Random Rambles

Pagan/Bagan

Arrived here after a not-too-ghastly 17-hour journey with Myanamar Railways. Burmese trains are in the same condition as Indian trains. (For those who have been on Indian trains, you’ll know what I mean. For those who have not – well, there’s some scope for imagination.)

The train ride was actually enjoyable. Lots of pleasant scenery, pagodas atop hills, farmers with their oxcarts.

After the sun went down, clouds of fireflies appeared.

Arriving at last in Pagan.

Before leaving Rangoon, we went to the Bogyoke Market. Had visions of leaving with an enormous star sapphire ring – lots of gems for sale in this market – but cooler heads prevailed.

Maria bought a bracelet for less than a buck.

We also took the Circular Train in Rangoon, a 3-hour route that travels 36 kilometers around the city and nearby countryside. A good way to get down with the locals, and a bargain at 20 cents.

Of course the little girl at bottom right is not a local. We’ve noticed many young couples – mostly Europeans – travelling with their surprisingly young children and taking everything in stride. This was a Dutch couple with their daughter, who built up a charming rapport with an old burgundy-clad monk in the seat opposite. Like most places, people here love kids.

Went to the Botataung pagoda, with its nifty gold maze and its Buddha hair relics.

Maria had a go at gaining some merit.

Rangoon, Burma/Yangon, Myanmar

That’s the meaning of Rangoon/Yangon. Kind of ironic, given recent history.

I have to admit a bias for Burma over Myanmar. Burma has fewer syllables, and Myanmar sounds like a disease of the jaw.

Arrived here by air from Chiang Mai and noticed a change from Thailand – more packs of stray dogs, no street signs, and a general urban shabbiness and lack of trash collection that comes with decades of living in a socialist paradise hermit republic.

Then this morning we went to the Shwedagon pagoda. The centrepiece is a 99-metre gold foil-covered wonder of the world. After weeks of seeing dozens of temples, they pale in comparison to this place.

It’s approached up this grand staircase.

Which is guarded by these marvelous crocodiles.

 Once there, it’s like being in New York City for the first time: the most jaded cosmopolitan is transformed into a slack-jawed gaping yokel.

We spent hours walking around.

By the way, that’s an improvised longyi I’m wearing, made out of a travel towel, because shorts are not permitted while visiting the pagoda. A longyi (sounds like loan-gee) is a piece of material worn by both men and women here.

Some more shots of Shwedagon.

And another.

Strange fact: In Thailand, they drive on the left, like the British, even though they have never been a British colony. Yet here, which was a colony, they drive on the right, like in North America, but the steering wheel is on the right side, like left-driving countries. Just one of the mysteries of the orient.

On the way to Shwedagon, we came across a charming custom. This woman has a cage full of birds. For a thousand Kyat – less than a Canadian dollar – you can set one free.

So I liberated this little guy, thereby gaining great merit.

I should’ve ransomed the whole cage.

 

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai means “New City” and was so named because it became the new capital of Lan Na when it was founded in 1296, according to Wikipedia. (La Na was another one of the many kingdoms that preceded the present Thai kingdom in olden times, apparently.)

Left Sukhothai in an interesting stretch tuk-tuk to New Sukhoti.

Note the garland of marigolds hanging from the driver’s mirror:

Here, flowers are more for offerings than for home decoration. People offer up things to temples, trees, bridges. We later saw a woman creating these in a Chiang Mai market.

Came across a wonderful teakwood wat…

…with a skillfully-carved stone gate…

…and some delightful kite-like things hanging inside.

Chiang Mai is a walled city. Its claim to fame seems to be markets. There’s an awful lot of commerce going on.

I bought an umbrella, for the sun. This is something Maria just had to try in the Night Market: fish therapy.

The idea is, the minnows ever-so-gently nibble away at the dead skin cells of your feet. Very refreshing (so I’m told).

Sukhothai

That’s what Sukhothai means, BTW: Dawn of Happiness. We’re looking for new themes to use as titles – the English meanings of place names is as good as any.

Travelled by train from Ayotthaya to  Phitsanulok, then from Phitsanulok to Sukhothai yesterday .

Staying at the Old City Guesthouse. It looks like a Disney Thai village. Except I’m sure that a room at Disney Thai World would cost more than $CAD22.00.

Out of several former capitals we’ve been to, this is our favourite. Sites are located in a cool, green, park-like setting. You can see a few wats and feel culturally enriched enough to go seek a cold drink in a shady place.

Inside one of the towers at Si Siwat, looking up. The sharp-eyed can see 3 bats. (Or 3 Thai Baht).

It’s hot work, biking around these temples.

Sight or Insight of the Day

Saw an interesting thing in the Ram Khamhaeng museum today:  a group of ants bearing aloft the corpse of a spider, moving along the floor to who knows where?

 

Lopburi

Left Ayutthaya this morning by train for Lopburi. The train cost a more-than-reasonable 13 Baht (about 50 cents CAD, I believe).

This for a journey of slightly more than an hour, in relative fan-cooled, upholstered-seat comfort. Plenty of space for luggage. I’ll take it.

Lopburi was an important city during the (Western) dark-to-middle ages of about 500 AD to 1000 AD. It prospered by keeping its head low and playing nicely with the then-dominant Khmer empire centred on Angkor and the surrounding wannabe mini-imperialists, so there are a few ruins around.

