From Undefeatable to Unpronounceable

Our final days in Ayuthaya were quite productive from Karl’s point of view because he got to take the pictures he had come to Ayuthaya for. It all started with a trip to Wat Phra Si Sanphet Monday evening for the sunset. By the time we got there the sun was gone but in the dusk with the temple stupas lit from below it was an impressive sight. As we arrived there were two other photographers setting up their tripods as well. Karl out lasted them all, taking pictures for almost an hour! After exhausting the photo opportunities at Wat Phra Si Sanphet, we moved across the street to Wat Phra Ram. This temple was quite imposing with the towers and stupas dramatically lit but not as photogenic because many large trees blocked the view of the temple structures. We walked around and tried photographing from several angles. At night, the temples are closed so we were limited to what we could photograph from the outer walls. Since we were using a tripod, we were able to get a picture of ourselves at Wat Phra Ram. You’ll notice Karl is sporting some new attire that he received after a trip to the doctor. We went to have Karl’s shoulder checked out because it still ached a week after our little mishap and we learned that shoulders just take a while to heal. The doctor said Karl had to rest his shoulder and gave him the sling.

Before returning to our hotel we made a stop at Wat Mahathat and found that the park attendants were unofficially giving tours inside the temple. We took them up on the offer and walked around the inside of the temple. The huge spotlights created deep shadows that made the whole place a little spooky.

The next morning as we were leaving the little restaurant in the middle of the market, I spotted some ladies dressed in the traditional Thai theater costumes and they were rehearsing. A tent was set up and some monks and other men were setting up the area under the tent for a ceremony. We went to watch them rehearse and took a few pictures. They seemed to be having a lot of fun and giggled quite a bit as they were mock fighting. After the rehearsal, we talked to a lady who turned out to be their dance instructor and Karl was able to arrange to take pictures of a couple of the young ladies at the temples. The rehearsal was for a performance the next day and I think the type of performance is called Li-Keh which is a less formal type of play with lots of melodrama
and clowning around.

With models lined up, Karl set out to pick the perfect location. We headed to Wat Phra Ram and I was the stand in model as Karl did test shots. It was the middle of the day and really hot so I carried around an umbrella to keep the sun off. I felt a bit like Mary Poppins with my umbrella and a shoulder bag full of stuff (water, guide book, etc.) but I wasn’t about to give up either. While we wandered around the temple, I noticed there were elephants taking tourists around the temples. I felt a bit sorry for those elephants; out in the heat walking back and forth between the temples. Before we left, we walked around the outside of the temple and admired the large pond full of lotus blossoms.



We returned to the temple in the late afternoon and met up with the dance instructor, the two young ladies and several members of their family. The dance instructor helped the girls pose and the family members sat back and commented on how beautiful and lovely the girls looked. Sometimes they would take a peek at the display screen on Karl’s camera to make sure he was doing a good job. The girls were very lovely and very good at holding the poses while Karl took the picture. Most of the poses are difficult and some involved balancing on one foot. Karl took the pictures at one location in Wat Phra Ram because it provided the best background and lighting. The crumbling brick wall, the stupa with a broken point and the girls’ costumes from the Ayuthaya period are all reminders of the city’s previous grandeur. Ayuthaya was named after Ayodhya the home Rama in the Ramayana story and ironically it means undefeatable in Sanskrit. The Burmese may have done their best to wipe out Ayuthaya but today the ruins have made the city very popular with tourists. As the sun was setting, we went to the pond of lotus blossoms and got some pictures there. With both memory cards nearly full and the sun almost gone, Karl took one final picture of us, the dance instructor, the two girls and their parents. We added more of the pictures to our online photo album at: Ayuthaya



The family gave us a ride back to our hotel and told us about the shootings at Virginia Tech that day. As we talked about what they had heard on the news and what was still unknown at that time, everyone said how sad it was that things like this happened. Over the last week, we’ve met other people who expressed their sympathy. Our thoughts and prayers certainly go out to the families who have lost loved ones.

