bangkok | Travels of the self and the mind

With the burning desire to jot down my memories before age takes over, I am hurriedly continuing with my last day in Thailand (Update: this post is 2 months after the earlier one, I’m functioning at age-appropriate pace!). My husband’s extended family and I were all on an out-of-the-blue trip to Krabi, Phuket and Bangkok and were to fly back home in the evening. In true “moi” style, every last bit of a holiday has to be utilized (my sister hates touring with me for precisely this reason.) So, after 2 full days of roaming about in Bangkok (Thailand November 2019-Bangkok), while the rest of the family was sleeping in, I decided to brave the metro and visit the Grand Palace that I had merely glimpsed the previous day.

I’m normally an intense researcher prior to a trip. This was one of the very few trips that I hadn’t bothered figuring anything about. A direct consequence of that was missing the Ayutthaya temple complex. Luckily, after catching a glimpse of the Grand Palace and confirming with my travel support team (Yogesh Shenoy, my one-man team!), I figured out that the Palace was a partial replacement. A quick net search revealed that the easiest way to get there was by metro, that one must be insanely covered up (no knees, shoulders, ankles, face, ears, toes to be bared) and one must get there crazy early to beat the crowds (and the heat, especially when only your eyes and nose are allowed to be seen).

*The glitzy metro station of the Grand Palace is a mere introduction*

So, well-fed and well-covered, I set out early morning to reach the palace well before its opening time of 8:30 am, by metro. It was a quick and efficient ride and I found myself at the Grand Palace metro stop in no time. What I didn’t know was that the entry was a long walk away from the metro.

*Glimpse of what was in store for me as I slowly sauntered along the road from the metro to the entrance*

What I also didn’t know was that the line to enter is ridiculously long early in the morning too, or that there are busloads of tourists all thinking what I was. As a result, I stood in a long queue and got in later than planned and worst of all, had gazillions of people around me. At 8:00am. People really don’t know how to vacation sensibly. Instead of sleeping in their rooms till late, they’re out on the streets, trying to enter palaces!

OK, that is a tad hypocritical. Luckily, the queue moved fairly quickly so I bought my ticket and got in. Since I was suitably over-dressed, I didn’t waste any time (or money) buying cover-ups (note to all future visitors), but sadly didn’t take any guide (audio or actual) as I had no time (and money as this palace cost A LOT to enter).

Huge manicured lawns, gorgeous flowers, intricate carvings and more sparkle than my sunglasses and camera lens could handle stretched out everywhere that met the eye. Not sure of what to see first, I simply followed the crowds who turned towards the spectacular Outer Palace area that houses the bulk of the temples. Unsurprisingly, my jaws dropped open!

The beautiful colored mosaics and intricate carvings were a delight

The Emerald Buddha, the most important Buddha image of Thailand, is dressed in different costumes for different seasons, all made of gold and jewelry. Beautiful murals decorate the walls of the chapel that houses the Buddha.

*Demon statues face the chapel of the Emerald Buddha and guard it from evil spirits*

It was amazing to learn that this palace is more than 300 years old, though it was initially constructed mainly with wood. It has gradually been built to this level of opulence, partly from raw materials taken from the Grand palace at Ayutthaya and designed in a similar fashion.

Too much gilt? There’s no such concept in the Grand Palace! It’s a huge area of sparkle.

*This is a library that houses Buddhist scriptures. Truly regal*

Fortunately there were colors other than gold, but no less stunning. Every single structure had immaculate detail and beauty.

*This structure resembles the Thai crown, with mosaics from China*

Without a family to slow me down, I saw every building in the palace and went trigger-crazy.

Honestly, anyone would have gone trigger-crazy in there. It was impossible not to click a picture every 2 seconds, but I finally put away the camera and just strolled about, staring at the intricate work and dazzling colors. That’s when a kindly lady walked up to me and offered to take a rare non-selfie picture of me.

Walking about, I was truly surprised to see a dull grey but intricate and beautiful structure in the midst of all this amazing mosaic work. As I got closer, I realized that it was a small model of the famous Angkor Wat of Cambodia.

Yesteryear Thai kings wanted to shift the Angkor Wat from Cambodia, which was under their reign in the 19th century, to Bangkok. Unable to do so, they finally got a miniature made within their seat of power at the time, the Grand Palace.

Another delight was a series of stunning mural paintings lining an open gallery, surrounding the temples. Initially, I thought that they were paintings of the palace itself, but learnt that they were images from the Ramakien, Thai interpretation of the Ramayana.

Running short of time, I tore myself away from the stunning paintings, towards the Middle court section, once the residence and seat of rule of the Thai kings.

*The vases with shrubs were fascinating too*

Once the main residence, this building is now used for state banquets. It was supposed to have 3 domes on the top, which were substituted by Thai spires. That explains the contrast between the main façade and the roof.

I don’t know if its possible to enter these official buildings, where today, heads of state and summit leaders are invited, but I loved walking about admiring the buildings and gardens.

