Fact #1
There’s water everywhere (this is the Chao Phraya River, but the city’s laced with canals).
Fact #2
It’s stunning in its aggressive beauty. Our first reaction being, is this Hong Kong or Singapore? Lots of crazy looking buildings in that skyline.
Fact #3
It’s hot! No, really. It’s both a very exciting city and really, really (really!) hot. Also, humid, as in most of Southeast Asia. Umbrellas aren’t for rain and we were very happy we had picked up those rechargeable little fans to carry around when we were in Saigon.
Fact #4
If you love food, it’s paradise! These were two of the dishes we had for our first dinner in Bangkok (we way over-ordered) and they were wonderful. It was a little restaurant on the sixth floor of ICONSIAM, a spectacular high end shopping mall close to our hotel.
The ground floor of ICONSIAM features, among other things, a truly enormous “Sook” or food court area with a staggering array of foods where you can grab a decent meal for a couple of dollars. Kind of overwhelming at first.
Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn)
When the capital of Siam (now, Thailand) at Ayutthaya was sacked by the Burmese (1767), King Taksin fled and arrived at this place, boasting an insignificant temple, at dawn. He greatly enlarged it, entrusted the Emerald Buddha to it (later moved across the river to Bangkok and the Royal Palace when the capital was moved) and called it now the Temple of Dawn, Wat Arun. It has since been again greatly enlarged, its central Prang (or tower) now standing 260 feet. The design is based on the Hindu and Buddhist idea of Mount Meru, a five-peaked mountain at the center of the universe, the same design as that of Angkor Wat in Cambodia (the temple and city sacked by Ayutthaya in the 15th century).
The incredible ornamentation is mosaic created from broken ceramic much of which was donated by local residents and executed in the 19th century. Everything is based on Hindu and Buddhist cosmology.
The young women in traditional dress standing in the shade are foreign (most likely Chinese) tourists who rent costumes imitating characters from a favorite movie.
Wat Trimit (Temple of the Golden Buddha)
Wat Trimit houses a solid 18 karat gold 5 ton Buddha, likely from 13th century Sukhothai, that sat unrecognized for centuries in layers of black lacquer and plaster intended (successfully) to protect it from looting by the invading Burmese.
It was “discovered” in 1955. In the process of being moved, the Buddha was dropped when a rope broke and a portion of the plaster with lacquer underneath fell away.
Within the same structure as the temple housing the Buddha and its museum, there is an interesting museum focused on the Chinese community in Thailand which dates from ancient times and has always been encouraged by the Royal family. A substantial portion of the Thai population shares Chinese heritage and Chinese have risen to positions of power and influence in the country.
Now for Some Food!
Recognition by either Michelin or the Royal Family was a big factor in the places we stopped by for sampling. The tour was very well organized with people saving places for us and getting us to the front of the line wherever we went.
The sweet ending to a night of roaming the packed streets of Chinatown was provided by a new fruit known as a mango plum, soy sauce ice cream topped with sweet soy sauce, and the classic mango and sticky rice. The final count was 22 different foods (all delicious) and a memorable evening.
The other thing that made it memorable was sharing it with not only our Thai guides, but our fellow gourmands from Switzerland, England, and Vietnam.