Day 1 ends in the faded lights of the city that never sleeps..

Venue: Bangkok Date: 19.01.2008 Time: 04:30 p.m. Feeling: Tired

On our way through the city roads, we managed to barge into many governmental buildings, sky-scraper facing roads, and the enormously stretching flyover from the city till the airport, each prolonging a length of 200-300 kms. And not to forget to mention, everywhere around in Thailand, am sure the census would be surprised to find that the human population is much lesser than the canine population. Man, I sure was bugged by that. From the temples to the stalls, from the hotel to the markets! They were all there filling the picture with pride. Anyways, after a long drive and my small siesta (in between I did eavesdrop to listen to my hubby voicing some opinions about the country, to the driver), we finally reached the base of the golden mountain or the Golden Mount or Phu Kao Thong.

The Phu Kao Thong is supposedly built on an artificial hill and it is even better known as the guard who makes the beauty of the city rise up levels high. For a minute or two, I hesitated and asked my hubby whether to tour this temple due to the amazing height that it dwelled upon. But like some kind of a hypnotic reversion, I pulled myself out of the Camry and followed my hubby to climb to the peak of this temple, ascending all the 300 steps. The peak is known as the Chedi (something like a ‘Gopuram’) and it contains that idol of Buddha brought all the way back in the 18th century, from India (the birthplace of the original Buddha!) There are two alternative ways to reach the top. One of which is quite challenging and not that concrete, a path nature built just for people who’d like to trek even small distances . If you are a person with a knee-knock, I would advise you to take the steps to head towards the temple.

The cuddled path to the temple will premiere a set of small Buddha idols along the path where, if interested, you can pray and light a scented stick. Donations are also welcome. If a master of photography, this path will really provide you a plethora of awesome landscapes, city views, different angles of the temple and other exciting tidbits. Taking the neater route would not provide you much entertainment, except for the various stopovers that allow you to click a picture or two and the amazingly spread city view of Bangkok from various heights of the mountain. You can also entertain yourself by sweeping your hands through the holy bells that fence the stairs right from the bottom of the temple till the top. The sounds that these bells create an ambience of a holy angelic or a spiritual being around us. After all the hopscotch acts and panting up the 300 rectangular blocks, when you reach the temple, you will feel that this exercise was worth the effort.

First, what you will see in awe is the wonderful view of the city from up above the temple. Then, your concentration will be drawn towards the entrance of the temple, which would be buzzing with slippers from all around the globe. Yeah! Kind of trippy right? Inside the sacred building, Buddha idols of different sizes, colours, make and importance will be arranged in front of your eyes.

The highlight, as talked about before, of this temple is the oblong hall that shelters the Buddha idol that was brought from India. The offering in this temple is a gold cover with a piece of camphor and the scented stick that can be used to light within the dark pool of ashes in front of the Buddha idols. All this is a heavenly experience. My hubby was quite excited about clicking snaps than actually being a part of the religious ritual.

While I was amazed at the beauty all these idols, the city view and the story that the young guide within the temple was entertaining me with, my hubby absconded to the next floor of the temple (which was equally challenging as the stairs to this floor was steep and dangerous) to capture some breath-taking pictures.

Down below, I was still with the guide who was taking me through the history of the main idol and the temple. He first instructed me to place the camphor (that was covered in the gold paper!) in front of the idol. The paper was then to be placed on the idol. Surprisingly, it got glued onto the idol as soon as I pasted it. This idol is placed in between a hollow circular hall with a narrowed cone-shaped ceiling, which opens up to the sky. It is believed that during some auspicious nights, this opening showcases the full moon so clearly that its reflection hits the peak of the idol and gives away a feel that mirrors an expression of rays radiating from the idol itself. The guide exclaimed that it is truly a breath-taking sight and if ever I got a chance to view it, there can be no other sight to match it. Quite reluctant to leave this scene, I stayed back a while to pray and register this experience for a lifetime. He even guided me to see a picture of Buddha’s tooth, which was brought all the way from India.

Then after a stroll through the shops and stalls inside the temple, I and my hubby started to leave the temple. I believe that this would be a momentous day that I would cherish all my life. After we both raced to the end of the temple, for a moment, we both turned to capture and absorb this feel. Then we headed back to our dear cabbie, Suntong. Really tired and exhausted, we headed back to the hotel. Well, we have more to see and experience tomorrow. So after a long drive through the highway and the city lanes, we finally reached the hotel after 6 p.m. Then we freshened up, took a small break, had a sandwich or two, and surfed the local channels over there to trip for an hour or two, apart from the regular HBOs and Star Movies. Then we headed to a nearby Shopping Mall, taking the local transport, the Tuk-tuk(Very similar to the ‘Auto’ in our country!) We actually wanted to go to a departmental store where we could get some amenities for the next 2 days and also some eateries. Our dear driver got us to this mall, which was at the edge of the Rama road (Name??? Do not remember!).

