Day #3 Avoiding Protesters

Avoiding Protesters & Long Boat Trip

Reading the Bangkok Post, the headlines continue about the Bangkok protests and possible coup.  The PDRC democratic party has lambasted the government for mudslinging about their possible use of drugs and violence in the protest and contest that this is a smear campaign to discredit them.  Hard to determine which stories are invented and which are true?  Both sides are posturing.  While the prime minister has pushed for new dialogue and this has happened nothing seems to have been gained. The prime minister urges to let the election take place and tell the story of who should be in power while Suthep wants her to step down and form an interim government of unelected officials.  More airlines are stopping flights to Bangkok until the end of February.  We decide a boat trip will be safe from protests.

Long Boat Excursion 

Meeting up with Zanny and Skip we hire a long boat to take us into the canals off the river. Queued up with other long boats to go through the lock to get into the canals I see our driver chatting away on his cell phone.  

This extraordinary trip allows us to peer further into the local houses situated on the canals. As Skip points out none of these houses would pass any sort of housing code laws in the US, as they appear to be dilapidated, falling into the water and nothing is level. However, somehow they look quaint or cozy and even romantic as I peer into their living room quarters surrounded by flowers and vines with laundry hanging everywhere as well as refrigerators, pots and pans and couches that look like they would be in a garbage dump in US.  

Nothing is wasted here. Outside some houses have postboxes where boats must drop mail and several have small bags of garbage left out for garbage boat collection.  We mostly see old people in these homes but guess others are at work, school or protesting somewhere.  

As our long boat trip comes to an end we are approached by a woman in a flat bottomed boat who is selling everything from umbrellas to hats to jewelry to beer. She is persuasive and persistent and we work on our ignore technique.  However, Skip who is dreaming of beer gives in buying one for our long boat captain who trades it in for a different brand. 

Off the Tour Grid ~ a local school

Preschoolers at school 

John and I decide to forgo visiting another Wat temple and go back to our hotel.  I think our ability to take in all these incredible sites is like eating too much… after awhile one feels a bit bloated and uncomfortable with too much food which is either difficult to absorb or expelled like diarrhea.  Instead we go off the guide book tourist best sites and take a walk down some lanes in a nearby community.  This for me is as much fun as anything else and there is a sense of personal discovery with this exploration.  We find a nearby neighborhood community that is active with mostly mothers and young children selling fried food. We hear the happy sounds of children playing and find a public school for children kindergarten to grade six. I stop to peer in at the children hoping to get a picture and introduce myself to one of the teachers.  This kindergarten teacher, Jaymar M. Cuanico, is from the Philippines and teaches English to the students.  He says he loves his job and introduces me to several other teachers.  They seem happy to let me takes pictures of them with their students when I tell them I am a teacher who works with children in US. 

I exchange addresses with the English teacher and tell him I will send him a copy of my teacher book, which has been translated into Thai.  However, I learn he doesn’t speak Thai.  Reluctantly I leave this school dreaming of coming back to teach here as it looks like a well funded school.  Back at the hotel I meet Zanny and Skip for a swim to cool off while John has one of his power naps. 

Our last dinner in Bangkok is a pleasant surprise.  John has checked with the concierge about local, authentic, not pretentious or fancy Thai food restaurants ~ and we are told about Harmonique which I think is near a hole in the wall place we loved on our last Bangkok visit but we can’t remember the name.  To our delight when we get there we find it is exactly the same place.  Dinner with Zanny and Skip is another incredible experience with many new tastes.  Zanny again takes pictures of our food. Skip and John celebrate by having a Singha beer.  John has changed his mind about Bangkok and is surprised by how much he has enjoyed this trip ~ and I think there is still so much more to see (such as the river market and other Wats) but unfortunately we must leave tomorrow for Burma. Who knows maybe we will find ourselves back in Bangkok unable to get a flight home because of airport closures?

Day #2 Operation Bangkok Shut Down

January 5, 2014 

Operation Shut Down Bangkok ~ Will the Golden Buddha allow it? 

Next morning we are up early at our breakfast spot on the river terrace reading the Bangkok Post.  John comments, “I’m getting jaded. Bangkok doesn’t seem to amaze me.” I wonder what has prompted this thinking?  Too much shopping? Perhaps markets and massages are too familiar after Turkey and the Middle East but what could be more exciting? I find it all amazing.. just watching the people fascinates me. Does he want to be part of the Bangkok protest?

