pletchparadise: Thailand 2/20-22/20

2/20/20

It is 11 pm. We had a very full day around Bangkok visiting temples and going to kick boxing tonight. I need to get to bed in order to get some sleep, and I cant make my usual blog entry, although I think I took pretty good notes.

2/20-22. Thailand

In the Akara Hotel. Up for the phenomenal breakfast on the 16th floor, Eastern and Western food with a coffee station, a salad station, a noodle station an omelette station , and it just keeps going. Full stomach for a full day.

The images of the King of Thailand are ever present hanging from buildings, etc. He has a very strong presence in his country.

We got the concierge to grab us a cab to the big temple area in downtown Bangkok, as we approached the Royal Palace and Temple area, we were intercepted by a guy claiming he was a teacher, and spoke good English. He said the Temple was closed for and official ceremony and would reopen at 1. For 80 baht, he got us a Tuk Tuk driver who took the 4 of us to the Standing Buddah, and the Sitting Buddha.

We walked along the waterfront as well thinking of a ferry ride to the temple on the other side,and the hawkers were very aggressive.

Passing shops outside the temple, the vendors watched for tourists who had “unauthorized” clothing on for temple entry, which for males was shorts. They do a booming business on those baggy cotton long pants with elephant print for the ill clad tourists. I can’t imagine ever wearing those pants back home. Siam pants…haha.

Went into the Temple of the Emerald Buddha which was very ornate. Almost like the Sistine Chapel of the East. The murals on the walls were beautiful and the small Buddha at the top is made of emerald.

All of the temples require your shoes to be removed

At the grand palace the restroom was being cleaned by a lady who wouldn’t leave when the men came in, and as I stepped up to the urinal she started laughing. Not sure what that meant, but the Asian privacy thing is a little different than were used to.

The Palace and its temples were spectacular, all restored, and beautiful, golden with jewel and mirror inlays everywhere. And, a really cool model of Angkor Wat was also on the grounds, reminding us of our days in Cambodia.

We were shuttled off to another Thai traditional performance at a local theatre. Very nice, and I wasn’t lulled to sleep as I was at the Water Puppet theatre. I was really interested in the music as there was a reed instrument that the guy was blowing with all his might and his cheeks puffed out for the whole performance. I was also impressed at the ability of the girl dancers who could pose with their hands flexed back. Some sign of Thai beauty that is hard to do without a lot of practice apparently. The Thai artistic dance was Khon?

We also visited the Giant Buddah at the Wat Pho temple, so sitting, giant, standing, and emerald. He is a popular dude in this country. We debated what the giant Buddha was made of, and the standing joke was, “what if there were only a device…….handheld that you could type a question into, and the answer would appear.” Well the answer to that one was brick and stuccoed over and gilded. My initial thought was wood. That thing has been there since the late 1800s apparently.

The first school of Thai massage was also at this temple, and those massage shops are all over town. Supposedly utilizing pressure points, very popular with the Thai people.

The Giant is 15m by 46 m and the walls are lined with bronze bowls that tourists buy bags of change to deposit into each successive bowl making a chime, and bringing good luck.

This evening we went to see kick boxing at the Rajadamnern stadium, the national sport of Thailand. There was a little bit of confusion from the cab driver as to which stadium to go to, and we resolved that with mere minutes to spare. Once we got there, we were ushered to our ringside seats.

The boxers have a very elaborate and ceremonial pre fight ritual. First they bow to the steps, then to the corner, then the center of the ring, and then they walk the whole perimeter of the ring, and then do a little ceremonial dance before the fight begins.

Before any fights were held, we stood for the National Anthem,. The fighters were in the best shape of any athletes I have ever observed, and as the fight begins, the band starts with a heavy kettle drum rhythm which sounds like the crescendo leading up to the climax in a horror show. Very foreboding and intense.

Out in the stands the spectators are betting and taking wagers, as the boxers seem so cool and the crowd and coaches seem so animated.

A lot of younger looking boxers, mostly 120 pounds and under. Very entertaining for Americans who are used to other types of boxing than Muay Thai.

2/21/20

Shuttled from hotel about an hour and a half to the biggest floating market in Thailand. The long tail boats awaited us at the launch station, and we were guided down concrete walled canals (narrow) through palm plantation to the vendor lined markets of trinkets, souvniers, and a lot of touristy wares. Pretty cool to see though.

We have been lucky with the corona virus which has kept the usual throngs of Chinese tourists at bay. The crowd scene would’ve been at least doubled, and the stress levels with it with the usual numbers. That is of course, if no-one catches the virus……….

This market was the Damnoen Saduk in Ratchabutl province. Most famous and popular, vendors lining the small canals on both sides.

Lots of bargaining, and when we got back they had taken our picture and had saucers for sale with our pictures embossed on them. They went unpurchased.

Although we didn’t get the boat up to speed, those long tail boats are bad ass, with v8 turbo engines on them, and drivers who make some mean maneuvering inside the canal walls and around other boats.

Stopped at Peninsula tailors on the way back, fitted for a tux by “Lucky”. All were impressed by the shop, and they were able to have that tux tailored in 24 hours, amazing service.

Tonight we did a food tour, after meeting Jaaa (Jahn) at the train station, trying to find the rendezvous point was like a geo caching game, but we finally did. At exit 3. Had some amazing local food, venturing into China town, and down some back allies that we never would’ve gone down, Amazing mango, salads, even ate insects. Not my favorite, but interesting none the less. Fried dough, coconut custard dip, in full on local restaurants.