Sunday April 3, 2016 – At sea between Saigon (Phu My) and Bangkok (Laem Chabang) – Yesterday was such a tiring day in Saigon that we slept in late and eventually made it to the two Port lectures by Graham Howell on Port Kelang and Langkawi and Jim Jimirro’s (Head of Disney Channel) continuing talks on The Great American Songbook, this time focusing on UK songs that entered the genre. A couple of interesting points – The first notes of the title song of Goldfinger and the popular song Moon-river are identical. Also I was not aware that as many songs are about love between two individuals, when writing the lyrics it’s much easier in French, as there are 45 words that rhyme with “Amour” as oppose to only 7 that rhyme with “Love” (and two are “shove” and “glove” – not particularly useful in a romantic songs)!!! As I had chatted with him earlier, we exchanged cards and agreed to keep in touch and get together to chat musical theatre in New York as we lie a block away from each other. The evening was dedicated to pictures and blog posting as we were to be in the theatre meeting place ready to disembark at 6:50 AM tomorrow!!!
Monday Arpil 4, 2016 – We docked, Port side facing dock, in Laem Chabang, an unassuming place from a tourism standpoint, but a major dock for container ships, with some 10,000 cars and trucks on the quay ready to be loaded as well as other large containers. It was however, the closest port to Bangkok (in Thai – Krung Thep Mahanakhon = City of Angels”) , which was our destination for the day. We boarded the coaches and were greeted and entertained / informed throughout the day by a very competent and good English Speaking guide called Sara. She told us her surname was given to the family by one of the Royalty and as such it is in Sandskrit with a translation “Tiger of God”. Much of the Buddhist prayers offered by the monks are in Sandscrit, although Thai is the language of general communication, with English being the second language taught in schools. We had a 2 1/2 hour drive into Bangkok, 55 Km (34 miles) on the longest elevated highway in the world, so a lot of the 5 hours of travel was taken up with Sara giving us a lot of information, much of which was new to many of us. Driving past the Cassava and rice paddy fields (2 crops a year) and flooded fields that were shrimp farms, we got a good idea of agricultural Thailand and saw from afar some of the 50,000 temples in Thailand (450 of which are in Bangkok alone). The Americanisation / Westernization of Thailand soon became evident with McDonalds (often referred to in jest as “The American Embassy”), Pizza Hut, IKEA, Tesco, KFC, Starbucks, 7-11 convenience shops etc omnipresent through the the capital city. We were thankful for the Air Conditioning in the coach as the temperature while wandering around the palace and temples was a draining 45C (113F) with 95% humidity!!!
So here are a few of the interesting details proffered: – Thailand (or Siam as it used to be known until 1939 and means “Freedom Land”) has never been under a foreign power and mostly a monarchy, as it is today. The ruling family under King Rama I moved the capital to an olive plantation in Bangkok owned by Chinese settlers (who were relocated to modern Chinatown) in 1782. Prior capitals were founded in 1238 for 10 Kings, 1350 for 33 kings and 1767-1782 for 1 King, in other parts of the country, making Bangkok the 4th Capital of Thailand in its history. During the reign of Rama V (1868-1910) the city greatly expanded, with Rama VI (1910-1925) and Rama VII (1925-1935) continuing the expansion. Prior to this, the King was omnipotent, but at this time a democracy with a King was established (as in the UK). King Rama VIII and the Current Rama IX were born in exile in Germany and Boston, USA respectively and lived in Switzerland. The older brother (Rama VIII) died young due to a gun accident while cleaning his own rifle, so his brother Rama IX took over at the age of 18 and has been on the throne longer than any other monarch for 70 years as he is now 88. He was born on December 5 (a Monday and thus Yellow is the colour of his flag); He became King on June 9th and the coronation was on May 5th in a hall we visited in the Palace. Depending on the day of your birth, your flat / colour is determined – Monday = yellow, Tuesday = pink, Wednesday = green, Thursday = Orange, Friday = Blue, Saturday = purple and Sunday = red. Bangkok has a permanent population of 8 Million, but swells to 15 million with the commuting workforce daily. Thailand currently has a population of 65.4 Million and all seem to have vehicles given the perpetual traffic jams in the city!!! Preparations are in full swing for the Thai New Year celebrations on April 18 as the Buddhist calendar (Gregorian plus 543 – making it now the year 2559) is used given that 95% of the population of Thailand is Buddhist with Muslim 3%, Christianity 1% and all the rest 1%. Buddhist monks have to live by 227 rules, whereas novices by 8, nuns have 331 and commoners are expected to live under 5 rules – No killing, No lying, No stealing, No sexual misconduct and No intoxication. Given my interest in linguistics, Sara explained that the language is written left to right, contains 44 letters, 32 vowels (given the tonal nature) and thus is alphabetic. The red, white and blue striped flag represent Nation, Religion and Royal Family respectively. Despite never being part of the British Empire, we were surprised that all drive on the left, apparently as the first cars were imported from England. Canada / USA are the only former countries of the British Empire that drive on the right. As far as the economy is concerned, tax rates are tiered from 5% to 35% (wages over US$120K), Petrol is subsidised at 28 Bat / litre (US$0.84 / litre or US$3.20 / Gal); A small apartment rents for Bat 3,000 – 4,000 a month (US$88 to US$120) (FX US$1 = Bat 33.8 / £1 = Bat 49) and the principal drivers of the economy are tourism and agriculture (cassava or tapioca, rice, rubber and fruit).