Oh! Talking about the Rama road, I have to mention that in Thailand, most roads go by the name of Lords, and though seas apart, both in Thailand and India, the same religion is followed, including the Gods. So, the roads are named mostly after Gods. Now back to the mall, we strolled through the entire mall which was in the heart of the city, bought a few attires and other souvenirs and also stopped to buy pizzas with a particular topping which was not quite known to me or to any Indian. Finally, back at the hotel, I went for a quick pedicure massage, had a nice shower after a tiring day, enjoyed the pizza (not quite!) with my hubby and wound up my day reading the book of Lord Buddha that was kept in the bottom draw of the side table.

Reminiscing all the wonderful moments I experienced in the day, in a random sequence, analyzing an event or two from the day and with a good night kiss from my hubby, I slowly dreamt my way off into those heavenly abodes of mysteries and missions. Who knows I might have been a Thai princess in my previous birth or something? So what is this, re-incarnation or a moment of relaxation???? The Lord knows right. Anyways, I can’t wait to wake up on yet another bright day. A day to explore another spectrum of this wonderland! ZZZZZ………………

DAY 1 @ Bangkok continues....

Venue: Bangkok Date: 19.01.2008 Time: 02:30 p.m. Feeling: Inquisitive 

Amidst all that chitter-chatter with the cabbie and clicking off to the tunes of those realistic landscapes, city lights, smiling faces and other pictures that gave a natural geographic feel, we lost track of time, and much to our dismay we realized that we had travelled much away from our hotel to the Wat Traimit or the Temple of the Golden Buddha (An idol 3mts high and weighs 5.5 tons..) which is located next door to the palatial grounds, in the heart of Bangkok near china town.

 

'Wat’ means ‘temple’ in Thai. Unfortunately, the royals chose to grace the place with a visit on the same day, which meant that it was close to the public for the day. The only saving grace was that we could click away to our heart’s content, which meant some fantabulous pictures of the dazzling palace.

 

Suntong dropped us right in front of the gates and moved forth to find an impressive spot in the parking lot so that he could play the role of a guide inside the temple. Till he arrived, we strolled through the road side stalls and eatery joints, trying to figure out the kind of food they sold. My eyes also caught the mini souvenirs section but I wasn’t smart enough to get hold of my hubby’s wallet accountable! ;) But money? That was not going to stop me from shopping. So without much of a delay, I got my very own first memoir from the grounds of Wat Traimit. A small little Buddha and a bottle of water! LOL :) As soon as I entered the temple I had an eerie feeling, something which reminded (The ‘déjà vu’ feel of already visiting this place) me of my hometown. One of the most famous temples at our place is the Guruvayoor temple where before we enter the temple, we are routed to a shack that stows our slippers.

The same thing happened here and not just that but every bit of the flow of people entering the temple, stacking the slippers with a token base, the continuous addressing of people to take care of their belongings, the shops, the silence, the idols all reminded me of my hometown. That was so nostalgic! (Even the entrance fee to the temple, which gave the feel of a museum!!) This place was filled with idols of Buddha. Quite surprising, that a young prince, who had attained the path to salvation in the Northern regions of India had his messiahs to spread his teachings to the most parts of the eastern world. My hubby was on a spree of taking photographs. He basically enjoys pictures that speak a thousand words and those which emit a certain aura of realism than mundane pictures. I on the other hand enjoy when people smile as I click.

 

So I entered this sacred place, and as I bowed, I could see the tourists clicking away to glory. I mean, I totally understand all this could be a lifetime experience for many, so joining them I and my hubby too enjoyed the marathon of clicking pictures. In between, I took a little while to pray and touch the feet of the Golden Buddha.  The official name of this idol is ‘Phra Buddha Mahasuwan Patimakorn or Phra Sukhothai Traimitr’. I even got the chance to light a fragrant ‘agarbathi’ next to the feet of the idol. It was such a nice feeling. Apart from the main Buddha, there were also other miniature idols of Buddha in this temple.