In reading the Bangkok Post we discover that today is the first of four rehearsal days of practice protests calling for the shut down of the government. Since early November Kamnan Suthep and his anti-government followers, called the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), have been camped out at the Democracy Monument. The PDRC are saying that the current Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawata ( woman) must “step down”. She is the sister of the former prime minister who was found guilty of treason in 2008 and is accused of corruption. Today the PDRC will leave their prior protest location and spread out to six different locations in Bangkok to prepare for the real protest event scheduled for January 13^th. They plan to shut down central Bangkok by blocking all traffic at 20 major intersections, closing government offices, halting all police work and bringing anarchy to the center of Bangkok with their 19 day march and protests. Furthermore, they plan to shut off electricity to government offices and are telling people to see their doctors now because unless they have money for an ambulance they will not be able to get to the hospital. 

History of the 2008 and 2010 protests portent that this protest will lead to further violence, economic loss and loss of tourism. However, Mr. Suthep says, “you can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs.” Already today the bhat has dropped to 33 bhat to one dollar and stocks are plummeting. Having recently experienced the US government shut down by the Republican Party I wonder about the value of such an approach.  When and where does compromise and problem solving occur? Perhaps one shouldn’t be eating eggs in the first place.

The prime minister and army appear to be holding steady at the moment. And the much loved king has said that everyone wants the same thing ~ happiness, prosperity and peace but there is no agreement about how to get there. The scheduled election for February 2^nd looks grim as the PDRC are trying to stop it from happening. The “white shirts” set off white balloons to support the idea of letting the election go forward. The “red shirts”, who are pro government, are mapping out a counter strategy to the shut down effort and are staging rallies throughout the country. The Bangkok Post says that the military is moving tanks and guns into the city.  The PDRC who are reported to have 6000 hard-core protestors are said to be willing to take drugs to cause violence at the upcoming protest.

I wonder if we will be able to return to US on January 23 out of Bangkok. Already airlines such as Singapore Airlines are cancelling fights to Bangkok from mid January to late February.  We plan our day’s schedule to bypass the main protest areas such as Chinatown and decide to start with the Golden Buddha. There is something paradoxical about being in a largely Buddhist country and organizing our day around sites where protests won’t be happening. What happened to the Buddhist philosophy of peace and compromise? Perhaps the golden Buddha will give us insight.

Sukhothai Wat Trainit ~ Golden Buddha Insights

Golden Buddha 

John bargains with a taxi driver to take us to the Golden Buddha and the flower market for 400 bhats (12 dollars). He has a lovely air conditioned car and waits for us at the Golden Buddha while we see this site early enough in the morning when there are very few tourists. Or, perhaps tourists are staying away because of possible demonstrations.  We are told this is the largest Golden Buddha Image in the world and he seems to have the mara-conquering attitude.  He is made of pure gold and measures 12 feet 5 inches in diameter by 15 feet 9 inches high.  He weighs 5.5 tons and my brochure says has a value of 28.5 million pounds, although John’s tour book says he is valued at over 250 million dollars.   Originally this Buddha was completely covered with plaster or stucco to conceal it from enemies. When it was moved to its current site in 1955 part of its plaster was broken revealing it is made of pure gold.

We ask our taxi driver to take us to Wat Pho instead of the flower market ~ John offers him an extra 20 bhats for this. Not sure whether our driver is happy or insulted with this meager bonus but nonetheless he takes us there. We say goodbye with promises that we might call him the next day to go to the river market.

Wat Pho (what for?) ~ the Reclining Buddha

Wat Pho Stupas 

Wat Pho Stupas

This place is an amazing surprise not because the world’s largest reclining Buddha is located here but because of its sprawling, stupa-studded grounds.  There are 4 towering stupas representing 4 kings and 91 smaller stupas. Additionally Wat Pho has the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand with over 394 Buddhas. 


 The place feels somewhat less commercial ~ at least at this early time of day but perhaps the Buddhas are transmitting this relaxed, meditative atmosphere. 

















In addition, there are amazing Chinese rock (granite) giants scattered about guarding the entrances. I like these the best and ask John to stand next to one in the male pose of authority.  They have bulging eyes and opera style costumes. 

