high spots of Siem Reap.