Okay I have a plan… strike that… I had a plan. Today was the day that we were going to explore some of Bangkok’s cultural landmarks – well that plan went out the window when we both woke up late and feeling relatively lazy. I realised that there was no way that we were ever going to make any of the sites I had planned to visit before they were engulfed by crowds of tourists. So being magnanimous I generously offered Chelle the opportunity to decide where we would head off to… As we leisurely ate our morning meal, she suggested the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre or the Bangkok National Museum. Just a small problem, the one thing that these places have in common is that they are all closed on Mondays.
So we madly search the internet and my travel bible, The Lonely Planet, and after discovering most places in Bangkok are closed on Mondays we decide on the Jim Thompson House Museum. Never heard of it, neither had I but it is one of those tourist attractions that are listed in all the guide books and included on the must see lists for Bangkok – more importantly it was open on Monday. It also gave me the opportunity to demonstrate my prowess in navigating Bangkok’s public transportation system. Yes, I am a planning nerd at heart.
Instead of the Metro we embark on the BTS (Bangkok Mass Transit System) or Skytrain. First things first I need is to get me a Rabbit Card, I impatiently wait in queue but of course when I finally reach the counter I’m told to get said card I need to register, but in in order to register I need ID, no my Australian Driver’s Licence doesn’t cut the mustard, as a foreigner they’ll only accept my passport, which of course is back in the hotel room safe. We could buy a ticket from the vendor machine but it only accepts coins and of course I only have notes, so it is back in line again to get a single use ticket… the joys of public transport.
One of the things that I have quickly learnt about Bangkok is that it always seems to be 30C with 80% humidity, which means if you are walking more than 5 minutes your clothes are soaked in sweat and you’ve potentially lost several litres of bodily fluids. After walking the 250 metres from the station all we want to do is lock ourselves in the air conditioned shop for an hour. Anyway you are probably asking who the hell is Jim Thompson? and why does everyone want to visit his house? Good question. Jim Thompson, according to the spiel, was an American, ex-architect, retired army officer, one-time spy, silk merchant and antiques collector – who apparently was responsible for single handedly reviving the Thai silk industry and putting it on the world clothing map. Not just satisfied with doing all that he decided to build a house in Bangkok, but not any old house – he cobbled together six antique teak residences gathered from around the country into his vision of what a grand Thai mansion should be. In saying that he actually did a pretty good job. Then in 1967 whilst on holiday in the Highlands of Malaysia he went for a walk after lunch and was never seen again. Conspiracy theories abound. Kidnapped by the CIA? Murdered by business rivals? Abducted by Aliens? Allegedly months later he was spotted in Tahiti, no doubt having lunch with Elvis. The mystery remains unanswered. Was the 200 Baht ($9.70 AUD) guided tour worth it? I’ll let the pictures be the judge.
The next stage of our travels takes us to the Khlong Saen Saeb, sounds like something I would pick up from a dodgy street food vendor. Actually it’s one of the many canals which crisscross the city – which gave it the romantic title, Venice of the East. Now when I think of Venice I recall tiny waterways filled with gondolas quietly paddling through quaint little neighbourhoods, with Byzantine and Renaissance buildings lining the banks and magnificent stone bridges arching across them. Now picture the exact opposite of that – brown muddy water, concrete embankments, ramshackle houses, rusty fencing covered in graffiti.
The 54km long khlong (canal) was excavated in 1837, during the reign of Rama III, to transport troops in the ongoing battles against the Cambodians. Nowadays it carries thousands of commuters keen to avoid being stuck in Bangkok’s notorious traffic.
Our options are twofold, we place our lives into the tobacco stained hands of the operators of the numerous high speed flat bottomed barges, squeezed in like sardines on wooden benches and protected from water borne dysentery infections by a flimsy plastic curtain, for the princely sum of 10 Baht (50 cents) or take a ride on a spacious tourist taxi boat, which have actual seats and lifejackets, 200 Baht for an all day pass – no guess which one Chelle expects us to take.
