Thailand - final thoughts

Temple of the Dawn

We ended our trip last night with a dinner cruise on the Chao Phraya river. All the temples, palaces, and churches along the river were illuminated, providing a proper ending to our trip.

So what's my summary of this trip? OAT provided us with two great guides. Chantha was one of the original 26 guides in Cambodia and it showed both with his knowledge and personnal experience. Anil was also a top guide for his country. He was knowledgable about everything we him, but he also had a great sense of humor, kidding almost everyone after he learned a little about out habits. It made the trip much more personal.

I was surprised by the well-developed infrastructure in Thailand: well built 2 and 4 lane highways and cell phone coverage. OAT emphasises not just touring the sites, but interacting with the people and learning the culture. It was particularly good to visit people's home from poverty level to middle class and rich.

We learned a lot about Hinduism and Buddhism and I was shocked to see how much the Thai's revered their king and queen - every home had their pictures among the family photos. And yet, the politicians were considered corrupt. Anil gave us many examples where a politician lined his pockets from legislation that had good goals.

The handicrafts in Chiang Mai were impressive, both their quality and price. What was surprising was how often parents worked in Bangkok, while their home was elsewhere in the country. Usually with the grandparents raising the children. This concentration of jobs in not healthy for the country, I wonder what the long term effects will be?

We had extremely good luck on both the weather and health. While Mary struggled with her knee on occaision (after her May knee surgery), she managed to do almost everything. Dwayne injured his knee and Janet had a scare with an eye problem, but there really were few health problems on this trip. We went during the rainy season, but rain really didn't affect the trip at all. The heavy rains and floods avoided us - 2 days before Siem Reap, flooding in Chiang Mai when we were in Bangkok and visa versa.

Dwayne, Ardath, Janet, Martin, Sharon, Ralph, Laural, Milton, Bill, Flo, Mary & John

The group we toured with was among the best - no complainers, everyone was on time or early. We got along great! By the end of the trip we were tired of Thai food, yet the food was great -

a good variety, always plenty of it, and we got to try a lot of different things - rat (I declined), bamboo sticky rice, dancing shrimp (live shrimp in hot sauce) and lots of different fruits: dragonfruit, pomelo, and the best of them, mangosteen.

Mangosteen fruit in front

While not one of our top 5 trips, I would recommend this trip to anyone, if you want to learn about the culture and people of Cambodia and Thailand.

Grand Palace

Gurundi around Temple of Emerald Buddha

The Grand Palace was built by Rama I beginning in 1782. Previously the palace was located across the Chao Phraya river near the Temple of the Dawn. Upon entering the palace grounds, we first visited the Royal Temple of the Emerald Buddha. First discovered in Chiang Rai covered with plaster, it was believed that the Buddha was made of emerald, but it actually consists of Jade. The Buddha also was once in Chiang Mai, then Laos, and finally here. Three sets of clothes were made for the Buddha for hot, cold, and rainy season.

Royal Panthenon

The upper terrace is particularly spectacular with a gold stuppa in Ceylonese style containing Buddha's relics. The holy library containing the Buddhist scriptures is built of green glass guarded by demons. The royal Pantheon is a mix of Cambodian and Thai styles contains statues of the 8 past Bangkok kings. Finally, there is a miniature of Angkor Wat built by Rama IV. North of the terrace is a golden Chedi with demons supporting the mountain, containing the ashes of the royal family.

Surrounding this temple area is the story of Ramakien (a mile of galleries). This story takes about 14 hours to fully tell. We viewed some of the scenes where the king with help from the white monkey wages war to rescue his wife from an island. (Note: our guide, Anil, had been teasing us for a week about the story of the white monkey.)

We then left the temple area to visit the royal palace area. The audience or throne hall was used until 1932. Today it is only used to crown the crown prince or the king. The Chakri Maha Prasat Hall was built in 1882 (the centennial of the palace) and is a mix of European and Thai architecture. The 2nd floor is used as a royal banquet room today. Finally, there was a smaller throne room, primarily used to day when royalty lies in state.

Chakri Maha Prasat Hall

We ended our tour by seeing all the Royal paraphernalia: many bowls, containers, beetle nut holders, spittoons, amulets, and crowns. All of these were made of gold, emeralds, and rubies.

In the afternoon, most of our group relaxed, but I spent about 3 hours walking both sides of the river. Unique was the Santa Cruz Catholic church built by the Portuguese. Then the giant Buddha in Wat Kalayanamit. I managed to get lost in the back alleys, found many small houses, and monks doing their afternoon chores. I returned to the other side of the river and walked back through the flower market, up to the Grand Palace. On the way back, I walked through the Indian section of town, and about 1/2 mile of pedestrian market, bumping into many of the locals in the crowded market place. Luckily I had figured out that I was still walking in the direction of our hotel.

