we all really enjoyed the movie, but bryan noted that he didn't like when the actors/actresses broke out in song when they were supposed to just be having a conversation. i replied with, 'that's what happens in musicals!' bryan's response: 'but this was a movie trying to be a musical, not a musical trying to be a movie.' we all have our own opinions. :)
the next day (saturday) was magha puja day. this is a major buddhist holiday and commemorates the day when 1250 arahants (enlightened people) assembled spontaneously to hear the Buddha give one of his famous sermons discussing the fundamentals of Buddhism (avoid doing bad, do good, purify the mind). this day is also important because the Buddha had personally ordained all the 1250 arahants himself. during Buddhist holidays, people try to make merit by going to the temple, giving donations, and also buying flowers, incense, and candles for 'wian tian', or a ceremony where you walk around a temple's main hall three times (for the Buddha, the Dharma (teachings of the Buddha), and the Sangha (those who follow the teachings of the Buddha).
bryan, chris, and i spent the day touring wats, or temples, in Bangkok. we got off to kinda a late start because i had to go to my mom's seamstress/tailor and have my measurements taken first since my mom wanted me to get a suit made for residency interviews later this fall. the seamstress was really nice and said, 'I totally expected you to be super huge the way your mom was talking about you! She said you were as big as an elephant, but I think you're still nalaak (cute, good) and not fat.' i was kinda mad at my mom for saying that to her but also relieved that she wasn't going to talk to me about how fat i was (common theme in Thai culture). the measurements didn't take very long and the shop was conveniently located across from playground! (a concept store on soi thonglor), so we stopped in for lunch at vanilla cafe.
highlights of our meal included: cherry coke (with the syrup given to you separately to mix in), bacon and apple salad with this super yummy dressing, and warm sunken chocolate cake with ice cream. i had my standard grilled salmon with linguine pesto, and chris had a huge pork chop with spiced apple and raisin topping. bryan had pasta (rigatoni with italian sausage) as well. after exploring playground! for a little bit and checking out their art gallery space, we hopped in a taxi and braved bangkok traffic for quite a long time before arriving at Wat Phra Kaew (The Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and The Grand Palace.
It was super hot by the time we arrived at the temple (noonish) and there were a lot of people (especially Thais) there to celebrate the holiday. The shrine/hall where the Emerald Buddha was kept was closed off to the public and the surrounding area was filled with Thai people, many dressed in all white, chanting. we were able to explore the rest of the temple/palace grounds though. one highlight of the Grand Palace was seeing the Changing of the Guard, which i imagine is much like the same ceremony at Buckingham Palace. after our tour of Wat Phra Kaew, we stopped by the pier market for some refreshments and walked a few blocks over to Wat Po (the Temple of the Reclining Buddha and the site of the first university in Thailand). At Wat Po, bryan made merit and attached gold leaf to the Saturday Buddha (there are Buddhas in different positions - walking, sitting, standing, etc, for each day of one's birth - more on this in the mae hong son post below).chris and bryan also got their fortunes told
by local Thai fortune-tellers at the temple who use a mix of numerology, astrology, and palm reading to discuss your personality, work, and life. i was the scribe during this time and also helped translate. i don't feel at liberty to disclose others' fortunes, but i will say that the first thing the fortune teller told chris when he sat down was, 'this boy is really attached to his mother - he is a mama's boy!' this was really funny to me as its a long-standing joke between me and chris (and exactly what his cousin tony told me the first time we met).after fortunes, we boarded a super packed boat to Siriraj Hospital, where Nan was waiting for us. While we waited for other people to show up, we sipped cold drinks at a thankfully air conditioned Black Canyon at the pier. Later, we walked to another local wat for wian tian before heading to dinner at Studio 9, which was celebrating its grand opening. Nan had luckily reserved the last table earlier in the week for our party, which included my close Bangkok Thai friends (nan, mon, krit), nan's friend may, and chris, bryan, and myself. Studio 9 is part of Patravadi Theater, an open air playhouse/restaurant featuring performances that blend classical Thai traditions with more modern art forms.
we didn't stay for the entire show due to the overwhelming heat, but saw pieces featuring acrobatics, khon (masked drama), candle dancing (Thai classical dancing where women carry two lit candles in their hands while dancing), musical fusion (using Thai classical instruments to play modern songs with a band), and more. i had a good time even though we had the worst seats in the house and would like to go back on a cooler night in the future. i urge anyone going to bangkok to check it out as well.after the show, we wanted to go sing karaoke but everyone was too hot and/or tired to go on, so we parted ways and ended up at home. because no one is allowed to sell alcohol on Buddhist holidays, we figured that a lot of establishments might be closed as well. in any case, we got to hang out with my cousin Ted (visiting from Irvine, CA) and talk to my mom and my aunt on Skype. kinda like a mini family reunion, which always entails funny stories about the past and people making fun of each other (in a joking way) on my mom's side of the family. we ended up going to bed close to 2 am and i attempted to see the full lunar eclipse from my uncle's balcony but wasn't able to see the moon.
today ted and my uncle likhit left for phuket to visit my uncle chin (and go scuba diving). we're planning to go to asia's largest open air market (jatujak weekend market), maybe sing some karaoke, and grab dinner at mon's family restaurant before heading back to chiang mai. bryan is back to nyc tonight as well and ending his 10 day journey in Thailand.
sunday update:
we got a little late start after going to bed way late the night before but headed off to jatujak market in unbearable heat so that bryan could get a sample of market life here. sadly, none of us bought anything but i did drink some cold crysanthemum tea. after exploring the market, we headed back towards siam and i took chris and bryan to jim thompson's house. jim thompson, an american former gi, is credited with revitalizing thailand's silk industry in his name still carries on at many of his silk stores throughout Bangkok (and abroad today). he was a former architect before he served in the armed forces during WWII and loved Thai art and culture. To build his house, he traveled throughout Thailand and bought all these ancient Thai teak houses on stilts and brought them back to Bangkok, where he re-assembled them according to their ancient forms and connected them together to build a larger Thai-style house. Now, his house displays his vast collection of Thai art, Chinese porcelain, and more. it's a great museum, really manageable, and there are tours in English. jim thompson disappeared at age 61 - an age a Thai astrologer/fortune teller told him that he must be careful of danger - on a trip to malaysia and no one knows what happened to him. the paper with his reading from this Thai astrologer still sits framed on his wall in the library.
because he believed in astrology, jim thompson also had a series of paintings/drawings depicting the siamese zodiac with one for each animal of the zodiac. we thought these were pretty cool and each picked up a print of our animal (bryan - horse, chris - sheep, tanya - monkey) that came with an explanation and horoscope breaking down the type of person you are from the month and day of your birth. i am a wild monkey, chris is Lord Buddha's sheep, and bryan is (sadly) a horse with a broken leg.
after jim thompson's house, we met up with nan and took a taxi to mon's restaurant, prachak, which has been in her family for four generations. it's a hole-in-the-wall but well known throughout bangkok for its chinese roast duck, bbq pork, and dim sum. my oldest uncle ate here when he was in medical school back in the day. we chowed down on tons of yummy food and then had some down time at uncle likhit's apt before heading to the airport. bryan's flight (bkk-nyc) left at 1 am, so he had a little extra time and started his blog of our trips here.
now we're back in chiang mai....and im back to work tuesday!!
1 comment:
"we ended up going to bed close to 2 am and i attempted to see the full lunar eclipse from my uncle's balcony but wasn't able to see the moon."
Maybe because it was eclipsed...
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