As we speed down the canal there is a fascinating dichotomy of dwellings that face onto the waters edge, there are makeshift houses constructed of rusty tin, wooden planks and sheets of plastic and new concrete residences – the kind of homes that are marked by reinforced wooden doors and air-conditioners that constantly blast air so cold the windows fog up. Stores open their doors as close to the canal’s banks as possible without falling in. Women cook on platforms that often hover directly over the waterway, conveniently placed so that they can just dump the remains from their wok straight into the canal.
Our destination is the Golden Mount or officially known as Wat Saket Ratcha Wora Maha Wihan (shortened to Wat Saket). The 80m high ‘mount’ is actually an artificial hill, Phu Khao Thong, made out of a chedi/stupa which was built and collapsed in the 18th century, during the reign of Rama III. The temple on the top of this odd and unique hill was completed by Rama V at the end of the 19th century.
It is a sunny afternoon as we set off up the broad concrete staircase that cuts through the lush hanging trees covering the hillside. The recorded sound of chanting monks and bells rings softly in our ears, urging us to take the next step up the path gently spirals its way to the summit. With only 344 steps to climb this is a breeze – remember we triumphantly scaled Adam’s Peak a few years back. After about a fifteen-minute walk, including numerous photo and “bell” breaks along the way, we step onto the top base of the temple. The outside of golden temple is surrounded with small bells, that ring in the wind like a bell orchestra. I follow an old saffron robed monk up a narrow staircase to the temple’s roof and the golden stupa, to discover a stunning 360-degree view of Bangkok. Big bonus the temple is not crowded either with only a few other western tourists admiring the vista. As we admire the views and enjoy the cooling zephyr I try an orientate where our hotel is, only to be contradicted by Chelle several times – I mean seriously who is the town planner in this relationship.
Suitably refreshed we re-trace our path back to the khlong, seeing how we purchased an all-day pass, we are going to make the most of our transport investment. We head upriver until we get to a weir obstructing our passage – end of the line. This is where the khlong flows into the Chao Phraya River, actually the river at the moment is about 1.5m higher than the canal hence the impressive colonial-style weir. As we depart our gondola of sorts I scan the map for a new destination – the Mahakan Fort. After the forts of India this small whitewashed octagonal structure ain’t that impressive however all I can hear is this rhythmical chant in the air and the throbbing of drums – it is like a sirens call drawing me to the river’s edge. As I barge my way through the yellow shirted throng in the adjoining park, leaving poor Chelle in my wake, my anticipation rises as the chanting is becoming almost hypnotic. What I spot on the river is a succession of wooden barges manned by polo shirt clad oarsman paddling in perfect time to an ongoing drumbeat. To call them barges is an understatement these are ornate over-sized dragon boats, with at least 40-50 oarsman on each. There must be about fifty of these barges in this flotilla slowly making their way down the river in a perfect formation – the music that is blaring from numerous speakers along the riverbanks appears to be synchronized with their every stroke. It would be even better if I knew what the hell was going on but my Thai is limited to hello and thank you. (I later found that this was a practice run for the King’s royal barge procession, the final part of his coronation ceremony. The last time it occurred was in 2007, which explains why they are having nine practice runs before they get it right.)
When the last of the barges moves out of view of my camera and after I manage to locate Rachelle we head back downriver (more like down canal) on our water taxi to the end of the line at Pratunam Pier. Now if you are thinking that this is a civilised jetty where your respective watercraft slowly docks and lets you casually disembark then you must be somewhere else this is where all the canal’s high speed barges jockey for limited water-space to turn around and disgorge their passengers in the shortest time possible. Safely on land its time to make our way home checking my google map I assure Chelle the nearest BTS station is just up the road, which with the prevailing heat and humidity means every 100 metres fells like you’ve walked a kilometre. (I haven’t the heart to tell her that I later found out if we jumped on a connecting ferry we would have literally ended up at the doorstep of our hotel). As I’ve learnt previously your map of the footpaths here need to be translated into three dimensions and the quickest way is via the footbridges spanning over the top of the roads and often cutting through the middle of one of the multitude of shopping malls. Of course when we finally get to the BTS I don’t have a Rabbit Card and I don’t have the right change in coins… so back in another seemingly endless queue – not happy Jan!
Stepping beyond our front door 