The ship's literature promised us "an escape to a world of exotic enchantment and excitement." Our tour guide Toy ("Call me Mama Toy") echoed this sentiment. Our tour bus was the most beautiful vehicle on wheels with blue pleated and ruffled valances and blue velour seats with designs in all the primary and secondary colors and head clothes made from white eyelet. Even the ceiling and speakers were decorated with the blue velour fabric. Mama Toy showed us to do the proper "Sawasdee" greeting with hands in a prayer pose and offered a "happy room" stop half-way through our long drive.
On May 11, 1949, Siam, which means "black," officially changed the country's name to Thailand, which means "land of freedom." The country experiences three seasons: hot from March to May, rainy from June to September and cold from November to February. We were definitely visiting in the hot season.
Bangkok ranks just behind Singapore as the richest conglomerate in the world. The extremely long, official name for Bangkok comes from the heavens. The people believe in reincarnation. The more good a person does on earth, the higher the level that person will go in heaven. People give offerings at the more than 30,000 temples so that they can get to a higher level of heaven in the next life.) Mama Toy jokingly told us that "at the top level, you enjoy a beautiful world cruise on the Pacific Princess." (Okay, maybe she wasn't joking.")
She also told us that Thailand's 84-year-old king is very sick. He has been hospitalized with a broken heart because his children are fighting. We saw policemen who were getting ready in case these children decided to demonstrate. Yellow is the color of the political party in power while red is the color of the last prime minister. Yellow represents the king. On Monday, it is lucky to wear yellow in honor of the king who was born on a Monday. Last year, the trouble in Thailand contributed to a decrease in tourism, which the government does not want to happen again. In our port lecture, we were told to avoid any group that seemed to be demonstrating.
Our first stop when we reached the city of Bangkok Wat Trimitr to marvel at its massive gold Buddha, which is a solid 18k gold, 10-foot high, 5 and 1/2-ton statue, making it the world's largest statue of the Buddha. After the king moved the capital of Thailand to Bangkok, the builders of the temple needed to find one of the statues of the Buddha that were being moved around so that they could not be stolen. The Buddha chosen was made of cement but the crane operator dropped it. Under the cement was the solid gold Buddha with black sapphire eyes. What a lucky break! Momma Toy told us that Thursday was a good day to receive the blessings from the Buddha. What words can adequately describe a solid gold Buddha?
The next stop was the Grand Palace, which is more than one square mile and was constructed in 1782 by King Rama I after the establishment of Rattanakosin City or Bangkok and the Emerald Buddha Temple or Wat Phra Kaew. The temple is all mosaic with the gate being mother-of-pearl mosaic inlay. People who do not have money to donate to the temple can work on its upkeep. What can be said about a place that glitters, gleams, glistens and glimmers like no other place that we have ever seen? Everywhere we looked, there was another fantastic photo opportunity. Punxsutawney Phil particularly liked the half bird/half human figures that are good demons in Heaven. We even saw a casket for the king's hat and a weapons rooms with two ornate thrones with very small seats. Obviously, the royal couple must work out in a gym on a regular basis.
The Emerald Buddha was carved from a block of green jade that was then covered with plaster and was first discovered in 1434 at a stupa in Chiang Rai. Later, the abbot who found the Buddha noticed that the plaster was peeling off the nose, revealing what he thought was emerald underneath. Then after several moves that included 226 years in Laos before a Thai army captured the Laotian capital in 1778 and brought the Buddha back to Thailand, it was placed within the Royal Monastery with great pomp and ceremony. The costumes of the Emerald Buddha are changed three times a year with the seasons.
After our tour of the Royal Place and Wats, we were treated to a cruise on the Chao Praya River for water views of the palace, the Temple of Dawn (Wat Arun), which is considered the most beautiful temple in Bangkok, and Phra Prang, a pagoda decorated with ceramic tiles and pieces of colored porcelain. Try to imagine a city with every color possible. Mama Toy told us that the people who live in the houses on stilts in the river must have television watch or they would get in trouble. The boat stopped after she gave us large rolls to feed the fish, which were very happy that we came.
Following lunch, we learned what had subsidized this incredible tour when we stopped at an overpriced shopping pavilion where our tour guide probably received a commission. We would have much preferred a local crafts market or the downtown area for shopping. However, we got back to the dock in time to shop at the massive market in the terminal. Mark tried to bargain for a shirt for Ken but Ken agreed to the price of $13 before Mark had gotten the sales clerk down to $12. The woman was so happy that Ken bought the shirt for $13 that she sold one to Mark for $12. We still have a lot to learn about purchasing items in foreign countries!
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