Thailand, The Land of Smiles

After leaving Saigon, we cruised the Gulf of Thailand stopping at Ko Samui. I am told this was a perfectly beautiful area and that I really should have gone ashore. My apologies to Ko Samui, I simply did not have it in me. My body needed more time to recover from the excursions of the past week. I shall try to do Thailand justice during my two day visit in Bangkok.

Our guide in Bangkok is my source for the nickname above. After a full day of touring Bangkok, I would rephrase it to "Thailand, The Land of Flowers!" Block after block after block of flower markets selling the largest selection of beautiful flowers, floral arrangements, cut flowers, wreaths, bouquets, single stems, and open and unopened lotus flowers that I could ever have imagined. We were each given a lotus bud accompanied by a lesson in how to carefully open and create a beautiful flower which was to be left on the alter at the Buddhist Temple. Not sure but what mine wasn't so ugly a creation that it was insulting to Buddha, but I tried.

All Aboard for our Tuk-Tuk ride thru downtown Bangkok. Note my mutilation of the lotus bud.

From the flower markets we traveled by Tuk-Tuk through the city to a mass of structures surrounded by walls, all of that inside the walls encompassing the temple. None of the tuk-tuk drivers spoke English but they managed to communicate their willingness to snap pictures of their passengers prior to take off. And take off it was. The speed at which he wove us in and out of traffic, crossing multiple lanes of vehicles with the same careless abandon as Houston freeway drivers. NO chance to take photos along the way. All too soon we arrived at the Temple and bid farewell to our drivers. Even after this full emersion into the Buddhist culture, I remain ignorant of the reasons for and the names of the various structures. What I have learned is that they are all very ornate, very important and meaningful in their culture. I shall remain respectful of their beliefs and the art so prominent in the design. Our guide this day explained as Dr. Sherry had previously in her on board stories, that Thailand has had ten kings of the same royal family dating back several centuries. Under the reign of these ten kings, Thailand has prospered. The royal family indulged themselves in the best of everything including importing massive amounts of porcelain dishes from China. As we all know, fine china is very delicate and shipping was not what it is today so huge amounts of these pieces arrived broken. The king was of the same opinion as my father: waste not, want not. He found a use for these porcelain chips. The intricate details of the floral designs on these massive "tombs" (I think) were created from those chips. Beautiful, thrifty, clever use of waste.

That which is not gold is the broken porcelain.

One of our group did not see fit to act as instructed and stay with the group requiring a forty-five minute delay in our departure to the next stop on the tour. I really love those among us to whom rules do not apply. I wonder how it feels to be that special? This delay put us in a bigger traffic jam than Waco on OU weekend! Such is life. I could not help but notice that at the next stop, an upscale jewelry store giving us a thirty percent discount, her husband did not allow her to get more than three feet from our guide. Smart fellow, that husband. As we were stalled in traffic, our guide explained that the reason for the lights decorating all the trees along the "Champs Elysees, Bangkok" were in preparation for the June 3rd celebration of the Queen's 45th birthday. King Rama X is considerably older than his Queen, however, it doesn't seem to have slowed him down any at all. A quick bit of research courtesy of Google states that he has fifty mistresses and spends the vast majority of his time in Bavaria, Germany. Hmm, wonder if he will return for the big birthday celebration?

While stuck in rush hour traffic on this newly constructed state of the art freeway, our guide pointed out things of interest and related details about her much loved home. One of those landmarks was what is now known as the James Bond Hotel, renamed since the filming of "Tomorrow Never Dies" within. It seems that prior to the completion of this freeway on which we were stuck, the traffic was so bad that all law enforcement personnel were trained in the birthing of babies, delivering 51 infants during a reasonably short period of time. Our guide was very concerned and repeatedly apologized for our late return. Seems her primary concern was that we would miss dinner. God love her, she did not realize that not one among us had missed a single meal since embarking on this trip as food is available 24/7.

Sadly some one hundred and thirty-five of my fellow passengers departed in Bangkok, but not to worry they were replaced the next day by 185 persons including a surprisingly large number of youngsters. Heretofore, youngsters generally referred to those in their fifties, however, we now have teens and twenties aboard. Hope they enjoy it half as much as us old codgers.

Bangkok is a very large city, spread out along the coastline for miles and miles. A blend of architectural styles, old, new, splendid and shanty. While I did not have an opportunity to view the Emerald Buddha due to the aforementioned birthday celebration, I found Bangkok an intriguing city filled with beautiful people, sites and experiences well worth the time and expense of a longer visit.

Sunset over Bangkok as we leave this beautiful city.

Today Is Someday! Enjoy It!