Neon Lights, White Elephants and Mother Water

Last I wrote, Peter had just arrived and we were just beginning our adventures together in Thailand. As of now, we have indeed had many and I'm going to attempt to write about a few of them here. Peter arrived very late at night and so his first night was filled with a taxi ride from the new airport and he was introduced to Thailand under the neon lights of Khao San Road. Khao San Road, the infamous backpacker/foreign local in Bangkok, is abuzz with activity at all hours of the day and during the night the neon lights flicker on, the stereos are turned up and the street vendors hit the ground running. It's quite the scene and it very different from the Thailand that I have grown used to over the past several months (there is nothing quite like that in Lampang). It's an interesting place and a mixing pot of many cultures. It's not Thailand, but there's no place in the world quite like it. We had a guest house of Khao San and were able to escape most of the noise and neon lights and get a peaceful nights sleep. The next morning we awoke early as Peter was still on L.A time and we hit the streets looking for some food. While we were planning to catch the Grand Palace and Wat Phrat Keaw that day, we ended up going to several different smaller Buddhist temples. Each had it's own special charm. One had the Lucky Buddha, another the Standing Buddha and yet another the Marble Buddha (this Buddha isn't actually marble, but is housed in a marble temple). We strolled around town and found our way to the outskirts of the King's Residence - a massive complex near the center of town. Near to that was the Royal White Elephant museum and the Royal Golden Teak Mansion, both of which proved to be interesting. In Thailand, the white elephant is connected to royalty and every white elephant found in the property of the King. The museum documented the different royal elephants and talked about the history of royal elephants. The museum is actually housed in the old royal elephant stables. We made our way to the Chao Phraya River, the river running through the center of Bangkok and the most famous river in Thailand and took the Chao Phraya River Express (a river taxi back) towards our guest house. It's said that all of the rivers in Thailand (or at least the largest; the Wang, the Ping, the Yom, and the Nan rivers) all flow into this river. Many of the royal celebrations take place both on land and on water and it's interesting the role that water (specifically rivers) have played in Thai history. It's something that has fascinated me and something I want to continue to studied. Added to that, after having lived in Chiang Mai and Lampang, both of which have a river running through the middle of town, this river culture seems pertinent to my experience in Thailand. Another interesting tidbit; the word for river in Thai (mae nam) is literally translated as "mother water". Dinner and a stroll in the rain and that was our first day in Bangkok.

Our second day was as adventurous, but much easier to describe concisely. We went to the Royal Palace (the former residence of the King of Thailand) and the adjacent temple, Wat Phrat Keaw. Both are incredibly ornate and beautiful filled with objects unique to Thailand. They are those sites that one must go see if you travel to Thailand, and are amazing cultural, architectural and historical wonders, but aren't much to write home about. Another temple close to the Grand Palace is Wat Pho, a beautiful temple in it's own right, but add to it the ornate and intricate gardens and the larger than life reclining Buddha with intricate mother of pearl inlay on it's feet, it became my second favorite temple in Bangkok, second only to a temple that we would visit the next day. After seeing the temples and eating lunch we headed down river again toward Siam Paragon, Bangkok's newest and most posh mall. We got off the river taxi and caught the Sky Train (another Bangkok specialty) to the mall. The Sky Train was an experience in itself. Riding on elevated tracks above the city, you essentially have a birds eye view of Bangkok while you ride. We were so impressed we talked coming back just to ride the Sky Train. Now, Siam Paragon was interesting. It was a state of the art, modern mall with all the amenities and all the globally recognized retailers. Just like many of our airports nowadays, we could have been any where in the world. We wandered around for a bit browsing in the stores before heading to meet Peck and the other staff in order to prepare for the English Camp. We met at Pizza Company and chatted while going over the schedule. At the meeting I met several of Peck's colleagues and friends many of whom I was able to get to know over the next few days at the camp. It was good to chat with them and I was glad to finally get some details about the camp. After our meeting, Peck decided to take Peter and I around the city to a few places. Out first stop was the Red Light District in Bangkok. Peter and I had not particular interest in seeing this part of town, but at Peck's insistence (saying that it's part of town and it's something we had to see), we saw it. It was neat to see and walk though and experience. We then headed to a night bazaar to shop and then to a beer garden to have a beer. We didn't just have any beer though, we had Peck's favorite European beer (whose name I can't remember). It was a taste acquired by Peck while he studied in Norway during university. We had a fantastic conversation about politics, economics, Thailand etc (which I'm sure was aided by the beer) and then made it home. All in all, a fanstastic day 2.

I'm beat now and will call it a night, but there is still so much more to write about. So, I'll try to make it back here tomorrow and write more (that's weather dependent...If there's rain, there will be writing; if there's sun, there will be playing).

Until next time,

RM