After wandering around in Bangkok for the last three or so days I can admit that I am finally temple saturated. And market saturated. I am not, however, tired of the street food or the foot massages. These four things- temples, markets, street food, and foot massages, have bracketed my experiences not only in this amazingly diverse city, but for the whole month I have spent in the country. For the last few days in Bangkok I have spent a lot of time walking around but still managed to master three of the four major forms of public transportation: SkyTrain, subway, and boat. The bus system, while extensive, will remain unexplored; today is my last day. Tomorrow I am heading to Singapore.

Earlier in the month as I was planning my return to Bangkok after the elephant volunteer work I did some extensive research on where to stay. Bangkok is a large city with numerous districts, each offering different experiences. As I thought ahead, I knew I wanted to visit some of the larger temples, the Grand Palace, and be located near the river but even with those constraints there were still lots of options. I would like to credit the blog “Nerd Nomads” for help in deciding my base of operations. One of their posts by Maria on February 14, 2016 entitled “Where to Stay in Bangkok- Our Favourite Areas & Hotels” led me to the small boutique hotel I booked. Loy La Long, an old Thai house converted to a small hotel, sits directly on the river and has two open decks perfect for sitting and watching the river traffic go by. I have really enjoyed the atmosphere, especially in the evening, when the brightly lit ships pass by with their full load of passengers taking dinner cruises. In addition to being on the water the hotel is located near Chinatown and not far from two different boat piers, so getting around is fairly straightforward. Finding the hotel was a bit tricky however as it is located on the grounds of the local temple, Wat Prathoomkongka. But once I arrived I realized how lucky I was to being staying there.

View of my hotel from the water. I took this as we cruised by on Wednesday.

View from the hotel second floor deck. Nice place to sit in the evening!

It was dinner time Sunday night by the time I got myself settled so I set off for Chinatown, a short ten minute walk, where every evening street restaurants of every variety suddenly appear. I found an area where the seafood specialists were located, easily identifiable because of the plethora of fresh seafood displayed in beds of ice, and picked a place at random. Looking around it would have been a great place to be in a group- there was lots of interesting seafood on hand to taste but way too much for one person to consume, so I simply ordered a seafood curry. The place was a beehive of activity, clearly a popular place for locals and tourists alike. After eating I headed back to the hotel to catch the evening’s soccer games.

A trip to Bangkok must include a visit to the Grand Palace and that is where I headed on Monday, bright and early, as I had learned earlier from some fellow travelers that a free English language tour occurs at either 10:00 or 10:30 am. A short guided tour providing an overview was an attractive option for such a large, historical site leaving me better informed to wander around on my own afterward. The easiest way to get to the area of the Grand Palace from my hotel was a local water taxi so I set off for the nearest pier to join the locals waiting for the next boat. Already at 9:00 am there were many large groups of tourists, mainly Chinese, streaming through the entrance gate. I was glad I was there in low season as it was crowded enough! Tour guides carrying flags or umbrellas raised high overhead to help keep their groups together were moving every direction and following them people were darting every which way trying to avoid each other. After buying my ticket and locating the desk where English language tours originate (10:30 am for that day) I sat down out of the way and people watched for a while. Being on my own meant that I set my own schedule and had no compulsion to race around frantically as the rest of the crowd was doing. With no time constraints, I had all day to explore the grounds. Over time quite a large group of assorted tourists, not all native English speakers, assembled for the English language tour.

Just one part of the very large wall mural on the inside of the Grand Palace outer walls.

Our guide was quite funny and very personable and it was great to get a bit more insight into not only the history of the Grand Palace, but Thai culture. One of the things I found especially interesting was that every student in Thai schools has to learn the national epic, the Ramakien, a story derived from the Hindu “Ramayana”. Our guide mentioned this because painted along the whole of the inside of the outer walls of the palace grounds was a huge, detailed mural depicting the events of the tale. Granite plaques, mounted on columns spaced along the wall, were inscribed though rather worn and barely readable, with the verses of the epic. He even stopped for a moment to chant some of the versus for us as an example of the recitation he had to do as a school boy. The epic is tied deeply into Thai culture.

After an hour or so overview with our tour guide I retraced my steps to examine some of the interesting structures we had passed more closely. The Grand Palace complex consists of many buildings and statues scattered about inside displaying architectural styles both Chinese and Thai, something I have learned a little bit about during my visit to Thailand. It was fascinating to see the intricacy of both, even though they are very different. The main palace building itself also introduced some elements of European architecture- so it was a mixed bag all together. One of the main attractions of the temple is an emerald Buddha, actually made out of jade, so I dutifully filed in to take a picture of it along with the other tourists, but I was much more interested in the variety of buildings, the extensive mural, and well… people watching in general.

The “palace” part of the Grand Palace complex, which consisted of lots of buildings.

The whole purpose of this building is for the “laying in state” of deceased kings. The king is highly revered in Thailand.

I spent more than half a day there, wandered out to get some lunch and walked south to the next major temple on the tourist circuit, Wat Pho, for short, whose main attraction is the largest reclining Buddha statue in the world. (By the way, names in Thailand are never short. Apparently Bangkok, which is a short version of the city name holds the Guiness Book of World Records for longest city name.) The reclining Buddha pose represents his enlightenment although the reason for the large size escapes me. What was interesting to me however, was that this particular temple served as an early university as well as a center of knowledge on traditional Thai herbal medicine, still functioning today in the later capacity. The grounds were quite extensive and for some reason they have also become the “home of the lost Buddha statues” having gathered up thousands of them from around the country to give them a resting place. With so many statues in proximity it is easy to see the different styles as well as examples of the different Buddha postures, all with their own meaning. Also as it was quite crowded this was another great place to people watch!!!

