Day 9: Let's Play Tourist

On Friday, we were graciously given the day off. I think it was interesting timing for a vacation day, especially since the workshop had gained momentum from our visits to the suburbs. Also, having a vacation day earlier would have helped me orient myself in the city. But a day off is a day off, and I appreciated it a lot.

Ploy, a Thai student and general Mom of the group, helped organize a trip to two of Bangkok's tourist hot spots: The Grand Palace/Temple of the Emerald Buddha (sounds like an Indiana Jones sequel, but this is one of Thailand's most sacred sites) and the Jim Thompson House. To get to the Grand Palace, we took another boat ride along the Chao Phraya River. I believe I've gained an appreciation of water transportation from this trip.

This time, we took a tourist boat instead of a regular public transportation boat. The tour guide talked about all of the hotels along the waterfront but neglected to tell us about houses like these.

The Temple of the Emerald Buddha is extravagant, gold, and shiny. Just being around so much glitter made the heat feel hotter. I'm amazed that it's kept in such great shape. I particularly enjoyed the Thai Ramayana mural depicting the battle between monkeys and giants. We had fun taking pictures of the various temples and craftsmanship, but many of us felt worn out pretty quickly and decided to forgo exploring inside the Grand Palace.

One example of a structure at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

No, we were not the only tourists doing this.

The Jim Thompson Center for the Arts and the Jim Thompson House had an exhibit called Tomyan Phadib, which describes itself as "an art exhibition of Thai and Japanese artists exploring the coexistence of the traditional and the contemporary." The title "Tomyan Pladib" combines the Thai soup Tomyan and the Thai word Pladib, which means "raw fish" and references Japanese cuisine. I enjoyed this exhibit (and the air conditioning) a lot.

Japanese pop artist Yoshimoto Nara's Sleepless Night [Cat]

Jim Thompson was an American architect who moved to Thailand permanently after serving in the second World War and revived the Thai silk industry. He had a fondness for Thai culture, and now his teak wood house serves as a site of cultural heritage, art, and preservation.

After a tour of the Jim Thompson house, I headed out to Chinatown to walk around the neighborhood. Interestingly, nearly every major city I've visited has a Chinatown, complete with a Chinatown gate. The Chinese diaspora is just fascinating. I walked the main streets (Charoen Krung and Yaowarat), the narrow roads between the main streets that have been turned into cozy market areas, and the narrower residential alleyways. Some sights: neon restaurant signs lined up and down tall buildings, middle-aged women doing aerobics in a temple courtyard, many small cats, older men and women sitting behind screened doors watching crowds walk by, tourists (like myself), older men examining relic-like stones with magnifying glasses, and a lot of high-density housing. For dinner I picked up food on the street: deep fried dumplings, a kilo of lychee fruit, and guava juice.

Bangkok Chinatown gate

Aerobics in a temple courtyard