Our first stop once we reached Bangkok was at the Sukhothai Traimit Golden Buddha temple. Crowds of people thronged the place and it was difficult for Sara to keep track of all of us (it was worse at the Grand Palace). The temple consisted of various buildings, but the entry was filled with shops and merchants selling all kinds of food (including pomegranates and Durian) and cheap merchandise. It was a bit of a shock to the system being surrounded by thousands of people all pushing and shoving to get from here to there, it got worse as the day progressed, but at least we had some basic training at this temple! The building we all went to see was the main Buddha temple that was reached through a staircase of some 220 marble steps, with three terraces. Each level was ornately decorated in gold statues and beautifully laid out. As we progressed to the top, the surrounding view was ever increasing. There was a constant flow of participants taking pictures of themselves in front of statues, effigies and other such icons. On reaching the top we were greeted with a very large bell and soon we had to remove or shoes and enter the inner sanctum of the temple. What an amazing place – the Key element in the room was the large golden altar with offerings and the enormous golden statue of Buddha sitting cross legged on a pedestal above the heads of the people / worshippers, as per the tradition. The 700 year old statue of Buddha is the largest in the world and weighs 5.5 tons and made of solid gold (12 ft 5 inch diameter, height 15 feet 9 inches). A spectacular sight. All around, smaller statues and Buddha effigies were present. It was an octagonal (with rounded appearance) building with 4 doors at the cardinal points and the other 4 walls filled with icons and effigies. The 30 foot high doors had guilded Buddhas, in various poses – A beautiful place indeed. At the bottom, we debated going into the ceremonial building, but time did not permit. We did however have a quick look into the “party” room, set up for a meal or some other sort of crowd gathering event.
Driving through Chinatown and the colourful market we made our way to the principal stop of the day – The Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha (www.palaces.thai.net), joining the throngs of visitors wanting to see the magnificent edifices. We passed the impressive Ministry of Defense building and were let off near the Palace. The complex was established in 1782 and consists not only of Royal residences, throne halls and government offices, but also the renown Emerald Buddha. It covers an area on 218,000 Sq Meters (54 Acres) surrounded on all four sides by a white wall 1900 meters (6,234 feet or 2078 yards) long. Despite the heat and the mass of humanity, this was so worth the trip as we were all in awe of the beauty of the place. Strict dress code is enforced, with the sign saying – sleeveless shirts, torn shirts, very short blouse, Spaghetti-strap blouses, skin tight trousers, shorts, torn jeans, three quarter length pants and/or culottes are all prohibited, and the sign even says – No see-through dresses! As soon as we walked through the entry arch and laid eyes on the gardens and temples, we knew we were in for something truly special. It consists of three courtyards, the outer and central can be visited, but the inner is restricted to Royalty and their guests. The triple roofs of the buildings are a Buddhist belief and the carved raised up corners, often with snakes or animals are all to ward off the evil spirits. Gold was omnipresent on carvings above doors, roof sides, and many smaller buildings (known as phra) some bell shaped, some round or square, but all with gold and tall spires. Some are used to hold sacred scriptures while others hold images of Buddha. Everywhere the eye could see was “picture taking time”, we were all amazed by the stunning nature of the 100 structures (my estimate, but could be a lot more) and clicked away as we went from one to another. A couple of interesting features was a scale model of Angkor Wat crafted by order of Rama IV after a visit to that place in Cambodia and of course the “Emerald Buddha”. The “Emerald Buddha” (actually Jade) dating to 1434 is enshrined on a golden traditional Thai-style throne made of gold leaf on wood (known as a Busabok) in a building called the ordination hall. The image was captured by and remained in Laos for 226 years, before being re-captured and returned to Thailand in 1778. The clothing of the Buddha is changed three times a year depending on the season (Summer, Rainy season and Winter), overseen or performed by the King. Pictures could only be taken from the exterior and shoes removed before entering the building. Even surreptitious picture taking, from what we saw, results in the “picture police” demanding all images be destroyed. The large room with its paintings and central altar was nothing but spectacular. Not only the gold, which was everywhere, but the precious stones and additional icons and effigies in the room would make many a Central Bank feel like Fort Knox!!!! We continued our tour through the crowded buildings, ending up in the manicured gardens outside the Chakari Maha Prast Hall, which was somewhat reminiscent of the King’s palace in Phenom Penh in Cambodia, which we saw last year.
Our next stop was for Lunch at the Royal Orchid Sheraton on the river. A welcome break after the crowds, where we enjoyed a nice local lunch, including a spicy hot curry (it didn’t help that I put on a spoonful of Thai peppers to enhance the flavour) but went down very well with some local beer. It was a respite wandering outside to the Mae Nam Chao Phraya river’s edge to see the water traffic and appreciate the many orchids all over the building and grounds. We then returned to the ship after an all too brief stop at a handicraft market. Before closing though, there are a few last thoughts – TucTuc’s (motor cycle driven rickshaw taxis), like Vietnam and Cambodia are the best way of getting around the crowded streets, but you do need courage or a blindfold!!! Spirit Houses – these small but often elaborate houses / altars are built outside many if not most houses to ward off the evil spirits. Often Times these are constructed before the houses themselves. Wires – like in Vietnam, the knotted spaghetti of electrical wires strung from post to post are almost unbelievable. Too much traffic prevents them from digging up the road to lay cables underground, so wires run everywhere and at corner or junction poles, it really looks like tied up spaghetti. A great day and a sensational experience.
Roger & Anne Travels 