It’s also infamous for its friggin’ monkeys.

These are more creepy than cute, like a small, furry version of Mara Salvatrucha. After visiting a fruit market, we were mugged by a gang on the sidewalk – the boldest member ran up and grabbed my flimsy plastic bag, spilling oranges everywhere and creating mayhem among the other gang members. We managed to salvage a few.

There were even more lying in wait at Phra Prang Sam Yod, which is known for its similarity to Angkor originals.

Another view of Phra Prang Sam Yod in a less-monkeycentric shot.

Sight or Insight of the Day for Lopburi

A feel-good story – after reading about how ‘small and accessible’ Lopburi is, we  booked a room in a hotel, location-unseen. It turns out this hotel was waaaay far from the center of town and its sites. Like, a 250 Baht taxi ride away. (See above for what we paid in train fare.) In a thoroughly depressing suburban neighbourhood. When the employee of the hotel understood our plight, he not only cancelled our reservation at his hotel, he drove us back to the main road a few KMs away on his motorcycle (took two trips – one for Maria and her luggage, one for me and mine). He waited with us while he flagged down public transport that got us both back to the center of town for 20 Baht.

He then refused all offers of money. I guess this is Dharma’s wheel turning in reaction to my minor whinge about the rapaciousness of tuk-tuk drivers in a previous post.

 

Ayutthaya

Took a train from BKK north to Ayutthaya.

This was the capital of an earlier Thai kingdom from the 14th century until 1767, when a rampaging Burmese army burnt it to the ground. Looking for a better neighbourhood, everyone moved south and founded Bangkok further down the river.

Left behind were scores – no, hundreds – of temple ruins.

Most with unpronounceable names, like Wat Lokayasutharam or Wat Phutthaisawan or Wat Chaiwatthanaram.

It’s easy to rent a bike to visit these, especially as the alternative is going by tuk-tuk. It’s disheartening dealing with the constant petty larceny of tuk-tuk drivers; they always want to overcharge foreign visitors. You’d think in a Buddhist country, they’d be wary of reincarnating as something yucky, but they can’t seem to help themselves.

Sight or Insight of the Day in Ayutthaya

Hey, I saw an elephant in the back of a truck today! Maria had gone off to find a pharmacy, I was waiting by the side of the road when a couple of trucks go by with an elephant in the back of each, trunk extended and ears flapping in the breeze. Turns out there is a place in town offering elephant rides: the elephants commute into town every morning. That’s not something you see every day.

Bangkok

Went for a walk in Chinatown. Lots of gold shops, markets, shark fin restaurants (10,000 Baht/$CAD380 for a large portion). On the way from the boat pier, went through a market containing nothing but greasy old car parts. You could probably enter in one end and come out the other with a nice sedan.

Came across Wat Tramit, with the legendary Golden Buddha.

This was covered in plaster for centuries. Dropped from a crane during a move, the plaster cracked off to reveal a solid gold Buddha. Huh. Who knew?

At present gold prices, it’s worth over $240,000,000.  I’m already planning my helicopter-through-the-roof heist scenario.

Bangkok

Went to Wat Arun, across the river from the Royal Palace.

Made up largely of smashed-up crockery…

… but the result is pretty impressive.

Most markets and temples here have lots of resident cats. This one was sleeping on the lap of 2 other women. They arose and placed him on the bench. He made a beeline for my lap and went immediately back to sleep.

We crossed the river by ferry to Wat Pho (or Bo – Thai is pretty free and easy with transliteration). Marvelled at the reclining Buddha, 30-odd meters long.

Maria went for a Thai message in one of the premier massage schools in the country, which we discovered was located here. (Thank you, Google.)

More strolling though the grounds.

Bangkok
It’s been thirty years since I’ve been to Bangkok. Like all of us, it’s changed a lot. The skyline sprouts a lot more high-rises. The traffic is, if anything, worse. This is where the express water boats come in handy: a cheap, fast, and convenient way to zip up and down the Chao Phraya river, BKK’s main artery.

Man, it’s hot. And humid. We’re talking Turkish bath conditions. Good thing we’re both lovers of intense heat. We’ve been taking it easy for our first few days here.

Sight or Insight of the Day

We notice that Thais seemed to like the colour black as a clothing choice. Then it struck us both at the same time that this must be mourning attire for the death of King Bhumipol, the much-revered monarch who passed away nearly a year ago. Great preparations are underway for his upcoming cremation, including squads of black-clad citizens cleaning the streets.

Ottawa

All packed and ready to go. It’s hard to say goodbye to family and friends. But in this age, you’re never really out of touch, for better or worse.

After a routine flight, we had a lengthy layover in Istanbul. Interesting airport, Istanbul – it’s open 24 hours and has flights departing throughout the night to unusual places, like Tbilisi and Yerevan and Rostov.

Exhausted by the overnight leg from Ottawa, we stretched out on the airport benches and slept like a pair of aging hobos.

Left Istanbul at 1:25 AM for Bangkok.

Sight or Insight of the Day

We witnessed a Dostoyevskian scene in the main departure hall: twenty or more young men, lined up two by two, each pair manacled together by clunky handcuffs, each man clutching an identical duty free bag like children heading for a sleepover. Strange and kind of unsettling.