 

Though they all look the same, as far as myth goes, it seems that each of these idols actually played a part and have a different role in the epics of mythological tales. There is a hidden story behind this temple. This idol was completely covered in stucco during the 18th century just to protect it from the Burmese. But during a transfer, it slipped and broke to reveal that it was actually made in gold.

 

This place was an accurate impression of perfect beauty met with standstill time and experience. It was less of a place for worship and more, a place for faith. In this country, male religious followers are believed to spend a particular phase in their life as a monk. But the fact remains that Thai temples are more than any holy monastery, a paradise to enjoy silence. Such a way of life actually controls the manner in which a person lives, his culture, education or his very own lifestyle. After strolling in front of the temple gates for a while, without wasting a minute, we drove to yet another sacred ground. This time, it was the Wat Pho or Wat Phrachetuphon Wimonmangkhalaram Rajaworamahavihara which is Bangkok's largest temple. Being a Keralite myself, this time, the Buddha’s idol reminded me of the Anandha Padmnabhan temple in Trivandrum.

The only difference is that there I could see Lord Vishnu and here it was another avatar of the same Lord. This, 45 mts long, statue was basically a giant reclining Buddha. It seems this is where Buddha entered attained Nirvana. Clicking a snap that covers the entire statue is next to impossible. So we toured around the statue to get a feel of this amazing structure. The statue’s feet alone can reflect 108 images of Buddha’s impressions. The slanting look of Buddha brings you to serenity. It is just amazing. A great spot for a good photograph!

 











Apart from this statue, this campus was engulfed with a legendary stretch of high and low tombs sculptured in different artistic gauges. We had fun simply touring these tombs as this entire ground was some sort of a crystal maze for us aliens. My hubby was busy peaking into other cameras that went on clicking around where as I was more interested to find out a bit more about this place.

 





Till date, numerous monks dwell there is what our guide said. This museum-cum-temple-cum-touring peak shelters around 394 statues of Buddha, a Bodhi tree and many other deity idols within its well-fenced compound. We even got a good look of the various tombs shining exotically in the spread of the dusk strokes. Before we walked our way to the parking lot, we loitered by the small time souvenir shop available within the vicinity of this temple where the salesgirl lured us to the best of buying something. But we simply surfed through the showcases of this shop and rushed to where our cabbie was waiting for us, trusted and tired. Much tired, gulping down all the water I had and sweating it all out along these toiling treks, we headed to the next destination. Once again, another temple! :)

Day I - The most sought after places in the Far East

In continuation of my travel epic, the story goes on somewhat like this... In Bangkok, within the deep siesta scene, I slowly evoked that I am not here to slumber, but wander… I pulled off the sheets that sheltered me through this amazing journey of relaxation and rejuvenation (after all that commotion and chaos, the night before) and with a mood so high, I moved my way towards a refreshing shower…

As soon as I recovered from the stoned world of dreams and trips, (thanks to the hot water tub!), I changed to my casuals, on my sweetheart’s orders and before it was too late, we rushed out for a quick lunch with the free coupons that were given to us.

The lunch, to be frank, was awful. I mean, who in the world would eat anything like that? There was no presentation style, everything was clustered in one plate and no one ever knew what the smelly stuff they were eating was and even worse, to add to all these existing woes, mostly the food was non-veg and being a veggie, I wholeheartedly empathized with those veggie souls who would encounter this kind of a situation in an unknown land.

But later, thanks to the recent concept of globalization and the monopoly of corporate giants, back in the city, I was able to find everything from a Veg. Club sandwich to a Tofu Pizza (As those guys have no clue, as to what is ‘Paneer’!) So after this quick, not-so-impressive lunch, we hired a cabbie for the rest of the day for the 2-day trip in Bangkok, to not go waste. In a Camry, groomed up just like a taxi, we set off to our first destination in Thailand.

Venue: Bangkok Date: 19.01.2008 Time: 02:00 p.m. Feeling: Excited

Now here we had our very own cabby ‘Suntong’, or however it was pronounced (as all names out there sounded the same to me), who became a close buddy of my hubby in these, two days’ time. During our travel to various places, Suntong also served as the local bi-lingual translator teaching us a little bit of Thai (proper Thai that he knew!) taking minimal assistance from his half-baked knowledge of broken English.

