Giveaways
BANGKOK is the capital of Thailand, and often the first place people visit, though I went there after spending time in Northern Thailand and at the Bamboo School near the Myanmar border.
The City of Bangkok has a population of about nine million, and the wider metro area, all satellite towns included, has a population nearly twice as great, of about 17 and half million. So, Bangkok is a lot bigger than Chiang Mai. In fact, Bangkok has about the same population, in the city alone, as Greater London or New York City.
Here’s a typical tourism video setting out 12 things to do in Bangkok, which includes a link to a travel guide by the author of the video. The guide looks quite useful, though I didn’t know about it while I was in Bangkok.
Indeed, I would recommend going to Bangkok first, if only because you can familarise yourself with the cultures of the four regions of Thailand in the amazing Sook Siam ‘floating market’, an imitation of the actual floating markets on the Chao Phrya river that flows through the city, only larger.
There were also amazing Thai clothes on sale as well.
Sook Siam is inside the gigantic US $1.5 billion Icon Siam shopping mall featured in the video above, which I believe has 12 levels in total. Much of the rest of Icon Siam is more upmarket and perhaps a bit out of my price range.
(I don’t know how they got the Maseratis in there).
Shaved ice desserts are popular in Thailand, no doubt because the climate is so steamy. I visited another mall called EmQuartier, where a restaurant called Lukkaithong has a lovely shaved ice dessert called Pang Cha, or ‘tea bread’, that they invented themselves.
I stayed at the Khao San Social Capsule Hostel, which appears in the following video, along with scenes of a market and of rides on the Chao Phrya River, which I will be talking about further below. In the thumbnail, you can see the spires of Wat Arun Ratchawararam, the Temple of Dawn, which I will also be talking about below.
On the first day, I just walked around town, noticing the photos acknowledging the current King and Queen of Thailand and statues of earlier kings. And lots of information signs.
Here is a photo of me in Khao San Road, a popular shopping and entertainment area.
There were plenty of places where you can buy cannabis cookies or different sorts of cannabis, such as this one in the Buddy Lodge Hotel on Khao San Road.
The street life in this part of town, and its street food, were both really amazing.
I visited the attractive Santi Chai Prakan Park, joined to one of the last two forts in Bangkok, Phra Suman.
And the colourful Wat Chana Songkhram.
But it was just so hot, about 37 degrees C. And then I saw the Grand Palace.
I took photos of the outside, and then went back to the Grand Palace two days later. Meanwhile, I discovered that you could do boat tours on the Chao Phrya River, on a blue tourist boat, orange ferries that are more domestic.
An all-day pass for a blue boat is 140 Baht; or, if you take the orange boat, it is only 16 Baht a journey, the equivalent of 50 cents US or 80 cents in New Zealand money.
There are a multitude of other vessels such as the ‘long tail boats’, sampans that have a car engine connected to a propellor by a long shaft, which provides both propulsion and steering.
The long tail boats used to be a very distinctive feature of Bangkok in the days before it had much road traffic or a modern public transport system. Like some of the Chinese cities west of Shanghai, where ancient canals draw tourists these days, Bangkok, too, had a very extensive system of canals, called khlongs. Unfortunately, most of Bangkok’s khlongs have since been filled in and paved over.
The boats on the Chao Phrya travel between built-up piers that are often shopping malls in their own right, with connections to floating markets on the river.
Icon Siam has four piers, itself.
I went into a tunnel near the Grand Palace, where you could see photos of Bangkok old and new. In the old photograph, which includes the Democracy Monument, ironically erected by a pro-Japanese military dictatorship during World War II, labels mark out two khlongs that were dug in the nineteenth century and which still exist, the Rop Krung Canal, which has lately been restored, and the Saen Saep Canal.
The next photo shows the modern skyline, with the Grand Palace illuminated in golden light.
I took photos when I was on the blue boat, and really enjoyed myself on that tour!
And then after that, quite by accident, I ended up at Wat Arun Ratchawararam, the Temple of Dawn, which was about 300 years old. This makes it fairly new by Thai standards, but it is the biggest temple complex in Bangkok, with immense spires, the tallest of which was built in the 19th century.
And Wat Phra Kaew, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, on the grounds of the Grand Palace. Wat Phra Kais said to be the most sacred temple in Thailand.
Its rather abstract detailing makes Wat Phra Kaew look a bit like a mosque in some ways, though, obviously, not in others. But certainly, I have seen this sort of really fine geometrical pattern in Iran, as well as in southern Spain.
Wat Phra Kaew has a golden stupa and images of kinnari, bird-women which seem to be a Buddhist equivalent of angels.
There are some male equivalents called kinnara, who seem to be more warrior-like. The kinnari and kinnara do ritual battle with the snake-like nagas that otherwise very often flank the steps of Buddhist temples. Here is a kinnara triumphantly jumping up and down on a naga.
And if this should happen to remind you of the flag of Mexico, with its vigorous image of an eagle trampling a snake upon a cactus, well, that is not really a coincidence.
For, many cultures have a bird-versus-snake motif, often identified with a triumph over evil. So it is with the kinnari/kinnara and the naga.
Except that, in Buddhism, this doesn’t seem to be so hard and fast as in Christendom, with even the nagas and demons having the possibility of seeing the light as it seems.
And so, the Buddhist temples themselves are guarded by nagas in nearly every case and even in some cases by actual demons. Indeed, Wat Phra Kaew is guarded by a veritable host of named demons, called the Giant Asura Guardians.
According to the plaques at its feet, the red-faced one in the next photo is the demon Suriyapop.
Suriyapop stands next to a green-faced one called Inthorachit, an especially powerful demon whose severed head could destroy the Earth.
I think the idea is that all these demons been defeated and subdued by forces of righteousness. Well, one hopes so at any rate.
Here are some other guardians at Wat Arun, more Chinese-looking, with magnificent beards. I am not sure if they are demons as well, or just warrior figures.
Here’s a video of scenes filmed at those two temples.
I have put some further impressions of the same two temples, shot in dual-camera style, in this video.
And then I went to Bangkok’s sizable Chinatown and the local flower market.
Then I went to the Grand Palace once more: it was really something.
Lastly, I also went to a northern suburb called Nothaburi, where there is a great white Buddha and a curious clock tower with a rooster on top.
I didn’t see the Cathedral of the Assumption, or the National Museum, which are also supposed must-sees along with the elevated dining areas atop tall buildings, which probably also get cool breezes.
I did see another roundabout monument, the four elephants at Phan Phi Pop junction.
Bangkok road traffic is really terrible and it is best to find some other method of getting around, such as the city’s modern public transport system, the boats, or even perhaps the scooter taxis (helmet recommended) that weave in and out of the traffic as per the video with which this opened, if you are brave enough.
The blue ferry was good to get around, but I really enjoyed the orange ferry, because it was more frequent and with the blue ferry I was kept waiting.
There is also an electric ferry, which was a game-changer.
On the whole, though, I think I preferred Chiang Mai, which is smaller, quieter, and less congested.
Anything else? Well, there’s quite a bit of homelessness in Bangkok, and there are a lot of empty buildings as well, in and around the different areas. There aren’t as many tourists as well, it’s at 70%, but that’s a heck of a lot better than China.
The street food is great. You have to be careful but, you know, the food is just fantastic. On the other hand, I did get sick later on, so it might be wise to stick to the more modern malls or proper restaurants.
Next stop: Phuket!
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