We easily spend 90 minutes here even before seeing the reclining Buddha who I think looks female. (Why are Buddha’s thought to be male?) 

Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho 

This Buddha (measuring 46 meters long by 15 meters high) represents the passing of Buddha into nirvana. She is made of plaster with a brick core and finished in gold leaf but not solid gold like the Golden Buddha. 

WATPO Thai Traditional Medical and Massage School and Students

It is not long before we come across the national headquarters for teaching traditional Thai medicine, which includes Thai massage.  Here there is a famous massage school and John heads for this place like a bee to honey.  He signs up for a head and neck massage and I take off to explore.  

High school girls interview me 

I meet up right away with a group of 6 teenage girls who want to interview me and are carefully using a questionnaire, writing down my answers and recording exactly what I say (qualitative research). No human subjects’ forms are signed so I negotiate asking if I can ask them questions and take pictures of them as well. They giggle and are delighted and laugh when they ask me my favorite Thai food and I say mango fruit. 

I ask them if they plan to go to university and they aren’t sure. One of them tells me she wants to be a nurse. I encourage this idea and they giggle as I take pictures of them and they take pictures of me.  Next I ask them what they think of the anti-government protests and the prime minister.  I ask, “Is she a model for them of competent leadership”?  Suddenly they are quiet and pretend not to understand. I push for a response but we end up saying good-bye with me none the wiser. 
Later I talk to a group of boys and get a similar response. 



Next I follow my instinct into a stupa where I had noticed loads of shoes out front earlier and find myself in a Buddha prayer group with 12 monks who are chanting. 

Monk Prayers

 I sit and watch but feel I am part of something private and should not be here. Nonetheless they don’t ask me to leave and I enjoy the meditative moment. Perhaps I will be a monk in my next life.

Back to meet John who feels this massage has been more competent than his previous market one but says, “I am not cured yet.”  He paid 250 bhats (about $7) for 30 minutes.. still cheaper than the hotel massages.

Vegetable and Flower Market

Outside of Wat Pho we hail a tuck tuck to take us to the flower market. We are taken about 3-4 blocks and John pays the driver 600 bhats without negotiating.  I comment that he didn’t bargain and just paid more for that tuck tuck trip than he paid our prior taxi driver for his air conditioned car who spent over an hour driving and waiting for us.  Hmm…. perhaps this guy deserved more?

Bangkok Vegetable Market 

We spent a wonderful hour in this market ~ it seemed like a giant Costco where vegetables were sold in huge quantities. Men were madly running back and forth in great haste with huge bamboo wicker baskets either on their backs, or on bicycles or motorcycles to deliver their vegetables and fruits. 

I was sure I would get run over and indeed one of the motorcycles runs into my leg because I am too busy trying to take close up pictures rather than watching where I am standing.

Man on bike with produce

Peeling garlic 

I am entranced by a young man who is patiently peeling garlic heads to place in a gigantic bag for sale. I imagine this must take all day to fill one bag. 




Others are filling plastic bags with lettuce or beans.

In the flower section women were sitting around making flower necklaces or elaborately designed flower arrangements. They people seem so patient with this process and proudly smile at me when I take pictures of them without asking for money. They are the epitome of "mindfulness" and not distracted from their work. 

Dinner Cruise on Mae Nam Chao Phraya River

Amazingly we meet as planned our Seattle friends Zanny and Skip at the city pier.  Our reconnoiter is as seamless as if we are meeting them at Express Cuisine on Vashon. John has reserved a dinner cruise along the Mae Nam Chao Phraya River because Skip had done this years ago and had fond memories of this event.  

We board one of the authentic looking wooden rice boats that holds 5 tables on each side ~ there are perhaps 20 people total. John has booked a 7 course meal of Thai specialties for three of us and a 9 course meal for himself. While I have said he could eat some of my courses I happily enjoyed all the fabulous and elegantly displayed food.  As we drift along the river we view the Wat Arun (which we haven't visited), palace, and temples lit up at night and looking magical.  It is especially fun to be sharing this trip with our close friends from Seattle. Zanny takes pictures of every course ~ I wonder if I will try to cook Thai when we get home but am sure Zanny will. 

2014 Day #1 Time Travel

Time Travel to Bangkok ~ a new model wife? 