Wednesday morning we made a quick trip to the market where the dance troupe was performing for a ceremony. We took a CD of the pictures we had taken to the dance instructor. In the market there is a statue of the Hindu god Shiva and for this ceremony they were painting and dressing the statue. Buddha was an Indian prince which may explain why Hindu gods are still given reverence by Buddhists.

That same morning we boarded a bus for Bangkok and that evening we were off to the National Museum to see a Khohn performance. Karl had called a Bangkok tourist information number recommended by our guide book to find out when the performance would be. When we arrived at the museum, we learned that it wasn’t Wednesday night after all but Sunday night. By this time all the tourist attractions in the area had closed so we went to a restaurant that we remembered from our last trip to Thailand. We had some really good curry while we enjoyed the view of Chao Phraya River. After dinner we took the Chao Phraya Express down the river to catch Bangkok’s Sky Train back to our hotel.

While we’ve been in Thailand we’ve heard and read many places about the real name of the capital city. Bangkok was the name of a small town where the capital of Thailand was for a short time before it was moved across the river to its current location. The real name is: Krungthep Mahanakhon Amonratanakosin Mahintara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Popnopparat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniset Mahasathan Amonpiman Avatansathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukamprasit. People in Thailand just call it Krungthep. So, it is easy to see why the Westerners preferred to continue calling the city Bangkok, it’s easier to pronounce. In case you are curious the name means: Great City of Angels, Repository of Divine Gems, Great Land Unconquerable, Grand and Prominent Realm, Royal and Delightful Capital City Full of Nine Noble Gems, Highest Royal Dwelling and Grand Palace, Divine Shelter and Living Place of Reincarnated Spirits. Either way it’s a mouthful!

Happy New Year – Thai Style!

This week was the Songkran Festival also known as the Water Festival and it marks the Thai lunar New Year. The Songkran Festival starts on April 13th and this year the holiday was declared for 5 days. It is essentially a nation-wide water fight! Before I write about our Songkran adventure, I need to address the days preceding.

As everyone in the states is aware Sunday, April 8, 2007 was Easter. Sometimes in Thailand Western holidays will be celebrated just for the fun of it but Easter apparently is not one of those. I would guess this is because of its close proximity to Songkran which is a very big holiday for the Thai. There were no Easter Bunnies or Easter Eggs available in the markets but there were quite a lot of water guns of varying capacity. Karl and I were able to attend church for Easter which was a nice way for us to celebrate the holiday. We got to meet the local members of the church as well as some missionaries from America.

On Monday, Karl was a man with a mission. We rented a motorcycle and headed to the local University to see if we could arrange for a model in traditional Thai costume. We met with a professor at the University’s School of Dance and learned that we had to get permission from the Ayuthaya Historical Society. While I happily waited for Karl at the school, he rode around with one of the students selecting the temple sites where he wanted to take pictures and then going to the Historical Society. It turned out that with the wages for the models and the payment to the Historical Society for permission, the whole thing would cost over $100 for taking pictures for one hours. In the end, Karl and I decided it was too expensive.



Monday evening we were headed to see some of the ruins at night. The city keeps some of the largest ruins dramatically lit for about two hours after dark. On the way, we encountered a slight mishap on the motorcycle. We suffered a few scrapes and bruises and we are immensely grateful that was the worst of it. This all happened in front of a pet store and veterinarian’s office and the staff came out to help us. It turned out to be a convenient place to have such an accident because they had disinfectant for our scrapes and they graciously cleaned us up before helping us back to our hotel.