My time was long up, yet I had to drag myself out. As I walked out of the last doorway, the blazing sun lined up with the spire, a final sparkle to round off a sparkling morning.

It was blazing hot and I was tired and thirsty, but as I stepped out of the Palace complex, a wonderful sight beckoned.

Ice-cream is always welcome on a day like this, but it was actually the glistening spire of Wat Arun that caught my eye. A mere short boat ride across the Chao Phraya river, Banti mama’s pictures and raptures about this temple of dawn, tempted me to rush, ice-cream in hand, to the pier and catch a boat across.

I think I alighted at a stop a short distance away, so I walked through some pretty gardens before I reached the very crowded temple.

Glistening in the sun, the temple looked even better up close. I quickly bought a ticket and headed in, hoping I could climb all the way up for a view over the city.

Sadly, the steep stairs leading almost till the top were closed and I had to content myself with a small viewpoint.

Right at this point, my sister-in-law called me to join her for a last minute shopping spree. As that seemed like fun, I hurriedly clambered down the steps (and so missed seeing the extensive gardens around), struggled to get a boat in the correct direction and finally reached the Grand palace again.

I tried to figure out the quickest train route, but it involved changing 3 trains and a long walk to the nearest metro station. The nearest Uber would take 30 minutes to arrive and another 45 minutes to reach the mall where my sister-in-law was. That’s when I saw a sign for motorcycle rides and I quickly hailed one, forgetting that I’m terrified of motorcycles and Bangkok is really not safe to travel by bikes.

The driver handed me a helmet, that I didn’t know how to wear. The driver cursed, put it on me, clipped it shut, shaking his head and continuously abusing me in Thai. Once I got onto the bike and held on for dear life to the back rest, he took off at a pace that would have put Max Verstappen to shame! After a truly harrowing bike ride, I reached the mall on a totally different road and entry point than the place I was to meet her, leading to a crazy run around the place.

Needless to say, we did meet and we did shop. Was the shopping worth the crazy drive? No. Would I do it again? Most certainly!

Having had the most power-packed day of my entire trip, I finally headed back to the hotel and then to the airport for our flight back home. Being part of a punctual family meant that we had plenty of time at the airport so we merrily roamed about and bought last minute chocolates and gifts.

*I have a thing for pretty shop windows*

*The Johnnie Walker GOT fire and ice collection*

This was a truly outstanding trip. Totally unplanned and unexpected and absolutely wonderful. Many many thanks to Banti mama and Renu masi for this superb holiday and to the amazing extended family I was with. I will always remember this trip with the utmost happiness.

P.S. My apologies for the huge number of images. They are partly for Banti mama, as he couldn’t come to this palace and would have loved to see it (he went to the beautiful Lumbini garden instead) and partly because I couldn’t choose which photograph not to put up.

When my friend and travel guide Yogesh Shenoy told me to finish writing about my trips within the year I travelled in, I laughed at him. Now I realize that he understood me better than I understood myself. Covid-19 turned into Covid-20 and now Covid-bloody-never-ending, has ensured that we cant travel anywhere except locally, and that has sadly pushed my desire to write into a very tiny corner of my head (and a reminder on my phone!) I actually have 4 drafts saved because I cant get back to writing about memories of a different era. Even mask-free photographs of the past seem surprising to me now.

And yet, one year down, here I am, scrolling through pictures of my past trips and having vivid memories of wonderful vacations. Maybe this is what I need to get myself off my current Europe-deprived state, to revisit previous trips and pen them on this blog. My last long vacation was a surprise unplanned trip to Thailand (courtesy Banti mama and Renu masi, my husband’s uncle and aunt). I will carry on that story with our flight to Bangkok after a lovely day out on the beautiful waters of the Phi-Phi islands (Thailand 2019: Phuket and Phi Phi islands).

*We found massage chairs to while away the time before the flight*

A short and bumpy flight through heavy rain-filled clouds took us to Bangkok, the city of chaos in Thailand. As my brain played “One night in Bangkok” on loop, I couldnt help but remember the movie “The Hangover II” and hope that we weren’t going to lose anyone.

Driving past this billboard to our hotel, I wasn’t too sure about how much I would love it, but I was pleasantly surprised there. Bangkok is very easy to travel about in, has great food, decent temples to see, decent shopping and a vibrant night life. It’s pretty much like Mumbai, just cleaner. And of course, everything seems better on a holiday. So, all in all, Bangkok was a great end to a great trip.

After a short rest, our huge gang of 18 split ways (less to keep track off!) Banti mama and Anup masa headed off to the pristine white Wat Arun, that Banti mama was so desperate to see.

Bangkok is known for cheap shopping, so we followed our more knowing cousins’ advice and headed to a mall, while our husbands slept and watched TV (ideal shopping trip!) What we didn’t realize though, was that the cheaper malls don’t let you try on clothes, and are more like street shopping under a roof.

