Bangkok, oriental city
but the city don’t know what the city is getting
the creme de la creme of the chess world
in a show with everything but Yul Brynner
One night in Bangkok and the world’s your oyster…
Ah yes, doesn’t that Murray Head song take you back to the mid-1980’s? For our younger audience, it might take your parents back to 1985…
Our March Break is over and now we’re back to work! Having had such an awesome time in India, we needed a bit of time to recover and Bangkok was the next stop. It was amazing that even a short 1.5 hour time change between Delhi and Bangkok somewhat threw us for a loop. So Katina found us a lovely apartment in Bangkok, and it turned out to be a fantastic place for travel recovery – and for catching up on our blog posts and math homework!
After settling in and exploring our neighbourhood a bit, we decided to take a day and visit the main sights around the city.
Wat Traimit
In Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, the word “wat” means a Buddhist monastery or temple. There are tons of Wat’s in Southeast Asia. The first of two we visited in Bangkok is called Wat Traimit. The buildings are beautiful.
While the buildings are beautiful, the reason most people go to this temple is to see the Golden Buddha…check out Mikhaila’s post tomorrow! 🙂
China Town
It might seem a bit odd at first to be visiting Chinatown in Bangkok, however, we learned that this is the largest Chinatown outside of China!
We then made our way through the Chinatown market and saw some pretty amazing things.
As you can see, there are a wide variety of things you can purchase in Chinatown, both in shops and in the market. One interesting thing I saw were some very detailed paper items which are given as gifts at New Year, and are burned as a way to receive luck for the upcoming year.
Do you see the one that looks like an easy-chair in the photo below?
A bit further down the street we came across the…
Flower Market
Bangkok’s flower market is not only a popular tourist stop, but is the place to go for your fresh flowers. It is open 7×24, it never closes (so if you’re in Thailand and someone tells you that the flower market is closed but “come with me and I’ll take you to my friend, you can get a good deal on jewelry…” you know you’re about to be scammed!). The flowers are absolutely gorgeous, the colours amazing, and the scents intoxicating…
The Lotus flower is very important in Thai culture, and is considered a sacred plant. It is used at the temples, for offerings, and to give blessings.
The bud is then opened and the petals folded to produce the flower for display.
There were lots of other beautiful flowers for sale as well…
Just outside the Flower Market, you can get Thai Chocolate…and other things of course!
Wat Po
After a short (but refreshing – we needed AC in the 38C temps) drive, we arrived at Wat Po. As we arrived we were thrilled to discover that, as part of the celebration of Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s 60th birthday, volunteers at the temple served a variety of delicious Thai foods for free! Who says there’s never a free lunch!?
Wat Po is a one of the oldest and largest wats in Bangkok, with some really impressive architecture. The buildings are very colourful, with intricate carvings, tiled roofs, and gold almost everywhere.
Wat Po is divided into two separate sections. The southern section contains a working Buddhist monastery complete with monks in residence and a school.
The northern section contains the well-known Reclining Buddha (more on that in a minute) as well as the original Thai Massage school. In the open air hall for Thai massage, there are 60 plaques inscribed with the different energy points on the front and back of the human body which Thai massage focuses upon.
Another interesting thing I learned was that there are over 1000 images of Buddha around the grounds in various forms, with different expressions. King Rama III learned that the statues, which were spread throughout the kingdom, were not being taken care of properly in the various towns and cities, so he had them all brought to Wat Po to ensure they were afforded the care they required to ensure preservation.
The largest of the 1000 images of Buddha is the Reclining Buddha…and you’ll learn more about this awesome Buddha in Mikhaila’s post…tomorrow!
The final stop on our excursion was…
The Grand Palace
The Grand Palace has been the official residence for the kings of Siam since 1782. In fact, the King and his cabinet were based at the Palace grounds until 1925. The palace is no longer used as the King’s official residence, but it is still used for official events. And of course it’s open to “us tourists”!!
The Palace is nothing short of impressive. Made up of a variety of buildings, halls, pavilions, and throne rooms, the palace is a feast for the eyes (and as it turns out, my camera!).
The Grand Palace is also the home to the Emerald Buddha, which you will be able to read more about in Mikhaila’s upcoming blog post (coming tomorrow to a computer screen near you!)…
Our visit to Bangkok continued our learning about world religions, and again impressed upon us the rich history the world has. We see many connections here to India, in the architecture and religious practices.
Bonus Material!
I’m a sucker for bonus materials in my blog posts…here’s one for those who remember the 80’s – and hopefully provides some “musical education” for those who are too young to appreciate the music of this era!