Further, without hurting the ego of our cabbie, we left to him the decision of detailing the noon and night itinerary. Though I had my own list of places to visit, the number of which was humongous and the task practically not that feasible, I kept mum and let my sweetie and the cabbie do all the talking. Instead of blabbering, I simply pitched in whenever Suntong would jump up with enthusiasm and teach us a word or two in Thai. For example, ‘Sawatdee’ stands for Hello, Goodbye, Good morning, and Good evening. ‘Sawatdee’ is basically used for wishing someone a good fortune or blessing. However, like in many other languages, the suffix of this word differs based on the genders for which it is used.

For gentlemen, it is ‘Sawatdeekha’ and for ladies, ‘Sawatdeekhrap’. It is a pretty confusing language. If the same thing is said at the end of the conversation or for saying ‘Thanks’ or something, then it is pronounced as ‘Sabaaydeekhrap’. ‘Khapumkhaa’ is for Thank You. Once again, based on the gender, this word may change. Hmm. Now check this out! In their language, at times, the same word is used throughout a sentence, but of course in varying frequencies—ranging from low to high. If you want to ask someone ‘Is it new?’, then in Thai you need to ask ‘mai (in low frequency) mai (in high poetic frequency)? LOL!!

I can just go on talking about their language. But my personal travelogue isn’t just about that. So, in between all these language classes, I and my hubby were also seriously clicking some exotic, ethereal real-life shots of the narrow city lanes in Bangkok. Bangkok, as it goes by its name and fame, is a city which never sleeps and which never wakes up either. Why I say this is because the Thai people, how much ever broad-minded and heart-warming they are by personality and no matter how far they lead many other nations in terms of technology, lifestyle and branding, as an outsider, you will always sense a standstill way of life.

People are not very keen or do not take an effort to expose themselves to new things and lines of thought. That, at times, can be a bit surprising and also annoying. If a nation wants to extend its horizons of tourism and globalization, it is imperative that initiatives to enhance the general public’s awareness about the customs and practices of people from various regions should be definitely on. (Well, for the money part, they all are quite well-equipped!) So all things apart, our trip was on! And it continues...

Destination, long awaited!!!

From here onwards, I will be jotting down experiences from the Thailand trip that I took earlier this year, in my blog. There will not be any consistent sequence, as my creativity might trigger some other exciting stuff too. However, 10 days from this trip will be detailed slowly, one by one, for my loved ones to read and enjoy. So without wasting much time, here I begin my own travelogue, in my own words......

 

Venue: Chennai to Bangkok

Date: 18.01.2008 – 19.01.2008

Time: 02: 00 am – 06:00 am

Feeling: Sick

Childhood, then adolescence and now my present! All this while, I have been taken to various ends of the world, I have seen which many haven't, I have met people of unique ethnicity, I have eaten what I dare not say on this public platform, I have seen and captured some awesome images either with my little gizmo or my soggy eyes (as my eyes keep watering, if exposed for long in the sun, which apparently means that I do most of these things during the day :)), I have got the chance to enjoy some very rare moments in unknown lands and I take pride when I say I have been half round the globe.

Far East especially has always been one of my favorite regions of visit. Till date, I guess I have visited just, all of the lands that bear the well-known crazy foods, charming people, monumental richness, historical achievements, tai-chi, kung-fu, judo, chopsticks and what not, in the Far East. Right from Hong Kong to Bali. But there was this one place, that I always wanted to visit. In dreams, I saw this paradise, I did not get its name... But when I knew where it was, it was never the same...

For ages, my loved ones have been promising to take me to lands where nature begins and ends. I am not an adventurous person but the excitement of discovering something so ancient and oriental always gave me the thrills. When in 2005, this thrill did not face reality, thanks to my overdue passport renewal, I lost hope just like how a soldier loses hope when his ammo gets jammed and there isn’t a single soul to help him out amidst that entire fire raid….wow! Now why in the world, did I take up that analogy? Guess, I am still not over the mini-series mania ‘BOB’...

So, back to my real story, I simply thought how can I substitute a trip to the never ending scenic surprise filled experience with a cabby ridden trip to the Northern terrains of India? Thrilled, was not the feeling or the word I was looking for, when I heard this… But life is unfair, it has always been. So, then back in 05’ November, I said ‘Yes’ and I ended up enjoying a pretty decent trip to the plains of ‘goris’ and ‘choris’. A place filled with colors, palaces, great spicy food, good looking hunks, nice weather (only during the end of the year) and lots of leg pain (as you have to walk and trek all your way out, in these places)! But all this while, even while messaging my fiancee, or while nodding to the funny English lecture which our guide was trying to install in us, my head was dangling with thoughts, that filled pictures of nature, elephants, drinks, fun, colors, festivals, dances, beaches, smiling people and lots of shopping.

