Good Morning Bangkok!

January 18, 2014

In Thai, Bangkok's full name is กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยามหาดิลกภพ นพรัตน์ราชธานี บุรีรมย์อุดมราชนิเวศน์มหาสถาน อมรพิมานอวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยะวิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์, which everyone knows means

The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city of Ayutthaya of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn.

According to that source of all sources, the Guinness Book of World Records, this makes Bangkok's name the world's longest location name. With a name like that, a city is bound to attract a lot of inhabitants - 11 million for those counting. Having only two days to meet and greet all those people in the Grand Capital of the World, we arose bright and early.

The breakfast at the iSanook (Sanook means "fun" in Thai - so I think the hotel thought of itself as an Apple themed fun hotel) was on the sixth floor rooftop terrace that gave beautiful views of the surrounding city. We agreed the hotel had the best breakfast we had in Indochina - with a buffet of fruit, yoghurt, cereal, and pastries (very Thai-like, right?). Best of all, they had an espresso machine - though it was broken the first morning.

Authentic Thai breakfast of American style food.

After our hearty American/European breakfast, we were ready to explore. Because Bangkok didn't become a megapolis until after World War II, much of the city resembles a concrete jungle, with very little green space. To try to counter this, many people grow tropical plants on the rooftops and balconies of their buildings.

"Green space" on top of our hotel

Our plan was to walk the two and a-half miles to "Old Bangkok" which contained the Grand Palace and famous temples. Almost immediately out of our hotel, we saw a golden bowling pig, obviously an homage to bowling in that other city of angels, Los Angeles, made famous in the Big Lebowski. 

The Dude would be proud

We were taking the 5:55 am train to the Cambodian border in two days, so we scoped out the Hua Lamphong Station while heading to Old Bangkok. Built in the Italian Neo-Rennaissance style in 1916, the station was a little slice of Europe in the heart of Bangkok.

Hua Lamphong Station - a throwback to the golden era of train travel

To our surprise, we discovered some fantastic culinary delights while walking through the station. 

The Hotdog Waffle - the treat that made Bangkok famous

Mr. Bun - given three stars by Michelin

Upon leaving the station, a Thai solider stopped Becky and made her salute the Thai flag.

Attention!

During the 19th Century, Bangkok was known as the Venice of the East due to canals that dominated the city.  Although many of the canals (known as Khlongs in Thai) have been filled in, the Khlongs still criss-cross the city. One of the original canals, Khlong Phadung Krung Kasem, which runs right next to Hua Lamphong Train Station, marks the unofficial border of Bangkok's "old city."

Is this how Venice looked in the 19th Century?

After walking 20 minutes from our hotel, we had not seen any evidence of the massive Bangkok shutdown that was taking place, other than perhaps reduced traffic on the street (it was Saturday and we had never been to Bangkok - so we didn't know whether the rather sedate traffic was normal). However, we did see handbills announcing the upcoming February 2 election that the protests were attempting to stop on various poles around the canal.

Apparently, women don't vote in Thailand

After crossing the bridge, we entered the Yaowarat neighborhood - which is home to Bangkok's Chinatown. For two centuries, Yaowarat was Bangkok's commercial center. Even today, the area was teeming with stores selling everything you could imagine - from simple combination locks, an entire mall selling only cell phone and tablet cases, street stalls with dildos, and a block of stores peddling wooden coffins.

How'd we end up in China?

After several blocks of walking through the crowded neighborhood (even the wide sidewalk was difficult to navigate as it was filled with street stalls), we came across our first Buddhist temple, the Wat Mangkon Kamalawat. And it was a dandy.

We were a little tentative about going in at first - not having been in a Buddhist Temple before and not knowing whether it was acceptable to just walk in - but saw lots of other people entering and taking photos with their cell phones and iPads so we just followed the masses.

The largest and most important Chinese Buddhist temple in Bangkok was thronging with people buying flowers and food and leaving them at the various alters or temples located in the giant complex. People were also lighting incense all around us.

The main entrance had huge statues of what I later learned to be the four guardians of the world. They were frightful but fantastic images. In the Buddhist faith, they protect the world and fight evil.

Guardian holding a dangerous pagoda for weapon

Parasols - one of the main weapons of choice for the Guardians of the World

A Guardian with a mandolin - another fearsome weapon

Inside the main temple, a Buddhist ceremony was going involving fantastic sounding chants. All while people were milling about, making offering and taking selfies on their iPhones.

The Main Event

A sumptuous lunch for the Gods

Finished with the temple, I had to use the restroom located right outside and discovered a large mural inside the men's room that was dedicated to Wisconsin winters.

In Thailand, the harsh Wisconsin winter is considered a sacred laxative

Karl Malone was upstairs giving autographs but was disappointed with the misspelling of his name.

Leaving the temple, Becky decided that it was time to sample the Thai iced coffee we had heard so much about. She approached a women on the street who had a large vat of ice with a large plastic bag full of what appeared to be unappetizing drink material. We pointed at a cup and she mixed up the coffee, ice, Carnation sweetened condensed milk, and some sugar. All for about a dollar. Although the process of making it didn't look so great, it was really good.

As we moved closer to the Grand Place, we saw our first evidence of the Bangkok protests - razor wire strung across one of the streets.

Thai iced coffee and razor wire - an excellent combination

At this point, we were pretty hungry and couldn't find any places that looked like a restaurant you would see in the States (a place with dining tables inside) - so we approached a building on the corner that had a couple of tables and a small grill outside and pointed at a table. Amazingly, the women standing next to the grill gave use two menus that had about four items on it in English. I ordered the fish ball soup. Becky had the pork soup. I don't think she was enamored with it as I was with mine. But I thought lunch was a pretty good deal for a total of $3 for both of us - with drinks.

Fish Balls on the Street

After lunch, we made a short stop at the City Pillar Shrine. First erected in 1782 when King Rama I moved the capital of Siam to Bangkok, the shrine contains a wooden pillar that symbolizes the stability of power needed when a new city is established. The pillar was moved to its current site, opposite the Grand Palace, in 1853 after four snakes slithered under the shrine - which was taken as an omen that Bangkok would only be capital for 150 years.

The entrance to City Pillar Shrine - No Snakes Allowed

Notice the elephant tusks surrounding the pillar -  an inspiration for fans of Fleetwood Mac and college marching bands

As we crossed the street to get to the Grand Palace, we saw a giant elephant monument in the middle of the intersection. This seemed an appropriate place of our first selfie of the trip in a country that is obsessed with the selfie.

In fact, the Thais are so obsessed with taking selfies, that Thailand's Department of Mental Health recently issued a dire warning to youngsters, claiming that taking and posting selfies on the web could lead to mental health problems in the future, especially related to self-confidence, and this could unexpectedly cause a negative effect on a person's everyday life, future career and even the country’s development. The Department explained that some people are happy after sharing a selfie and getting few likes, while others expect as many likes as possible and become addicted to being liked. 

Addicted to being liked

As we arrived at the palace, our morning in Bangkok was over. Next up - how Grand can a Thai palace be?