Wow so today was another amazingly full day but I did do and see a lot. Lets start from the top.
Ok, I got up around 6am and got ready to get picked up by Raewyn (the Baha'i who invited me along) and company. Things were running late so they didn't come until 7:30am but that was cool. First we drove out to Bang Pa-In Palace which is very grand and in some ways very sad. The architecture and decoration has a very colonial feel and there are many white and beige statues that are very European in style there are also tall columns and ornate ceilings which hold the same decorative theme. Unfortunately, when you look up Bang Pa-In online they show mostly the oriental style buildings rather than the ones with the European style (which are actually more predominant). The place is very sad in that there are many memorial statues for dead princesses, princes and children. There is also a beautiful picture of one of the princes (I believe one of King Rama V's sons) who died at the age of twelve and who had been the heir to the throne, he was a very attractive child. There is also a Chinese style house on the grounds which is very ornate and quite beautiful, however most of the buidings aren't ones you can look around you are allowed into the main room and then the other rooms are roped off and you have to stand at different angles to try to get an idea of the place (you're also not allowed cameras).
Next to the palace there is the Wat Niwet Thamaprawat. You have to use a basic gondola to get across the river in order to get to it but when you do it is very beautiful in a simple way with it's uneven brick streets, close together buildings, and it's gothic looking church (which reminded me more of thing I saw in Germany). Inside the temple there was a stain glass picture of one of the old kings (again I believe Rama V) above the door, some items of worship, and off to the side there was a monk who gave us a water blessing. We learned a bit about interpreting the position of the Buddha's hands and walked around a bit and then headed back to the gondola. On the walk back many of the young monks (9-14 years old) were walking around, they looked like very sweet children.
Next we had lunch. I had a simple rice noodle soup that one of the Thai girls who came with us ordered for me. Both of the Thai girls that came with us are nick named OH and so there was OH and OH T. OH is actually one of the new Baha'is that declared two weeks ago now (three?). I think that both of the OHs work at Magic Years.
After lunch we went on to Ayutthaya to ride elephants and see the ancient ruins of old Siam. The capital of Thailand has been moved a few times Old Siam Ayutthaya is one of them, it ceased to be the capital because the Burmese burnt and those ruins are what we saw. The ruins are interesting because they are preserved within the existing city and are spread out throughout town. I did ride on an elephant today, my elephant driver's name was Ho and he was very chatty even though he didn't speak much english and I only speak nit-noy (little) Thai. The elephants walked by some of the ruins and it was a very lovely little trip and Ho was very kind friendly.
The photo today is actually of some of the ruins of Ayutthaya.
We had rented some sawng-thaew style tuk-tuks to take us around to different temples and I saw some more big Buddhas but the highlight was when they brought us to some ruins where there was a giant reclining stone Buddha and the people in this country city were still celebrating Songkran. They had a fire truck spraying a huge crowd of people down with water and then they carried a large cloth around the Buddha and eventually after a prayer they 'dressed' the reclining Buddha in this giant orange cloth to dress him for the rainy season. After the Buddha was dressed they set off some really loud fire crackers and started dancing in the street. It was very interesting and more traditional than the celebrations that go on in Bangkok.
We went on a small trip to a market (where I got some really great seasoned tamarind) and other tootling around and then OH T. invited us to go by her Uncle's house which wasn't far away. We of course said yes and drove 20 minutes further into the country to his house. Now this was a traditional Thai house with the traditional Thai roof and structure built so that it was beside the river that had the occasional long skinny boat being pushed by a boy with a long pole. It was amazing the inside of the house was simple with wooden planks that don't all connect evenly and a simple kitchen and living space but with electricity. All of the houses are built on tall stilts because about every few years the rainy season is so intense that the area floods three or four meters deep and the houses have to remain above water. In the end OH T.'s Uncle wasn't there but her step Aunt was and Khun Lek (Khun is a respectful term put in front of adults names) was very hospitable and told us all about finding cobras and other animals in the area (occasionally in the house during the years where it floods to the floor boards of the house).
When our visit with Khun Lek was over we drove back to Nonthaburi and I just chilled out and wrote some letters to accompany the gifts I bought. Over the next few days I'll post the pictures of the traditional houses as well as the Songkran celebration (I don't want to make them all available now or I won't have anything to post during the week).
Thank you to Paul again for a very sweet shoutbox post, I'm glad that I'm mad-crazy cool.... though the insight to my mind being weird? Hmmm. But really, I'm glad you're enjoying my blog, thanks.
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