#111 In Search of Buddhas, Tailored Suits and Ladyboys in Bangkok
The final days of our trip to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand
The Reclining Buddha photo by Joan Naidorf
The last few days were spent in the sprawling capitol city of Bangkok. The sea of high-rise buildings seemed to go on forever. After flying in from Chiang Mai, we headed to one of the luxury hotels in the Bangkok downtown area.
After a quick lunch, a local tailor met us and brought us back to his shop. Here is the place to get the finely tailored jackets and suits that all sharp dressers covet. We took the Bangkok Transportation System (BTS) Skytrain system two stops over to a warren of shops in a nearby complex. My husband purchased a few pieces more than he intended, but the quality and look of the items were great.
Jim Thompson House by CJ Botha @cornelus_j
During our first hours in Bangkok, we went to visit the Jim Thompson House. Jim Thompson was an American ex-CIA agent in who was credited for reviving the world-famous Thai silk industry. His former residence is a stunning museum collection of teak structures and regional art work that Mr. Thompson collected.
Sadly, he is more famous though for his disappearance and presumed death. He disappeared on a Holiday in Malaysia in 1967. His company, Jim Thompson Silk is world famous with outlets located worldwide. Of course, we had a retail opportunity right onsite at his house turned museum an I bought a beautiful silk kimono.
Later in the evening, our group visited one of the local roof top bars for a drink and magnificent aerial view of the city. This is a mandatory part of the spectacle of visiting Bangkok.
The following day began with a bus ride through the city to the Grand Palace. The enormous size and scope of the palace and its ornate temples is hard to convey. This magnificent city within a city houses palaces, forts. temples, and the onetime residence of the monarch. Construction began in the late 18th century and was actively used as the Capitol until 1932. It is now a crowded tourist destination that should not be missed.
The monarchs of Thailand were going to out-build and out decorate anyone worshipping Buddha. It feels like every roof is covered in gold and every surface is crusted in precious stones or hand-painted and glazed ceramic tiles. One of the most famous holy sites is the temple of the Emerald Buddha. The faithful still flock here to worship. All visitors must remove their shoes before entering the Buddhist temples.
After a few hours touring the palace, we took a tuck-tuck ride over to the area of the Reclining Budha. After witnessing the excessive bling of the Grand Palace, what could wow one now? Witness this enormous, gold-leaf covered, fifty-meter-long Buddha at the Wat Pho Temple complex. This is another UNESCO world heritage site that will leave visitors in absolute wonder. If we had not just seen the Grand Palace complex, one might think that this is the grandest collection of Buddhas and towers in all of Thailand.
Temple of Dawn photo by Joan Naidorf
The second day in Thailand started with a canal boat ride through the city with a stop at the Temple of Dawn. The rivers and canals are crowded with narrow boats that literally get stacked up when passing through numerous locks in the system. Along the way, and you might just miss it if you weren’t looking that way, was the big, modern Buddha statue at Wat Packman. This statue soars to the height of a twenty-story building presiding regally over the low buildings of the local neighborhood.
The Temple of Dawn, built in 1809, was the last stop along the river where many tour boats were loading and unloading passengers. The Buddhist temple has an 80-meter-high central tower that people call the Eifel Tower of Bangkok.
The exterior of the spire is decorated with intricate carvings and inlaid with colorful ceramic plates, glasses, and shells. Many locals rent old-fashioned costumes and pose for pictures in this solemn and picturesque place. After our visit, we enjoyed some spare time and may have found a way to spend even more of our money on souvenirs.
For our open evening in Bangkok, the tour director arranged a visit see the Calypso Cabaret performance of the famous Thai Ladyboys at the Atlantique riverfront mall. Also called Kathoeys, these are people who are either transgender women or effeminate gay men. A significant number of Thai people perceive Kathoey as belonging to a separate sex and they have had constitutional protection since 2015.
The performance is one grand collection of dancing and awful lip-syncing to a wide variety of campy ballads and stolen show tunes. The cast includes both male and female performers along with a dozen or more of the beautiful Ladyboys. At one time, the stage was filled with forty singers and dancers performing the traditional Hebrew folk song Hava Nagila. I can vouch that they were doing the accompanying dance in the traditional manner. In all my days of various Bar Mitzvah celebrations and weddings, I have never seen anything quite like it.
Train Market photo by Joan Naidorf
Our lengthy escorted tour was nearly over but since our plane was not leaving until late at night, we tacked on another day of sight -seeing. One of our local guides took us out to the countryside to see one of the famous train markets. After riding for an hour, we hopped on the old-fashioned train and rode into town. We could see all the stalls in the city fold up and then down again as the train passed into town of Maeklong.
The Maeklong Railway Market is a small market on the railway tracks next to Maeklong Railway Station. We got off the train to witness the whole spectacle street side as the vendors pushed aside their wares and folded up the awnings just after 9 am, as the train ran through the market again. It is a spectacle we missed in Hanoi so I was glad we got to experience this in Thailand.
We met our driver again and stopped at a local family coconut tree business. An exhibit showed how the coconuts are harvested and how every part of the tree and nut gets used in some way by the grateful and industrious Thai people. There was an opportunity to watch the process that is used to harvest coconut sugar. The rich caramel flavor could be very addictive.
There was ample opportunity to buy bowls, spoons and other items crafter from the wood or fruit of the coconut tree. I purchased some lovely utensils with the distinctive mottled pattern of the coconut wood. The rest room facilities were clean and quite welcomed by our small group.
From there, we drove to a local dock where we climbed aboard a long boat to go through the canals of the region. The thick banana trees made us feel like we were riding into the jungles of the Heart of Darkness. The souped-up motors of the long-boats definitely take away the serenity of the canal trip. And sadly, a people let a lot of garbage collect in the canals.
Floating Market photo by Joan Naidorf
We arrived at boat dock near the Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market. We hopped out of the boats and walked along the areas of dozens of vendor stalls. Floating vendors still come to sell food and produce to locals and tourists. There are hundreds of tourists.
The vendors in the market sell all of the same elephant pants and tchotchkes that you see all over Thailand. One enterprising fellow allows people to drape his 60-pound snake around their neck while he takes their picture. That once in a lifetime experience will cost you about 10 bucks. Here is one of our friends meeting the snake.
Market Snake photo by Joan Naidorf
The ride back to downtown Bangkok took more than an hour with a rain storm and traffic. We still had some time to kill before catching the first leg of our plane ride home from Bangkok. We were so ready to get back home after nearly three weeks in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand.
We learned so much in this part of the world and we met some beautiful people. The food in Thailand may have been the most delicious and beautifully prepared of all three countries. Each country held its own little secrets and charms. You will find it well worth the time and effort to travel half way around the world to visit these jewels of Southeast Asia.