Time travel forward to 2014 New Year’s Day to another universe via United Airlines from Seattle via San Francisco (via Los Angeles) and Tokyo to our first destination Bangkok.  After 21 hours arriving at midnight we are welcomed at the Peninsula Bangkok Hotel. This beautiful hotel sits on the Chao Phraya River and our room on the 32^nd floor looks out over the river and a city of skyscrapers, temples, palaces and some discontented anti-government protestors.

Jet lag and travel excitement means we are up at 5 am (although truth is we often get up at that time at home) and we are the first guests at the hotel’s river terrace for breakfast. This meal looks more like a dinner buffet to me consisting of an array of Thai, Indian and Chinese dishes as well as typical American food.  How does one decide what to eat? We start with papaya and mango fruit sprinkled with lime and I am sure this is the best mango I’ve ever tasted and quickly become addicted going back for a third helping.  John of course heads for the fish curry, sticky rice, stir fry vegetables, noodles, chicken, miso soup and chana while I focus on French bread, butter, cheese and granola. I wait for John to make his usual comment about why I should eat the local food, and sure enough he says, “where can one get Thai food as good as this? If you ever are going to eat it, this is the place”.   

Bhats and the Biggest Chatuchat Weekend Market

We head out early while it is still cool and we believe we will be ahead of other tourists searching for what is said to be the world’s largest and baddest market in the world.  We take the Sky train managing after several failed attempt to buy tickets with the correct amount of bhat and soon realize other tourists have exactly the same idea.  We get to the crowded and narrow sauna-like market and John settles in for a double expresso while I begin to explore. Immediately I realize I could be lost here forever. This place is a gigantic maze of never ending mazes and commercial enterprises.  I cannot determine landmarks because there are hundreds of barrios containing Nike shoes, used blue jeans, white Ralph Lauren shirts, watches, jewelry, Buddha statues with Thai music or Beatles CDs blazing, lacquer ware, purses, antiques and anything you could ever want.

 Having no sense of direction I try the strategy of going down one pathway for what seems like half a mile and turn around to return via the next pathway thinking pathways will be symmetrical. I realize that if I get lost I do not have an I-phone to call him and will not be able to find John. What will I do? Why didn’t I have a back up plan?  

I stop by a small shop with two pretty young Thai girls putting up colored shirts similar to ones they are wearing. I try one on and in my usual in decisive way wonder if a woman my age could wear this. There doesn’t appear to be any pressure in this market by any of the vendors to buy things, which is delightfully refreshing after the Istanbul market. I meet a woman my age from Fiji Island who is also trying to decide whether to buy one. Her husband comes along saying, “its only ten dollars --buy it! It looks terrific.” He tells me he can’t believe I have found this market on my first day in Bangkok because he has been in Thailand10 days and these are the best prices anywhere.  I buy one of the shirts but don’t bargain, as $10 seems too cheap already. Hmm. I wonder if I am calculating the prices of bhats correctly ~  300 bhats equals 10 dollars (30 to 1)?   How much have I given the sweet girl vendor?  I turn around and return to John who I fear may be starting to get worried that I could be lost. I tell him about the Fiji couple I met and their comment about the market. He replies, “of course you would come here first, you have a great tour director who does his research.”

Thai Massage ~ We travel deeper into the maze of narrow alleys and John stops to bargain for a Lauren t-shirt just like the one he is wearing. a quarter the price of such shirts in US.  Are these knock offs? I am guessing everything here is a copy.. the Mephisto shoes are only $10 and look pretty authentic. Next to the men’s shirt store we discover a massage parlor and John decides this is the next best way to spend his time while I shop. He agrees to a massage asking for a head and shoulders massage which ends up being a full massage (fully clothed) that lasts 90 minutes.  The Thai woman giving him the massage starts by sitting on first his legs and then walks on his back digging her elbows in.  I watch and wonder if this will be deep enough for John or will result in another herniated disk? I head out for a bit more shopping.

