Bangkok Day One - City of Contrasts
Following three weeks of teaching English to novice monks I decided to make a trip to Paske, Laos. The trip began with flying to Bangkok on Air Asia and changing to Lao Airlines. This gave me the perfect opportunity to stay in Bangkok for a couple of days and revisit the city where I graduated from high school forty-six years ago. Bangkok remains a city of contrasts.
First Outing
I stayed at the Prince Palace Hotel in the heart of the city. After checking in (the reception area is on the 11
th floor!), I went for a walk to see what was in the area. I stuck my head out the window while waiting for the elevator and immediately saw the target for my walk – the Temple of the Golden Mount.
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| Temple of the Golden Mount |
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| Water Taxis |
This temple is the closest thing Bangkok has to a hill – at least 150 feet high. I had fond memories of… I’m getting ahead of myself. The view directly below the elevator hall window was a large klong (canal) with water taxis running up and down.
The Prince is a luxury hotel surrounded by markets and crowded housing. Outside I headed past clothing and other markets and over the first bridge in the water taxi picture. This took me to a street through the area in the pictured here.
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| Crowded Housing Near Hotel |
My path led me into a sort of industrial zone similar to the ones I remembered from long ago. Here a machine shop was using tools and technologies from the 1940’s or 50’s to make… I don’t know what the man was making, but he was very industrious.
Bangkok Mechanical Shop Equipment From 1940's and 50's
My walk reintroduced me to the legendary Bangkok traffic – negotiating some intersections was ‘exciting’. It was dusk as I headed toward the Golden Mount and rush hour had started.
The Golden Mount
The Golden Mount is actually Wat Srakese Rajavaramahavihara founded in the 17th century. Golden Mount is a much simpler and descriptive name. The temple has a long staircase that circles the mount and a very large golden cheddi at the top. The walk up provides great views of the city and nearby temples.
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| Roof With Bougainvillea |
I met four girl scouts on the way up. They were happy to pose for me, ring the bells and one of the gongs.
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| Girl Scouts Climbing Golden Mount |
Bell and Gong Ringing Girl Scout
At the top, I found a serious looking monk observing the cheddi. By happenstance his picture had some words on the part of the building to his left. Curious.
The sun was at my back as I rounded the south side of the cheddi. I was having trouble framing my next picture because there was a bright light in my face. Eventually I noticed people were frantically waving for me to move out of their way. I had walked into the filming of a favorite Thai soap opera. I stepped aside and got some shots of the filming and the sunset as well.
The top level Thai soap opera stars – Phetlada known as Aoh and Nutthawot commonly called Poh were at work. Aoh was all the more famous because she lost her whole house in the Bangkok floods.
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| Poh and Aoh Filming |
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| Looking to the Heavens |
Filming Thai Soap Opera
Filming around a religious site can be tricky. There is a statue of Settinavagot next to the cheddi. Settinavagot is an eight faced Buddha that sees in every direction.
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| Settinavagot |
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| Camera Man at Settinavagot Buddha |
Every time this camera man stepped by the statue, he turned, bowed his head, brought his hands together and “weied” to show his respect. Of course he did this quickly because the light was fading.
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| Golden Mount Cheddi Sunset |
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| Golden Mount Cheddi Sunset |
The setting sun gave me some special photos as I headed down.
It was quite dark as I headed down from the Golden Mount and found some more beautiful vistas of the city as I walked the stairway rounding the mount.
