Lewis can’t believe the size of the weekend Chatuchak market
Lewis the Lion and Helen were very excited as their friend Sinead had joined them on their Thai adventure and had travelled all the way from England. (A journey that exceeds 11 and a half hours!). No sooner had she arrived in Bangkok and dropped her bags in the hotel than the friends jumped in another taxi to take them to the Chatuchak Weekend Market. This Bangkok market is the largest market in Thailand and the world’s largest weekend market. Frequently called J.J., it covers over 35 acres and contains more than of 5,000 stalls. Lewis the Lion discovered that that’s an awful lot of walking!
There was everything you could ever imagine there from things for your house and home, to clothes and accessories, and food and drink. Here are some of the things that particularly caught Lewis the Lion’s eye there.
Locals can buy many photos of the Thai monarchy in the Chatuchak Market
Lewis notices some traditional Thai marble statues, including some lions!
Lewis the Lion poses by this wooden elephant in the Chatuchak market
In the end, Helen and Sinead bought themselves a straw hat each and some summer beach dresses that were really cheap (not to forget Helen’s obligatory magnets to add to her collection!).
Sinead has a welcome drink whilst wearing her new straw hat!
That afternoon, they decided to go out and explore the city and what better way than to take a riverboat along Bangkok’s main river: the Chao Phraya River. So, on the Si Phraya Pier near the Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel they boarded a riverboat all to themselves on the promise that they would visit some of Bangkok’s biggest tourist attractions over the next hour and a half, all for 550 Thai Bahts.
Lewis boards a boat to explore “the Venice of the East”
Sometimes this part of Bangkok is called “the Venice of the East” as like Venice there are many canals that weave in and out of the traditional Thai wooden houses and ornate temples, called “Wats.”
Lewis the Lion passes by ornate Thai temples and buildings
Lewis the Lion at Wat Arun (The Temple of Dawn)
Eventually, they arrived at perhaps the most stunning of all the riverside temples, Wat Arun which means the Temple of Dawn. A woman ran after Lewis the Lion and his friends trying to pester them for money. It seemed like the people in Bangkok had a honing device today: they knew he was a tourist and they wanted his money! However, he knew that he had already paid handsomely for his boat ride today that was fully inclusive so they weren’t getting any more. You had to draw the line somewhere: just because he was a tourist didn’t mean that he was made of money!
Nonetheless, Lewis marvelled at the beautiful temple the boat had brought him to. Wat Arun on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River consists of a high central prang (a tall, tower-like spire) which is surrounded by four smaller prangs. All of them are decorated by seashells and bits of porcelain. He was certainly impressed when he got up close to see the detail.
Lewis the Lion sees more royal pictures at Wat Arun
Some traditional Thai dancers outside the Temple of Dawn
Outside this beautifully decorative temple with its outbuildings, Lewis the Lion was no longer surprised to find huge images of the Thai Royal family. However, it was a pleasant surprise to find some traditional Thai dancers in traditional costume as you can see in the photo above.
Money offerings outside the temple
Outside the temple, what first looked like decorations strung up, Lewis the Lion soon discovered that it was money wafting in the breeze. Buddhist monks rely solely on the generosity of the public to sustain them and as this was a special temple, the donations seemed to fly in.
Lewis sees a poster of a tradionally dressed Buddhist monk
A Buddhist monk rushes by wearing his orange robes
Lewis the Lion saw several monks around the temple praying but didn’t want to disturb them in their prayer and so was reluctant to take photos. However, he noticed that they wore orange robes and often had their heads shaved too.
The three monkeys: see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil
Lewis saw a statue of the Japanese Three Wise Monkeys reflecting the Japanese Golden Rule: See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil. In other words be good in mind, speech and action. However he learnt that in the Buddhist tradition, the monkeys represent the concept of not dwelling on evil thoughts.
Bells are rung outside of the temple
Lewis the Lion noticed that people would take it in turns to come and strike these huge bells outside the temple and thought it added to the prayerfulness of the place.
