Happy New Year! Over the past couple of weeks, I have moved twice. I moved out of my long-term residence into a hotel for 10 days. And this week, I traveled from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, where I'm staying in another hotel.
While I'm in Bangkok this time, I plan to meet up with some old friends and see a few sights. There is so much to see and do here!
So far, I've acquainted/re-acquainted myself with
the following sights – the Skytrain, Brown Sugar Jazz Pub, the Grand Palace, Wat Pho,
Lumpini Park, several malls and areas. It would take a lifetime or longer to hit every nook and cranny. The city is crammed with people, buildings, cars and stuff! I'm tempted to buy about 50 things a day, but I manage to talk myself out of it - thank goodness!
Sky-train – what a lovely addition to
this city! It has been my main means of
transportation and works amazingly well – it’s efficient, safe and nicely
air-conditioned. Here's the link to the website:
Brown Sugar Jazz Pub – http://www.brownsugarbangkok.com/ – This
is not the same bar (they moved) that I sang in 25+ years ago, but it still has some very
good talent. One of the singers that I like is Natt Buntita, who made it onto The Voice Thailand. She was singing the night that I went, along with her guitar accompanist, Junior. She
has a beautiful voice and can scat like nobody’s business. It was well worth the harrowing
taxi ride that I took to get there! If you click on the Brown Sugar link above, you will find some You Tube videos of Natt and other singers. Here's a picture that I took:
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| Natt Buntita & Junior at Brown Sugar Jazz Pub |
Grand Palace – To get to the Grand Palace, I took the sky-train to the pier, then boarded a Chao Phrya River boat for 14 baht (about 50 cents).
There are several stops. From the Grand Palace stop, I was able to walk just a few minutes to the Grand Palace complex. It is a large complex that includes Wat Phra Kaew (Emerald Buddha Temple). The Emerald Buddha is Thailand's most sacred Buddha. The only unfortunate thing about my visit was that the place was crawling with hordes of tourists (mainly Chinese). Several busloads must have been dropped off
just before I went in*sigh*. This made it
difficult to maneuver, and made me wonder if famous attractions should consider having a
“tour bus free” day??!!?? More information about this amazing place can be found at this link: http://www.tourismthailand.org/Attraction/The-Grand-Palace--52
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| Grand Palace from the entrance |
One nice surprise was a free ticket to enter the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles. They had a weaving demonstration and a few giveaways. The upstairs of this elegant building houses dresses that were worn by the Queen during several state visits. Also housed here is an exhibition in honor of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's 60th birthday. It includes over 200 objects that she has collected from her travels around the world. I found this museum very interesting. The air conditioning added to my enjoyment!
Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha) – it is located
directly behind the Grand Palace, and seemed to have fewer tour groups. This made it very nice to walk around and sit in the gardens.
I was awestruck by the huge reclining Buddha!
I was awestruck by the huge reclining Buddha!
For more information and pictures, click here: http://www.bangkok.com/attraction-temple/wat-po.htm#
Lumpini Park – I have wonderful
memories of going for early morning runs in this park. As a retiree, I find it hard to get up most
mornings these days, but one day I forced myself out of bed and walked to
this gem. Near the entrance, an exercise class was in full swing. There were multitudes of different Tai Chi groups, as well as other exercising groups. They all seemed to require that participants wear the same color t-shirt. I didn’t see any snake charmers like I did
when I lived here, but I did see quite a few Monitor Lizards. These guys are not small!
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| Monitor Lizard heading for the water |
I also found the gym, swimming pool and
tennis court complex. One can obtain membership
to the complex for 40 baht (about $1.20) a YEAR!
Incredible. Here's a link if you want to know more about Lumpini park: http://www.bangkok.com/sport-parks---activities/lumpini-park.htm
One day this week, I watched an
excellent 2014 movie on Netflix entitled “Boy Meets Girl” – about a transgender woman. This got me thinking how I
haven’t yet talked about Thailand’s Lady-boy population on my blog. I would be totally remiss if I didn’t include
some information about this. I love how amazingly integrated Lady-boys (the Thai word is Katoey – not considered a nice word)
are into Thai culture. They use the
feminine ending “kha” instead of the male ending “khrap” (some gay men also use "kha"). Thais do not appear to make fun of Lady-boys – they appear to embrace them. What a novel concept! Here is a link about lady-boys in Thailand. Please watch the video at the end - it's in Thai, but you should be able to understand what's going on.
Here's the wiki explanation:
I'll be on the road again on Monday, when I head for my final living destination - Hua Hin. Talk to you sometime next week!