Street shopping is fun, especially when interspersed with food, and that’s actually what we had more of. Unable to shop much, we got frustrated and headed to the well-developed waterfront with plenty of food options for all of us. After all, 18 people just cannot have the same food choices.

Spacious and well designed, this large open air mall was at the banks of the Chao Phraya river. We enjoyed standing along the waterfront and watching the barges and ships go by. Unsurprisingly, my friendly out-going brother-in-law found some interesting company.

*It was an Insta-friendly place for sure!*

There was a carnival at the very end, with a ride through a haunted mansion. My extremely arachnophobic teen suddenly decided that she was brave enough to venture in, and did so alone.

Not surprised that this is how she came out!

Exhausted by the long day, we slept as soon as we got back to the hotel, with a plan to visit a few temples the next day. I was keen on traveling to the Ayutthaya complex, but no one else was interested in heading so far out from the main city, so I had to give it a miss. Instead, we ended up visiting a few temples in the vicinity, that were fairly beautiful. Buddhist temples are quiet and peaceful, or so I had thought, till I went to Bangkok, and realized that tourism could kill the peace just about anywhere.

Our first stop on this temple-hopping day was Wat Traimit, which houses the world’s largest solid Golden Buddha and was just a short walk from our hotel.

*This weird hand-like structure somehow reminded me of GOT*

One can’t help but be awed by this splendor (and possibly need a pair of sunglasses). Apparently, this grand statue was covered by stucco and plaster for many years to protect it from Burmese invaders, and was accidentally discovered when the covered statue fell and a bit of plaster chipped off, revealing the sparkling gold within.

*There’s no end to the amount of gold in this temple*

**Ornately decorated door at the side of the temple**

The next destination was Wat Pho, the temple of the reclining Buddha. We had to drive for almost an hour to get there. Most everyone fell asleep, but I kept looking around excitedly at the city. That’s when I saw the Grand Palace, just behind the very temple we were going to. As no one else wanted to see it, I went alone the next day and truly loved it.

*Glimpse of the stunning Grand Palace while driving past that tempted me to go back for more*

However, everyone did want to see the huge reclining Buddha. So, on that hot sunny afternoon, we were lined up at the magnificent complex of Wat Pho, greeted by these warriors guarding the entrance.

This huge complex was too large to see at a go and we had a set of irritable and disinterested teens with us, so we ended up rushing through it. We didn’t even take an audio or book guide to help us through it. Yet, it remains entrenched in my memory as a marvelously constructed complex.

Naturally, our first stop was to see the huge reclining Buddha. This was crowded as could be and we really struggled to get close but we finally got our chance to see the colossal structure up close.

It was stunning enough for us to take a full circle around it and marvel at the workers who must have slaved to put it together. But more sights awaited us and we stepped back out into the heat to see the ornate architecture.

*My brother-in-law was my only model on this trip*

*Beautiful colors and carvings decorated the numerous chedis placed all over the complex and got me trigger-crazy*

*By now, it was intolerably hot and Magnum was our only savior*

More and more of the same got too much for all of us (even architecture-loving me), and we were pleasantly surprised to find some really quirky statues and some shade.

*My sister-in-law was a very good (and flexible) sport to pose the same way*

*Thank goodness the hubby didn’t even try!*

*There are many statues of Buddha in this complex but this one caught our attention the most after the reclining Buddha*

*I think I liked the flowers and the quirky yogis the most*

By the time an hour was up, we were bored as hell and desperate to get out and have some food. There didn’t seem to be Indian food nearby (the preference of seniors of our group), so the hubby found an appropriate restaurant not too far away and we promptly hailed Ubers to that destination. Unfortunately, a very very long cab ride took us to the wrong area and we were left lost and confused on the streets of Bangkok (but fortunately together.) Luckily, some enquiries led us to an Indian part of town, with a gurudwara and shopping complex very reminiscent of Bur Dubai.

*A resident cat claimed the wares as his bed*

*An oxymoron, but that’s what you get in Indian areas in Thailand. It certainly was delicious*

We were all very tired by the end of lunch and hurried to our hotel to sleep. In the evening, we went to another favorite Indian haunt to shop for bags, purses and gifts for family, items that we haven’t yet used, thanks to the pandemic. As we were ready to leave, it started pouring cats and dogs. We were to meet the rest of our gang at a restaurant near our hotel, but there was no cab in sight. We finally had the best possible Indian dinner right across the mall and then headed back to our hotel, arms bursting with bags.

Retail therapy has never hurt anyone.

This was our last night in Bangkok. The next evening we were to head back home. But we still had the next morning to go sightseeing and shopping, an entertaining story that needs more time to be told.. Hopefully, that will happen in this year itself!

Travels of the self and the mind

my trips, my thoughts, my dreams

Tag Archives: bangkok

Thailand Nov 2019-Goodbye Bangkok

Thailand November 2019-Bangkok