A slight amusement reflected in my grin and I knew I had to just go there, at least once.. Where? No prizes for guessing this one... but it was truly Thailand!

Years passed, I got married to my sweetheart, got a peaceful job and life was never so much better. I and my soul mate keep traveling to unknown destinations to explore regions of interest or to reveal something, which for many others is extraordinary. My days of courting with my sweetheart began when I was averagely enjoying my trip in Rajasthan.

How I wished then that I would travel the ends of the world with him. But of course, later we went places, we enjoyed places, we looked for new places and eventually we decided a great place to go for my next birthday! Any guesses? Yeah finally, we had decided to hit the coasts of Thailand. A dream that was becoming so true, that it was kind of hard for me to believe.SO, I started planning for this lovely trip to Thailand which was planned for around 15 days or so. So, I bid farewell to my dear colleagues, whom I would miss and would empathize with as they have no clue where I am off too.

I knew that these people were envying me, in their minds for the very fact that I was going to have a blast in the best exotic place, ever. For starters, the packing began and i was not even able to think what I need on this trip. I mean, the excitement was carrying me off from my presence of mind. The countdown began and the next I remember is, the final day, the night of our flight when me and my hubby rushed our ways to the airport (as always we rush at the last moment) to catch our much delayed, queue sticking, leg aching, roller coaster flight.

Apparently, it was the holiday season and all the flights were jam-packed. So we waited and waited, from one line to another, catching a bite or two, taking snaps, cit-chatting, observing and commenting about the people around us and the constant peek towards our watches. Finally, we got past the checking and security and the flight eventually kicked off at 2:00 am (it was initially scheduled for 12:00 am), thanks to all the commotion due to the enormous groups of passengers waiting to board various flights that day.

Finally, we squeezed our way into the flight and after the ‘welcomes’ and the ‘here’s your seat, Mam' session, I took a breath of relief for just a minute, after tucking my seat belt. Phew! But the marathon of disasters wasn’t the end for me, that day. More to come is what I say! I slept for a while which was quite tough, as the seats were cramped and my tummy wasn’t doing so good. I might have even thrown up if it wasn’t for my willpower of bearing and tolerating stuff.

So even before, I could blink an eye amidst all that noisy music, stuffed air and a hell a lot of humans around me not shutting their mouths, 'breakfast' was the biz word for the attendants. C’mon, give me a break! So, I skipped the smelly breakfast and just waited until that huge ton of fuselage reaches my most awaited destination.

And like an angel carrying away the weight of so many souls, our flight, sharp at dot time, ultimately reached Bangkok, the heart of the Thais, the city that never sleeps. The time was perfect, the weather couldn’t have been better, the process of immigration and other airport formalities were peaceful. But amidst all this, I had a head going nuts and a tummy going growls.

So strolling through the women only sections and peeking on my back now and then to ensure that my man is still behind, I reach for the conveyor belt so that we can just grab our baggage and get out to inhale some fresh air. Frankly speaking, I was tired of those artificial fragrances seeping through my nasals from the time we started from Chennai. It was high time that I really got some air, so fresh. Inside the airport corridors and lounges, we found some interesting tidbits to be shot at. So we reached for our cameras and shot some amazing masterpieces.

At the airport entrance, our hearts skipped a beat when we saw that there was no one to load our asses. After a minute's session of bargaining just like one of those common tourists that you see in an unheard land, we managed to yield in for their rates and was just desperate to reach our hub so that we can slosh off to sleep for the rest of the day (That is at least what I thought!) But back at the Bangkok Centre Hotel, we spend some time in exploring the arena of this new land, its people, trying out the food and so on. The camera shots had however become the routine for the day.

So after the initial check-in formalities and the exploration of our new hub for the next few hours, we raved into our new room – 412. Yeah, how could I forget that number? This hotel was exactly located a walk away from the local railway station, the Hua Lampong for which we had the subway right in front of our hotel. The best part of the day was we got to hear that China town was just 10 minutes away from the hotel. I hate Chinese food, so that is not why I am so excited but it is the fact that China is known for its great antiques and other weirdo stuff. And I was just waiting with my camera, to take a click of these out-of-the-world stuffs.

 

However, I sloshed off as soon as I saw the beds, all thanks to the freaking jet lag, that I had. It was so bad that after a long time, I had a sleep without any dreams, not even of holidaying in Thailand and I had no clue what time it was when I woke up. But all I knew was I was ever ready for an awesome, fun-filled Thai trip! :)