Buddhism Experience

Giving alms

Our experience began at 6 AM, the time for the monks to walk the streets giving the people the opportunity for alms giving. This is a chance to give the monks fresh food - either that you have cooked yourself, fresh fruit, or food purchased from a vendor. By calling out "ni mone" the monk will stop and open his pot for you to put the food and then he gives you a blessing. The food will be their meal this morning, for in Thailand, the monks don't cook. They eat what is given both for themselves and any temple boys (the poor) who are being fed and educated at the temple, and finally the stray dogs left at the temple. (No dumb friends league needed here.)

After our own breakfast, we visited Wat Chedi Luang in time for their morning chanting at 8 AM. This is also a Buddhist University offering both Buddhist and secular subjects for those who want to be a monk. Training typically beings at age 12.

We had a monk present us with an overview of Buddhist philosophy. There are 2 branches of Buddhism: the Mahayana branch is practiced in China, Tibet, Mongolia, and Japan. It is a more liberal interpretation: for example you can become like Buddha, monks can marry and participate in sports, the religious texts are written in Chinese. The Theravada branch is practiced in Sri Lanka, and South East Asia. It is a more ancient, conservative form: the language is ancient Pali, priests can't marry or practice sports.

There are five basic beliefs: the 3 gems - Buddha, Dharma (teaching) and Sangha (the Buddhist discipline); karma - your present situation is based on your previous life; and rebirth - that you will be reborn as another living thing with no memory of your previous life.

All Buddhists must practice the 5 principles: abstain from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lies and intoxicants. A novice monk has 5 additional principles: no money, sleep on the floor, no marriage, no entertainment, and they only eat 2 meals to be eaten before noon. A monk has 227 principles and a female monk, 311. Most young men become novice monks once or twice in their lives: typically at puberty, and perhaps after graduation from school. They may be a monk for as little as a week, but typically several months.

Three times around the Chedi

Later that morning, we climbed the hill above the city to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. According to legend, holy relics were put on a howdah on the back of white elephant, which then wandered to the top of the mountain and dropped dead there. So this is where they built the temple. The present temple is from the 16th century and features a gold-plated Chedi. The entire temple area has been donated, everywhere there are name plates of the donor - from pillars to bells to statues to Buddhas. We observed people walking 3 times around the Chedi with a lotus flower and 3 incense sticks. In other places people were donating on money trees (metal trees in the temple) or blessing themselves with holy water. Many of the monuments had pictures or name plates indicated whose ashes were contained therein.

In the afternoon, we visited a bronze factory, hand making tableware and statues.The real surprise was an umbrella factory where they made the umbrellas out of mulberry paper with bamboo frames. But the highlight was the hand painting. For about $1.50 they would paint a T-shirt or backpack with beautiful designs.

Handpainting an umbrella

In the evening, we had a home hosted dinner. Our hostess was fairly well to-do, her husband runs a vegetable business in Bangkok. They had a beautiful home with ornate wood carvings everywhere. She had both an indoor and outdoor kitchen with modern appliances. Her nieces and nephew cooked us a great Thai meal. A highlight was the salad we fixed ourselves: first we crushed garlic and peppers. Then we crushed green beans and cashews. To this we added a 1/2 measure of fish oil, 1/2 measure of lime juice, and a full measure of sugar water. Then we mixed in the other vegetables and fruit: pineapple, tomato slices, apple chunks and shredded carrot. It made for a nice salad. The other group went to a different house, and they had quite a night. Their hostess was a dancer, so after dinner they learned to dance the traditional Thai dances.

Uthaithani

We traveled through Central Thailand, the rice basket of SE Asia. Because of the reservoirs and irrigation systems, they get 3 crops of rice a year. We were told that the sign of a prosperous farmer was that they own a pick-up truck and indeed, we saw many parked next to their farm houses. We stopped at one of the road side stalls for barbecued rat (I declined), the key pest for rice.

Temple of 100 Meters

Our most interesting stop was what to the be the Temple for Loading Teak. But since, it is now illegal to cut teak, the temple had fallen in disrepair. One of the monks here was considered a holy man, who reignited the Buddhist religion in the town. When he died 15 years ago, they cremated his body, but it didn't burn! Now this is a holy shrine with a new Temple of 100 Meters, a unique temple with mirrors and brilliant columns throughout.