I am feeling a bit more confident of not getting lost and tell myself everyone will know where the massage parlor is if I do get lost. I find myself in the animal shopping section of the market. Here they have dogs, kittens, snakes and clothing barrios just for animals. I look at cute baby bunnies dressed in designer clothes and start to take a picture because I think I may be hallucinating. I am told photographing is not allowed.  Having been distracted by these amazingly dressed animals I realize I have become lost. I try to retrace my steps but don’t recognize anything. I stop to ask several people where the massage parlor is and they respond with blank stares not understanding what I am saying. Panic sets in… I ask some others where the massage place is using sign language and massaging my own shoulders to demonstrate the word “massage”. I implore, “ My husband is in there I have to find him” and they smile at me and say yes.   Suddenly I see the Ralph Lauren barrio and know I am saved.  I arrive there finding John is still under pressure from the probably untrained masseuse. Seeing me they invite me to sit down and bring me tea. I decide to stay put and read my book on George Orwell in Bhutan.  John pays the equivalent of $20 for this massage and feels he has more than gotten him money’s worth as massages at the Peninsula hotel start at over $100.  He always likes a bargain.

At the periphery of this market are food stalls, which in themselves are amazing efforts of how to squeeze everything including the kitchen, cooking, and cleaning up as well as customer seating into a space the size of a largish closet. We stop for some Thai food at one of these tables. After eating we pass the tables to see where the cook is making the food while another person sitting on the floor is washing the dishes by hand in what may or may not be clean water?  Our first test of how good our gut flora will be!

Jim Thompson’s House

This American CIA agent who came to Bangkok was successful at developing a business exporting Thai silk. He retired to Bangkok and built his home out of 6 traditional homes constructed together.  We took this tour of his home and learned more about Jim Thompson’s architectural changes of Thai style than about Thai architecture itself. His beautiful home is currently a museum of beautiful Chinese porcelain using Thai designs.  We learn later that one of our friends on the Burma tour, Avis Bohlen, had been a guest there when "Jimmie Thomson" was alive and well.  He later disappeared under mysterious circumstances in Malaysia.   

Returning home mid afternoon for a nap before heading into town for dinner we find the place where we bought our Vashon cutlery on our last visit. John buys a few more knives.  The vendor warns him not to take these knives home in his carry on luggage. Next we find a local restaurant chain called Ices and sit on the busy street where cars, trucks, and taxis amass making it difficult for people to cross the street.  John orders a bass fish dish for dinner that comes in its entirety with whiskers and mouth and looks huge. It has taken so long to be steamed that we have had time to watch a rat run back and forth under our table to the place where they are cooking the food. Good enough for rats. John thinks it is very tasty!

Beauty and Mystery is Everywhere 

 Returning Home to Seattle and Vashon

We have traveled to the Middle East and Turkey and seen many exotic things that amazed and enlightened us. Goat markets, sand dunes, ancient mosques, Petra caves, where Jesus was buried and Mary sprayed her breast milk on the wall. What more is there to see? We return to Seattle and our home on Vashon Island. Will it all seem too new, too mundane, and too uninteresting? Our friends Judy and Andy are coming to stay with us from Oxford, England. What can we show them that will be exciting? We have nothing religious to offer and no ancient architecture. But one wet morning we take them to the garden under the sea... it has its own mysteries and magic.  Judy writes a poem about our experience. How can it be this is the first time we have seen this beauty right in our backyard?  

Under the Vashon Ferry Dock 

Low Tide on Vashon

Judy Molyneux

Low tide on Vashon

Amongst the pylons

Under the bridge to the ferry

Drenched In the rain.

Dark damp dripping down

Squirting geezer through

Black sand of the Giant Clam

Untouchable burrowing down

The art gallery decorating

The forest of posts all in lines

We gradually see them becoming

Denser and denser as we walk on.

All sizes of star fish Splayed in groups

Above the ground In clumps on posts.

Left behind by the dropping tide Dead or alive?

The tide is turning,They will survive.

Deep rich purples, lustrous glistening

On rough rubbery flesh. They do not move

Or respond to touch. They cling to the posts:

hosts of tentacles immobile, hosts off stars.

And interlaced are varying colours,

Blood red stripped through with conker-brown;

golden glow almost yellow, peeling off the post

Are these spikes teeth, a mouth?

And here's a cream mess hanging from wood to sand

No tentacles. is it glue, is it slime, is it alive?

Untouchable, And here's a blob on the ground.

Prod with toes, it recoils.

Shining orange anemone twins sit together

Glowing in this dark place

And near by some fine minute tentacles like mycellae

with a washed white empty crab shell.

Reflecting in shallow saline with floating weed

A secret water garden In miniature

through my phone camera lens. Living art

In a forest of pylons beneath the bridge to the ferry.

Carolyn Photographer 

Judy the poet and Andy her husband