Maybe it’s a sign that we are ready to go home because we welcomed the excuse to take it easy. We’ve spent a few days reading books and watching TV while we munched on our favorite foods both from the Thai market nearby as well as the 7-Eleven. We even made a visit to Kentucky Fried Chicken for lunch one day. The chicken was as you would expect but the side dishes that came with the meal were distinctly not western. They had a tuna fish salad with corn, pineapple and beans that was pretty good! The nearby market has a variety of stores besides the food stands and we also spend some time window shopping. Our idleness has been encouraged by the fact that there have been several thunderstorms this past week and it is easy to justify staying in when the rain is so heavy it is like taking a shower.

Friday morning, we started the day with our usual routine for Ayuthaya. We woke up very late, took our time getting ready and finally headed out for “breakfast” when it was almost lunch time. We knew that on this day, the likelihood of us getting wet was at 100% so we tried to prepare as best we could. I put our small digital camera in a Ziplock bag and after finishing our chocolate milk and cinnamon roll breakfast from 7-Eleven we used the shopping bag to wrap up the little handbag we carried. Besides getting people wet, another part of Songkran tradition is smearing white powder mixed with water on everyone’s face. We had already gotten splashed a little bit and received some white face paint on our way to the market. While we ate our breakfast we saw the drenching that people received as they went past groups of Songkran revelers. The drenching often went both ways because people in the back of pickup trucks had barrels of water they drew from to splash the people they passed. Karl decided that we needed some defense. We stopped and bought a couple of small water pistols and when I pointed out that they were hardly a defense, he admitted that he just wanted to be able to squirt people back.

As soon as we stepped onto the street it quickly became apparent that we were indeed greatly out gunned. The water guns carried by the kids were high power and high capacity. The other people who chose to go low tech and just had bowls of water were just as effective. We were soon soaked and our faces covered in white face paint. The younger kids seems quite intent on keeping us wet and one little boy came around every few minutes to squirt us with his water gun. We would return fire as he scurried away to reload. As vehicles carrying water soaked partiers drove by, we joined our adopted group in throwing more water at them.



At one point I decided to check the camera only to discover that my Ziplock bag had failed this test and there was water inside. I made my way back to the safety of the covered sidewalk and checked out the camera. It wasn’t too wet and after cleaning it up with a few tissues I was able to take some pictures of Karl and he continued playing in the water. Karl had made friends with a young boy who lent Karl a bowl. Armed with a more suitable weapon, Karl and his new friend joined forces and had great fun splashing passing vehicles. With a couple of small plastic shopping bags, I was able to wrap up the camera and return to the fun. These bags did a better job than the Ziplock and my camera stayed dry until it was time for the Songkran parade. In the picture below, you can see Karl standing by the truck ready to splash the occupants while his buddy is back at the ice chest full of water getting a refill.



The parade started with a procession of Buddha images and statues of revered local monks. People lined up to splash the Buddha images and statues with a little bit of water. More trucks followed with flesh and blood monks and they had bowls of blessed water that they liberally splashed over the crowds with bamboo brushes. The spectators poured water over the monk’s hands as a display of respect. Many people had bottles of perfumed water that they had reserved for the Buddha images and monks.



The next participants in the parade are naturally well equipped for Songkran celebrations. As the elephants sauntered down the street they reached their trunks into barrels of water and blew it out over the crowds. Everyone had fun with this. I was in the middle of the street standing on the raised median taking pictures with a plastic bag positioned above my camera so I could quickly shove it in the bag when water was headed my way. Some of the pictures I took of the elephants didn’t turn out very well because I was so cautious about keeping the camera dry that I didn’t keep it still long enough for it to focus. I did get this picture of a smaller elephant that was elaborately painted for the holiday. You can also see the elephant handler reaching into a barrel of water on a cart that accompanied the elephants to ensure that they always had enough liquid ammunition.

The elephants that followed were more subdued as they were carrying people dressed in traditional Ayuthaya fashion. These elephants also were beautifully painted as well as being draped with striking silk blankets. The costumes the women wear are much more interesting then the men’s with gold pieces in their hair and around their necks. The pieces of vibrantly colored silk clothing on their own may seem a bit garish to western tastes but put together in the Thai style they are quite elegant.