Comments
14 responses to “Bangkok Oriental city…”
Hi Oliver, Katina and the children,
I am also back to “reading your posts”, after a short break. I somehow feel I am the first one to read your posts and perhaps comment on them, whenever I choose to do so. It is an addiction now. My gmail account is always in front of me through the day, the moment I see the post, I must read it immediately. It is also a very refreshing break from the routine office work.
All the best to all of you,
RAVI PULIANI
Hi Ravi!
So glad to have you back from your break! We love reading your comments, and being pretty close in timezone really is an unfair advantage for you!
Hahahaha as soon as I saw your title on my phone the song was in my head again……looks gorgeous
Hi Nicole, I know you love 80’s music, so couldn’t resist adding the Murray Head reference!
Beautiful sights Oliver. Enjoyed your images of such a spectacular place. And love your flashback to the 80’s. Hard to believe it has been 30 years since that song came out!
Hi Kim, I really enjoyed photographing Bangkok. Come to think of it, I don’t think there’s a place I haven’t enjoyed photographing! I’m up to over 16,000 images from our 8 months on the road…I’m not sure how I’ll ever catalog them all. That’s the problem with Digital media – too easy to take pictures!
Oliver, your photography blows me away! It is like a pictoral history lesson. I may now go on to either Netflix or YouTube and try to view the movie.
Do they really eat some of the stuff that I saw in the market? Yuk! And where are all of those flowers grown? There must be major hectares somewhere. Our ‘Glass Palaces’ will seem SO drab after some of the colourful places that you have seen.
I look forward to Mik’s post. Imagine, 1000 images of one God….in one place…..
Once these experiences of different religions are completed, it will be interesting to hear your girls thoughts…..
Hi Herta,
I’m glad you enjoyed the images! I have tons of pictures, more than can reasonably be shown. Sometimes I think I put too many in my posts, but they really do tell a story and give a visual to what I try to describe.
As for the market, yup…everything you get there you can eat! The crabs are excellent – I had some with my Pad Thai and it was awesome! You’ve sparked my interest on where the flowers come from, and after a bit more research I’ve discovered that they come from all across Thailand. Each morning trucks come in from the different provinces, and as far north as Chang Mai, to deliver the beautiful Lotus, Jasmine, and other flowers. The market supports both consumer and wholesale sales. So, you can get 1 or 1000 blossoms as you wish!
The Wats were pretty amazing, and Mikhaila will have some beautiful photos in her post as well! 🙂
Hi, Oliver and the gang, glad to see you back blogging, hope you had a great March Break, one thing’s for sure – it is a lot warmer where you are. Love your posting, there is so much beauty – totally amazing. It was so interesting to see how the lotus flowers were opened. So many temples, the masses of flowers and the different foods are so colourful and just about overwhelming. XOXOXO’s
Hi Oma,
We had a great March Break! I’m sorry that you guys have had not-so-warm weather. We had a great time exploring the temples and Grand Palace – there sure is a lot of sparkle and colour!
Love it! While not exactly a One-Hit Wonder, Head’s only other major songs were ‘Superstar’ from Jesus Christ Superstar (1970 – a looooong time ago) and ‘Say It Ain’t So, Joe’ (1975 – equally long ago). He just turned 69 on March 5. Ouch!
I have fond memories of Bangkok – we ended up one night coming across some street vendors, none of whom could not speak. But that is not say that they could not be understood! They ‘signed’ their prices as we walked by and Chen eventually got into some bargaining with a young woman. Her facial expressions to Chen’s offering of $1 to her $20 wares were fantastic! Paper and pens were frantically going back and forth on both sides and lots of hands in the air! It was wonderful! In the end he could not resist her charm and she ended up being close to $20 richer! 🙂
Hi Beverley,
Thanks for the Murray Head music-history lesson! I didn’t know of the other MH songs!
As for negotiating, I have to confess that Katina is much better at it than I am! I, too, would have likely paid closer to $20 than to $1!
Hi Oliver,
Loved your blog with all the beautiful photos and I enjoyed your idea of chocolate(red hot peppers)! You always have such a great sense of humour! The song was a real treat! The architecture is really neat! Do they have a famous architect that is world renowned? Love, Mom P.
Hi Baba,
Yes, after the amazing spice of India, I don’t know if I can ever eat “bland” food again! I have been putting thai peppers in everything I’ve been eating and am loving it!
On the architecture front, I don’t believe it’s a single architect, rather the temples and palace have been built over hundreds of years. Each new king has added his own piece to the city in order to leave his mark.