In Uthaithani, we walked the market, seeing and tasting new fruits, fish and sweets. We had lunch of a Khiri Nava, a traditional rice boat on the Sakae Krang river. We had the luck to be there on a festival day when they were racing sculls. An announcer was keeping the crowd excited as his voice blared across the water, sounding with the cadence of a race track announcer. Except for these 2 breaks, it was a long bus day.

Elephant Walk

Elephants have always been special in this culture, partly because their life is so similar to our own. Gestation is 22 months, after which the mothers goes off by herself and a 'midwife' elephant to give birth. The midwife removes the amniotic sack and gives the baby a chance to stand on all four feet - the equivalent of our baby's crying. They spend 5 years with their mother, 10 years in training, their prime years are 25-40 and a domesticated elephant is retired at age 60. The population is declining since teak wood logging is illegal, more traffic accidents, stepping on land mines, and few reproduce in captivity. Their primary use today is for tourism. The elephant controller is called a Mahout. An elephant will only tolerate one or two mahouts, so typically this passes from father to son.

Elephant walk

We watched them bathe the elephants in the river, followed by a show where the elephants showed how they were used in the logging industry, how their mahouts mounted the elephants, playing soccer, and painting.
Then came our elephant ride through the nearby forest for an hour. It was a slow paced trot with the mahout mounted on the head of the elephants and us on a chair behind. Periodically we stopped for a feeding booth, for 20 Baht (60 cents) we got sugar cane and bananas, fuel for our trip. It was a unique experience.
Then we took a bamboo raft, poling down the Ping River. Mary was worried that she couldn't get up and down on the low wooden seat after knee surgery, but she made it.
In the afternoon, I walked to the old city, still surrounded by a moat with some of the city wall still standing. Wat Chedi Luang built in 1391 is the tallest temple in Thailand. It's an interesting ruin with elephants on the side and an 80 meter spire. Nearby was a beautiful modern temple.

Wat Chedi Luang

In the evening, we sampled teas from various herbs and walked through a herb garden. Then a cruise down the Ping River from the suburbs back into the city. The highlight was the lighting of a Kom Loi - a balloon made of rice paper and powered by burning bamboo. We let it go and watched it soar high into the sky for over 10 minutes.

Lighting our Kom Loi

Travel to Chiang Mai

We're traveling to Chiang Mai, the source of most Thai handicraft. This area had been controlled by Burma for over 250 years and was largely ignored by Bangkok until Queen Victoria expressed interest. In order to further their colonial expansion, Victoria was interested in a marriage between royal families (from Chiang Mai). Meanwhile Rava IV (the king in the King & I) was interested in having the Crown Prince learn English to better understand Britain, which was threatening his kingdom. The King used Siamese cats as an enticement to get an invitation to visit England. Rama V was educated in Britain. Upon his return, seeing the interest in Chiang Mai region he visited the area, learning about the beauty of the handicrafts and of the local princess, he eventually married.

Wat Rong Khun

On our way to Chiang Mai, we visited Wat Rong Khun outside the town of Chiang Rai. This temple bas been built based on the ideas of artist Chalermchai Kositpipat. It is unique, almost like a white fantasy land.

Next stop was a rice mill, where the rice is polished 3-9 times, depending upon the type of rice and whether the final product is brown or white rice. A by-product is rice bran.

In the afternoon, we visited various handicraft shops. A silk shop showed us the life cycle from eggs to nymph, silk worm, and cocoon. The silk thread is made from 4 or more silk filaments. We watched both simple hand looms and those making complicated designs at the rate of 10 cm./day. It takes about 15 years experience to do this well - using poles that lift up different strings to create the pattern.




Next stop was a jewelery factory specializing in Thai stones: rubies and sapphires. Finally we stopped at a lacquer ware factory where they were hand making their figures, boxes, and vases.

The Golden Triangle

In the morning, we crossed the border into Burma or Myanmar. When Britain colonized the country, they removed the king, the historic leader. Japan conquered the country for its oil and rubber in World War II. After the war, General Aung San had laid the groundwork for independence. The country has mostly been a military dictatorship, but over 48 factions with their militia vie for control. In 1988, under world pressure, an election was held. Aung Sna Auukyi, the daughter of General Aung San won the election, but the military put her under house arrest rather than lose control. She remains under house arrest today.




Upon crossing the border, we saw a change from lost of cars and scooters, to primarily scooters and bikes. Along the border you could buy pirated Cd's and DVDs, cartons or cigarettes and Viagra. The market place is very orderly and clean.



Most of the ladies and some of the men are wearing sarongs. We also immediately noted that the Buddhist monks are dressed in burgundy rather than saffron. Buddhism is the primary religion, but Buddha now wears in hair in a bun. We visited a number of temples and listened as the young monks recited their religious lessons.