The huge reclining Buddha. Why, who knows! Lots to surface area to take care of here…..

As the afternoon passed by I slowly meandered my way south towards the main pier area where I wanted to inquire about river cruises, and especially a night cruise and the possibility to see the many temples along the river lit up brightly after dark. I arrived at the time when the evening cruises were leaving but still managed to obtain the information I needed. Where there are crowds, there are street food vendors, so dinner was easy. Back at the hotel, I sat on the second floor open deck enjoying the refreshing river breeze and watched through the evening as those very same boats floated by on their travels.

I hit two more temples on Tuesday, Wat Arun, an important temple more or less directly across the river from the Grand Palace, and Wat Traimit, the location of a three meter, six ton solid gold Buddha statue, making it the biggest golden statue in the world. It was lovely, of course, but since in appearance it looked like a lot of other golden (leaf) Buddha statues, I am pretty sure I did not appreciate this one properly. Clearly it is not going anywhere anytime soon! This temple, on the edge of Chinatown, put me next to the old market area so I wandered through the narrow, cluttered, very active market street where it was possible to find pretty much anything, especially if related to textiles, clothing, accessories or jewelry. I was a bit overwhelmed at the massive amount of “stuff” around me, lots with no practical purpose. I have no idea where all of it goes at the end of the day….

Later I conquered the subway venturing into a completely new part of town to find an English language bookstore. Inadvertently my path led me through the posh part of Bangkok as I found yet another massive multi-level, multi-building shopping complex, but consisting of high end, designer stores and labels. I took time to explore the gourmet supermarket, located in the basement of one of the buildings, mainly out of curiosity of what kinds of foods I would find. It was interesting but expensive, of course. After successfully locating the bookstore and selecting a book I retraced my steps to the Chinatown area and treated myself to a foot massage to end the day. I am pretty sure that I am becoming addicted to foot massages, incredibly affordable at about $10.00 an hour. I highly recommend this as “must-do” if you are in Thailand. It seems that on every street corner you can find a massage business as locals frequent these places as often as tourists.

Temple ruins at Ayutthaya. According to legend it burned for seven days. Certainly the scorch marks are evident.

Wednesday started early. I left the hotel at 6:30 am to walk to the main pier in order to meet the tour to Ayutthaya I had booked for the day. Ayutthaya, the old capital of Thailand (before it was called Thailand), was burned to the ground by the Burmese in the late 1700s, leaving its temples in ruins. Today it is a UNESCO World Heiratage site, thus an interesting place to visit. I had found a tour which included a river cruise during the return journey, a huge selling point for me. Going with a group also meant I was going to get some background and historical context as well as not have to worry about transportation. Hard to beat the combination of those three! Our tour guide was a jolly, well-informed woman who shared not only the history, but some more anecdotes about Thai culture.

One thing I have not figured out yet is the seeming contradictions I have learned and observed about their practice of Buddhism and the teachings. Buddhism is not a religion – it has no creator myth nor did Buddha preach about a deity. Consequently it is actually more of a philosophy on how to live your life. Yet as Donna, our tour guide, giving us her western name as she thought her Thai name was too long and complex, explained, the Thais will go and ask favors from the Lord Buddha as if he was a god who could grant them, a concept completely at odds with his teachings. In addition there are versions of Hindu gods appearing from time to time in the Buddhism practiced here, and in Nepal too, for that matter. Clearly the practice of the lay people has evolved from the formal teachings. I probably need to find a monk to have a conversation with about this at some point…..

I had to sit down for this picture so my head would be lower than the Buddha’s, encased at the base of the tree.

Clearly seen in the ruins of the temple Wat Mahathat in Ayutthaya, was the construction techniques used, the bare brick base structures the only things remaining after the devestation. Having visited numerous temples already I could easily spot and imagine the layout of the grounds amongst the piles of crumbling bricks scattered about. Images of the Buddha are taken so seriously in the country that they had designated a special concrete pad for the storage of any remnants thought to be a part of a Buddha statue, placing that area off limits for exploration. The temple is not only famous for its ruins but also because one of the Buddha heads, having become separated from its body, had been incorporated into a Bodhi tree that had grown around it. As it is not proper to have your head higher than that of the Buddha to get a picture with this phenomenon it is necessary to sit on the ground!
The cruise back was relaxing and it was interesting to see some of the traditional Thai style homes, perched high on stilts to last through the monsoon season, along the route. As we neared the outskirts of Bangkok it was possible to see all kinds of construction occurring as the city stretches north. The traffic on the river got more and more heavy as we got closer to the main part of the city, with all kinds of boats going in multiple directions apparently at random. Somehow it worked although a small local taxi cut right across the front of our ship, close enough for our captain to repeatedly sound his horn.

Some of the houses we passed on stilts along the waterway. We were cruising at low tide as well.

Today is a rest day with the only two items on my agenda being another foot massage and a dinner cruise so I can see the city at night. Then I say good-bye to Thailand.

For those who enjoy pictures:

A view of part of Bangkok from a roof top bar I visited. The city is large and very spread out.

Scattered around in the temples are various types of Chinese statues. Apparently they served the purpose of ballast on trading ships and once here, well what else would you do with them?

Demon guards whose purpose is to guard the temple. I’ve seen these of various sizes at different temples.

Chinese market alley . Motorbikes can apparently make up their own rules. I’ve seen them going the wrong way on one way streets (on the sidewalk!) and in narrow pedestrian zones like this alley. Crazy!

For those of you who like architecture:

Chinese style temple.

Close up of Chinese style- flowers, pastels, plaster shapes.

Another close up illustrating the Chinese style.

Thai style temple. Use of gold leaf, cut glass and mosaic.

A close up version of the columns. Very glittery.

An even closer view.