Lewis sees people offering prayers, flowers and money at the Buddha statue
For all it was a busy and vibrant place, Lewis the Lion felt that this temple was a prayerful and spiritual place. By a golden statue of a Buddha, he saw many people bowed in prayer, throwing money into donation plates and carrying flowers. He later discovered that the ashes of King Rama II (who died in 1884) are buried in the base of this presiding Buddha image.
Traditional housing on the Bangkok canals
Back on the boat, the driver sped along Bangkok’s many canals and Lewis the Lion was fascinated to see the traditional style houses. He didn’t think it was as pretty as Venice but what he did notice was that the houses were wooden and were raised up on posts or stilts out of the water. This is important as every year the monsoons bring heavy rains and this prevents the houses flooding. Lewis the Lion learnt that several generations may live in the same house and that sometimes parents and children share the same bedroom. The other interesting thing that he learnt was that like at the temple, Thai people remove their shoes before entering a house.
One of the floating markets approaches Lewis’ boat
Away from the main river, Lewis the Lion saw what he thought was the tail end of Bangkok’s famous floating markets. He’d heard how boats are often piled high with fruits and vegetables, fresh coconut milk and floating kitchens. However, the boats that approached him were clearly designed for the tourists as they sold nick-nacks like ornaments and souvenirs and seemed to be more expensive than the goods he had seen at the Chatuchek Market earlier that day.
The boat then seemed to race along the canals and Lewis was surprised to see that some of the houses appeared to have collapsed into the water. As they shot under bridges, they soon came back to the main river on which they had started. It was very pleasant to relax and let the boat speed on past the Bangkok skyline (so relaxing in fact that Sinead managed to sleep through part of it: she must have been exhausted after that long journey!).
The Bangkok skyline from the riverside
The boat was so quick in fact that their hour and a half boat trip turned out to only be a disappointing 55 minutes. However, it had dropped them off by the Thai Royal Palace. Lewis the Lion peered in through the gates: it looked magnificent but oh so crowded!
Guards monitor the crowds at the entrance to the Royal Grand Palace
Lewis the Lion is ashamed to say that at this point he was feeling a little bit worn out and a little bit culturally overloaded. He felt like he just couldn’t take any more in for one day. He wondered if all this travel was starting to take its toll?
After wandering around the perimeter of the palace and seeing a rather grand elephant roundabout, the friends decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel.
An impressive elephant roundabout near the palace
However, this didn’t prove to be an easy task at all. Obviously they had found themselves near Bangkok’s most famous landmark which was far away from either of the city’s subway or skytrain so they tried to flag down a tuk-tuk or a taxi.
Tuk-tuks clamour for business by the Royal Palace
Taxi and tuk-tuk drivers clearly know the predicament that tourists find themselves in and so charge extortionate prices for them to travel anywhere, even to the nearest train station. After stopping at least a dozen taxi drivers who either wouldn’t use the meter or claimed that they didn’t know where the hotel was, exasperated, the friends decided to catch a local bus instead to get them to the nearest train station. Even though this proved much cheaper, it certainly was an adventure as the bus conductor forgot to tell the friends where to get off and so they ended up miles further away. Luckily though, there was a kind passenger who accompanied them to the nearest subway and even wrote the directions for their hotel in Thai so that the taxi drivers would be able to understand.
After taking the skytrain and arriving at Mo Chit station, the friends then started again in earnest to try to flag down a taxi that would take them to their destination which by now wasn’t too far away. But what a struggle it was! The Thai taxi drivers didn’t seem able to either read the directions in Thai nor read a map. However, with a bit of determination the friends eventually found a taxi driver who knew where to take them and what a relief that was. Lewis the Lion couldn’t remember the last time he felt so happy to get back to his hotel room and now it was time for just one thing…an afternoon nap! In no time at all, he was off in the land of nod dreaming of elephants he thinks, especially after seeing all the splendid architecture around Bangkok today!
Elephant trunks trumpet skywards on these Thai buildings
If Lewis the Lion had stayed a little longer to have visited the Grand Palace, he might have discovered some of Bangkok’s ‘must see’ attractions, notably Wat Phra Kaew (the Temple of the Emerald Buddha).
Can you do some research on the internet to find out some interesting facts and figures about this special place? Can you also find some pictures too so that you can show Lewis the Lion what he missed?