The parade was quite long and there were a lot of things to see. The participants in the parade were from various local companies, schools and other organizations. Preceding each parade entry, individuals carried a sign or two identifying the organization. We saw groups of similarly dress people dancing along to the music of their associated band. Sometimes there were a variety of musical instruments being played and other times, there were just drums. The people along the parade route were encouraged by the dancers to join them and some did for a little way. The observers also interacted with the people in the parade by splashing them with water and rubbing white paint on their faces.



Many of the parade participants were dressed in a variety of traditional clothing. There were styles from many different historical periods and they ranged from formal to more everyday. Karl was happy that we had been able to get pictures of people in traditional costume and didn’t have to pay anything for it. His only wish would have been that we could have had one of the temple ruins as a backdrop instead of a city street. The participants who were all dressed up sometimes carried the organization’s sign or various offerings. Some, like the girls in the picture below, were doing the traditional Thai dancing.



Another type of costume that we saw often was the costumes that are worn for the traditional Thai drama the Ramakian. There are two types of Ramakian: the Khohn is an all male cast and was once only performed for royalty and the Lakhon is an all female cast that was once performed for lower nobility. Here is a picture of some Khohn performers in the parade.



No parade would be complete with out floats and there were several in this parade that were just fantastic. I was impressed with the giant peacock made from palm fronds and other plants. A peacock on the float was a common theme so I’m sure there is some significance but Karl and I don’t know what that is. We also saw a few pigs and I’m pretty sure that is because the recent Chinese New Year started the year of the pig. We went a bit shutter happy during the parade and took a lot of pictures. If you want to see more of the beautiful Thai costumes, I’ve put them on our online photo album at: Songkran Parade



After the parade finished, Karl and I were ready to go back to our room and get cleaned up. We were soaked through and practically covered in white face paint. It was worth it because we really had a great time. One of the ladies who works at our hotel snapped this picture for us as we came in. They had to mop up the floor after us because we left soggy footprints!



On Saturday we knew that the probability of getting wet was still rather high. We took similar precautions with our belonging but since we didn’t want to join the water fight we also brought an umbrella. We felt that carrying an open umbrella would be universally understood as “I don’t want to get wet”. It worked for most of the day. We were able to go visit our friends at the pet store. We had a small gift for them to say thank you for all their help. The two ladies who had helped us were Benjawan and Namtip and they are sisters. The pet store is their family business. Benjawan had been an exchange student through AFS in Massachusetts and Namtip is very much interested in learning to scuba dive.

Saturday evening Karl and I went to Wat Ratchaburana to have a look around before they closed for the evening. It looked to us as though the main tower had some modern day materials added to help in the reconstruction but even though everything wasn’t original it was an impressive sight. The other towers and stupas on the site looked like they were all original materials and one tower looked a bit like it was leaning. These temples were built with brick so they don’t last as long as the stone temples we saw in Cambodia and Nang Rong. It didn’t help that Ayuthaya was vehemently ransacked by the Burmese in 1767. The Burmese seemed to want to erase everything about the Thai culture, destroyed anything that was sacred to the Thai and even carted off the gold that covered the religious images. In this last picture, Karl is standing in front of what remains of some carvings at the site.



Scattered around the temple grounds are pieces of what used to be Buddha images. There are a lot of pieces so I imagine that at one time this temple had Buddha statues all around its outer wall. The placement of the remnants seems to confirm this as they are all lined up on top of a low perimeter wall. Where possible, pieces were stacked together to make the statue as complete as possible.

As we were leaving, we got pictures of the sunset and tried to get some night time pictures. Since we hadn’t brought the tripod with us, the night pictures were really blurry. The lighting of the temples makes them all the more striking so we’ll have to come back with a tripod next time.

However, on Sunday we enjoyed another day of rest, content to sleep in late, watch TV and enjoy some food at a little restaurant we found hidden in the middle of the market.