Young monks reciting their lessons

In the afternoon, we took an Eten to lunch. This is a truck which uses an iron buffalo engine, which the driver had to hand crank to start. We then took a short boat trip across the Mekong river to a small community of Done Xao for some shopping. The Mekong's source is in China, but it passes through Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Historically, it has been an important trade route for the region.

Our brief stop in Laos

We fished up at an opium museum providing some of the history of the Opium trade here in the Golden Triangle. At one time, 70% of the world's opium came from this region. The hill tribes were the major producers. The museum has quite a collection of opium scales, weights, pipes, and pillows.

Donchum

We visited the community and school of Donchum this morning. We arrived at 8 AM in time for the morning ceremonies to nation (singing the national anthem), Buddha (opening prayers), and king (singing and playing the royal anthem). Each of us was guided through the school by one or two students. I had a first grade girl named Maneerat. She asked me to help her with her English by pointing out pictures in her book and pronouncing the word, she would then repeat it. She was quite good and one and two syllable words, but struggled with words like umbrella. English is compulsory at school, though the teachers at this small school (40-60 students) weren't very proficient. The easiest way to immigrate to Thailand is as an English teacher. Though the pay for teachers is about $250/mo. In the big cities, you can supplement your income by tutoring at $15/hr. We visited a number of the school rooms including a barbershop where the students learn how to cut hair. Our school visit ended with a concert of traditional Thai instruments and dancing.

Playing of the National Anthem

Education is compulsory from age 6-14, though it is changing now to 6-16. Public schools are free, except for books and uniforms. The system is similar to the American system. In addition to public schools, the Buddhist temples school the poor, and private schools also exist.

Many of the parents work in the larger cities, so children are raised primarily by their grandparents. At the community center, the women were making decorated incense sticks for funerals. By the way, life expectancy in Thailand is 67 for men and 71 for women.

Iron Buffalo

We walked through part of the community of 120 families. Houses are traditional Thai - living on the upper floor with a business or farm tools on the first floor. Water buffalo are being quickly replaced by the iron buffalo, a 2 wheeled vehicle which can act like a tractor, a water pump, or an electric generator.

We ate a small lunch at one of the houses, sticky rice, pork, and vegetable. Upstairs was the family area, which had the typical family photos with the photos of the king and queen.

Everyone in Thailand is entitled to free health care at the government hospitals. But they are over crowded and waiting times are long. The private hospitals here are world-famous. Doctors are in short supply (1 doctor to 4000 people) but are well trained. Many of them work at both the public and private hospitals.

In the afternoon, we visited one of the hill tribes, the Akha. There are 6 different hill tribes that reside in Thailand, including the Hmong. The Akha fear evil spirits. They don't bathe to help fight the spirits off and post their umbilical cords on the house to ward the spirits away. The are a polygamous society, where the teens are taught sexual practices and have formal deflowering ceremonies at puberty. The missionaries have been working these tribes and many have become Christian. The women seem to have all the duties: home care, children, and farming. The men have traditionally been the hunters, but now many traffic drugs. The Akha are not very entrepreneurial and tend to do what they are told. The women wear a headdress which gets fancier as they gain wisdom or experience. For example, it could contain coins from Burma, India, and Thailand as them migrate to these areas.

Akha woman (persistent at selling)

photo by Bill Eckles

Sukhothai

Our morning lesson was on the Thai alphabet, which has 44 consonants. The 15 vowel symbols are around the consonant (before, above, or after depending upon the sound) and there are also intonation symbols. Just like English some sounds may be created with a choice of letters (like a hard c and k sounding the same). This combined with the Thai law that your family name must be unique led to problems - your official documents may accidentally have different spellings for your name. The Thai language was formalized in the 12th century by the king. It has its roots in Mons (from Burma), Khmer (Cambodia) and Sanskrit (India).

Our primary visit for the day was to the temple area of Sukhothai, the first capital of Thailand (from 1238-1250). We know from the stone tablets of the time that this was a peaceful, prosperous period in Thai history.

Wat Si Sawai

Wat Si Sawai is similar to an Indian Hindu Temple with towers to Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu. The older portions built by Khmers are made of laterite stone, a soft stone underground that solidifies in air. This is then covered with sandstone for carving. Newer parts are built in brick. We continued to see other Hindu images: the smiling face, kala; the female goddess, Apsgrai; the snake, Naga, and the half bird half man, Garuda.

