Sunday June 4: What is a wat?

A wat, pronounced a lot like “what” (close enough that the group is already quite tired of my puns), is a Buddhist temple complex. Ninety-five percent of Thais are Buddhist, and there is no shortage of temples to express their faith. Bangkok has 153 of them, with thousands more spread throughout the countryside. Monks live in the complexes and most believers make at least one trip a week to their wat. Most men spend some time as a monk around age 20—it is a sort of “rite of passage,” that can last as long as the young man chooses, from a week to a lifetime—so the temples are well attended by orange-clad, head shaven monks.
Today’s city tour included visits to three of the most well-known wats, and then we trekked on our own to harder-to-reach areas, and despite their differences, we’ve definitely had our fill for awhile. Some highlights included the largest golden Buddha in the world and a collection of Buddhas from all over the world. Wat Arun was completely covered in pieces of tiny broken porcelain. At Wat Pho, the largest and oldest temple in Bangkok, we saw the giant, reclining Buddha stretching 46 meters long and 15 meters high. This is also the national public education center and home of the original Thai massage schools.
While we were there, we noticed a huge number of cameramen wandering about and a woman dressed in a pure gold ceremonial costume, but we couldn’t figure out the occasion. Then, all of a sudden, a young couple with backpacks comes sprinting through followed by a camera crew—it turned out we were standing at the finish line for the next Amazing Race! Evan and Rachael—we thought of you! Wish you were here.
Our last wat of the day was Thailand’s “premier tourist attraction,” and just a small part of the massive Grand Palace complex where the king used to live. A piece of the Buddha’s breastbone is here as is the Emerald Buddha (actually made of jade, but the king at the time wasn’t so great with his gems). The Emerald Buddha is Thailand’s most holy relic and the hall was filled to capacity with devout Buddhists chanting loudly. The complex also had countless palaces and structures, surrounded by gardens and a wall more than a mile long enclosing the compound. We were wondering if the Buddha would really approve of such extravagance in order to honor his memory, but this can certainly be said for any religion…
Thailand is still ruled by a monarch, and he is more powerful than England’s royalty, but still only a little more than a figurehead. The government is a constitutional parliament, but there have been riots for democracy since the 1970s and in 1993 there was a Tiananmen-style student massacre. Interestingly, we saw a democracy memorial in the middle of the city, but democracy has not arrived. There is an interesting separation between king and parliament. The current king has been on the throne for 60 years and is universally beloved. (We actually think he’s a bit egotistical, as you cannot travel more than 2 minutes without seeing his portrait, often larger than life-size, adorning some building or road sign. The most frequent article of clothing is a yellow polo shirt (his color) with his crest, and even in the most rural parts of the country, his flag is displayed every few feet.) Criticizing the king is the biggest taboo in Thai culture and could result in an immediate arrest. The parliament, though, is detested and the press berates their corruption and inefficiency endlessly. Efforts for universal healthcare have failed, and when I asked our guide what happened if someone poor got sick, she responded, “you poor, no go to hospital.”
We had planned to visit a round of Thai boxing, but we couldn’t pass as Thais and the foreigner price was five times the Thai price we had been quoted. Instead, we ordered a huge feast at a nearby restaurant for about five dollars each. The wait staff went out of there way to make sure we ate authentically, ordering for us, cutting up our meet in the proper way, and showing us exactly how to mix the sticky rice with the spicy sauce and dip it into the soup perfectly. We abandoned our Avian flu worries when the chicken fried with a crispy skin and tender meat sprinkled with fried garlic came out. Delicious!
For some reason, the people here have an annoying habit of telling us that any given attraction is closed for the day, and we can’t figure out why. It seems everyone has an agenda for us, but we are not sure what they have to gain by telling us that the Grand Palace is closed but we should go see some other Buddha instead, or someone’s house or museum is not seeing visitors because of “the holiday,” the time, or some other not-quite-logical reason. “No come today. Come tomorrow, better day,” said one gentleman. “But we’re leaving tomorrow.” “Oh, okay, come today,” he conceded. Yesterday a taxi driver insisted persistently that all of China Town was closed. When we arrived, I had never seen so many people in my life. It really is frustrating to not be able to trust the advice about where or where not to go from otherwise very helpful people we meet, and it forces us to be constant skeptics. Does anyone have any idea what’s behind this?
I’m ready to head out of Bangkok and really start to explore. I can’t help but feel like a tourist here. The city is so big and we have tried to cover as many of the attractions as we can, but it sort of seems like running from DK Top 10 site to site. It’ll be great to slow things down a bit and absorb. Tomorrow we’ll do a day trip to Kanchanaburi to see the Bridge Over the River Kwai, and we’ll come back to spend one night on Khao San Road, the city’s backpacker ghetto, but then we’ll be off to Cambodia and a bit less traveled territory.