Wat Sa Si has a walking Buddha and many bell-shaped Chedi. The rings on the top represent 27 Buddhist principles. A smaller temple near-by is actually the main chapel, indicated by the standing stones surrounding the chapel. This temple is smaller because at the time, only royalty could pray there.

Wat Mahathat has a Lotus bud shaped stuppa as its outstanding feature - this housed a relic of Buddha. Surrounding this stuppa are 168 monks, walking around the temple.

Wat Mahathat

We finished the day at an indigo clothes operation in Phrae. They soak the indigo leaves for 2 days to get a green dye which they mix with lime paste. This is then used to die fabric. By using this Batti method, wax patterns on cloth, they create the final design.

Hell Fire Pass

Hellfire Pass

We continued our exploration of the Burma-Thailand Railroad by walking through Hell Fire pass where the POWs cut through 325 feet of solid rock, mostly by hand. The pass got its name from all the campfires in the labor camp which could be seen as they worked through the night.

After our hike and a museum visit we took a long tail boat ride down the river Kwae. The river is now dotted by floating resort hotels. The countryside is pretty with the bamboo-teak covered forests up the mountainsides.

After lunch we took a short train ride along the active section of the railroad. (The railroad through the mountains into Burma had been dismantled by the British after the War for colonial control as well as economic reasons.

Train over the River Kwae

Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Our morning bus ride lecture tacked the Thai economy. The big building boom in Thailand occured between 1980 and 1997, ending with the South East Asian financial crisis. Thailand has a large middle class compared to other nearby countries and it was very evident that it has better road and rail infrastructure. Agriculture still employs about 65% of the people versus 80% in nearby countries. They have remained self-sufficient in agriculture while building other industries like autos and seafood.

The Floating Market

We stopped to see the Damnoonsaduak floating market, the last in the country. This seemed like a real tourist trap since they were selling as many tourist goods as they were fruits and vegetables.

In the afternoon, we visited the bridge on the River Kwae (Kwai in the movie) and its museum. Japan invaded Thailand on December 8th, 1941, simultaneous to Pearl Harbor (remember the International Date line makes it a day later). They also controlled Burma, which was a supply route to occupied China. To supply their troops in Burma, their ships had to go through the straits near Singapore - subject to attack by the allied forces. The Burmese - Thailand railroad was built to provide a more secure supply route from Japan to Burma. The route chosen had been explored earlier, but the estimates were that it would take 5 years to complete. The rail line was built in 17 months (1942-3) by 65000 POWs and 200,000 local impressed laborers through this mountainous, muggy country. Over 100,000 died (13000 of the POWs) because of hard labor, poor nutrition and scant medical attention.

The Bridge over the River Kwai

We arrived at our resort hotel, the Xen Hideaway at 3:30. It has a huge outdoor pool and both indoor and outdoor showers. What luxury!

More Bangkok

Our hotel is next to Chinatown, so we walked through the primary market street. Some of the more interesting items for sale were bird's nests (made from the bird's saliva), fish stomachs which had a wide variety of prices (based on the type of fish) and soy products shaped to look like shrimp and chicken. Chinatown is one of the most expensive places to live in Bangkok, an apartment with ground floor retail space goes for $1M.

Reclining Buddha at Wat Po

We then went to Wat Su That temple with its large bronze Buddha from the 13th century, though the temple was build in the 18th century. After that we went to the Wat Po temple with its 150 foot long reclining Buddha. Both temples had large collections of smaller Buddhas. Wat Po has 4 large stuppas for 4 kings as well as many smaller ones, decorated with broken china shipped as ballast from China. The primary Buddha in this temple isn't the reclining Buddha, but the Golden Buddha containing the ashes of King Rama I.







We also learned about Buddhism as a more moderate form of Hinduism. Hindus have their classes and people reincarnate into the same class. In Buddhism, your reincarnation is based on the deeds of your previous life. Most of the countries have their own branches of Buddhism. Buddha himself lived in the 6th century BC and had reincarnated 108 times. (Too learn more about Buddhism, see October 10th entries when we went to the Buddhist University.)

In the afternoon, we visited the home of Jim Thompson, an American, who revitalized the Thia silk market after World War II. His home was built in traditional Thai fashion and is filled with paintings and sculptures.

Three puppeteers

In the evening we attended a traditional Thai puppet show - the principle puppets are operated by 3 people controlling a hand and back, 2 feet, and then the last hand. As they performed, the puppeteers showed the same emotions as the puppet. The story was the now familiar Hindu legend of the Churning of the Sea of Milk, though I never would have guessed without reading the narration. What was more interesting was the interaction with the audience afterwards, playing with a child and kissing the girls, it was amazing how 3 people could act as one during this improvisation.